An ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants of Shexian Dryland Stone Terraced System in northern China

Diversity of medicinal plant species in Shexian Dryland Stone Terraced System

A total of 123 medicinal plant species belonging to 51 families were reported to be used for treating human ailments in SDSTS (Table 1). Among them, 38 plant families were represented by one or two species while 13 families were represented by three species or more. Asteraceae was the most represented family with 16 species, followed by Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Ranunculaceae with 8 species, respectively. Of the total, Bupleurum chinense DC., Bupleurum scorzonerifolium Willd., Periploca sepium Bunge, Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge, Cirsium arvense var. integrifolium C. Wimm. et Grabowski, Taraxacum mongolicum Hand. -Mazz., Adenophora stricta Miq., Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek, Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl, Polygala tenuifolia Willd., Rumex crispus L., Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb. and Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. are the most frequently used species in the study area.

Table 1 Inventory of medicinal plants traditionally used by the local people in Wangjinzhuang Community

The life habits of medicinal plants in SDSTS are mostly herbaceous (70%), represented by 86 species. Other forms like trees, lianas and shrubs were represented with 15 species (12%), 10 species (8%) and 12 species (10%), respectively.

It is reported that the whole plant (referring to the aerial part of the plant in the present research) and other parts such as bark, root, leaf, fruit, seed, stem, bulb, flower, kernel, rhizome, thorn and tuber are collected as medicine. Even though about 13 different plants parts were reported to be used for remedy preparation in different ways, a larger proportion (30.8%) of the preparations were obtained from the whole plant followed by root (18.3%) and fruit (11.2%). The leaf was used for 8.3% preparations and stem for 6.5%, rhizome and seed part both were 5.9%, whereas bark, flower, tuber, bulb, thorn and kernel were 5.3%, 3%, 1.8%, 1.2%, 1.2% and 0.6%, respectively.

Among them, 97 species were reported to be used with only one part. Eleven species were used with two parts, and there were 7 species with three parts used, 5 and 2 with four and five parts, respectively. Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb. and Morus alba L. have the most parts used for medicinal purposes.

Modes of preparation and administration

As herbalists reported in the study area, ways of preparing remedies include three main types: decoction, pounding and cooking. The major way of herbal medicine preparation was decoction through boiling with clean water including 123 species, from those, 39 species have another method that is crushing the plant parts. Juglans regia L. tends to be eaten directly or cooked with meat.

The majority of the reported plant species were commonly processed into decoctions, which have been reported as one of the best approaches to extracting beneficial secondary metabolites [35, 36]. Some species for both medicinal and food purposes belong to this category. Representatives include rhizomes of Polygonatum, and roots of Platycodon grandiflorus and Arctium lappa.

Results of analysis of route of administration of medicinal preparations revealed that oral application was the most common route of administration (121 preparations), combined with external application (39 preparations), fumigating (3 preparations) and washing in soup (9 preparations), which is derived from decoction preparation. They vary based on different collocations with each other. All species but Incarvillea sinensis Lam. were reported to be orally administered. Some of them have more than one route. Artemisia argyi Levl. et Van were also hung on doors as antibiosis and repellents.

Major types of diseases occurred in the study area

There were 180 mentioned human diseases, and the top 29 kinds of them are listed in Table 2. All of the diseases were identified on the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) System according to the description and explanation from herbalists, and classified into 20 kinds as shown in Fig. 3. The most cited health problems belong to “Symptoms, signs or clinical findings, not elsewhere classified” (22 diseases) and “Diseases of the genitourinary system” (22 diseases), “Supplementary Chapter Traditional Medicine Conditions-Module I” (20 diseases) and “Certain infectious or parasitic diseases” (19 diseases) Chapter.

Table 2 List of top 29 most treated human ailments in the study areaFig. 3figure 3

Classifications of diseases based on ICD-11

Edible use of medicinal plants

All 123 medicinal plant species recorded for treating human ailments in the study area were also cited for the edible use. The medicinal and edible plant species, as well as edible methods for them, are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3 List of plants for both medicinal and edible purposesThe most important medicinal plants in SDSTS

Bupleurum scorzonerifolium Willd., Bupleurum chinense DC., Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl, Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. and Periploca sepium Bunge were the highly utilized and the most significant medicinal species in SDSTS. As native species, they indicate that the local flora of SDSTS delivers significant medicinal uses. There even have Products of Geographical Indication of them—“Shexian Chaihu”, “Shexian Lianqiao” and “Shexian Huajiao,” in which Chaihu refers to the dried roots of Bupleurum, Lianqiao to the dried fruits of Forsythia and Huajiao to Zanthoxylum fruits, respectively. Juglans and Taraxacum have a great symbiosis highly acclimatized to the local mountainous environment [37]. For all native species above, the local has a large area under cultivation and a long history of planting, as well as rich experience in cultivation and production other than in the wild. For example, there was a cultivated area of 66.7 square kilometers for Bupleurum and 80 square kilometers for Forsythia in Shexian County by 2020, attaining a total production value of up to 247 million RMB (36.9 million USD). Particularly, Bupleurum and Forsythia are prominent varieties of the characteristic industry for traditional Chinese medicine, promoting the implementation of strategy for rural revitalization in Shexian County. They not only contributed to the development of the industry of traditional Chinese medicinal materials in Shexian County, but also promoted the agricultural production and farmers' income. The locals depend on them for living.

Bupleurum exists on the slopes and in the shrubs at an elevation of 400 to 1500 m above sea level in the wild. They were mainly cultivated in Piancheng and Guanfang townships. With a yield of 1600 kg per square kilometer, the dried roots of Bupleurum were sold to domestic traditional Chinese medicine markets and even overseas. Previous studies have also shown that the total flavonoids in different parts of Bupleurum in Shexian County had strong antioxidant activities and great potential as a natural antioxidant in food [38]. In SDSTS, some species have been cultivated traditionally (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4figure 4

Bupleurum seedlings were cultivated in SDSTS in spring, forming an agroforestry system with Zanthoxylum bungeanum and Diospyros kaki

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