Temporal Changes in the Use of Wild Medicinal Plants in Trentino-South Tyrol, Northern Italy

Mountain regions are fragile ecosystems and often host remarkably rich biodiversity, and thus they are especially under threat from ongoing global changes. Located in the Eastern Alps, Trentino-South Tyrol is bioculturally diverse but an understudied region from an ethnobotanical perspective. We explored the ethnomedicinal knowledge of the area from a cross-cultural and diachronic perspective by conducting semi-structured interviews with 22 local inhabitants from Val di Sole (Trentino) and 30 from uberetsch-Unterland (South Tyrol). Additionally, we compared the results with ethnobotanical studies conducted in Trentino and South Tyrol over 25 years ago. The historical comparison revealed that about 75% of the plants currently in use were also used in the past in each study region. We argue that the adoption of new medicinal species could have occurred through printed and social media and other bibliographical sources but may also be due to limitations in conducting the comparison (i.e., different taxonomic levels and different methodologies). The inhabitants of Val di Sole and uberetsch-Unterland have shared most medicinal plants over the past few decades, yet the most used species diverge (perhaps due to differences in local landscapes), and in South Tyrol, people appear to use a higher number of medicinal plants, possibly because of the borderland nature of the area.

Automated summary

Mountain regions, such as Trentino-South Tyrol in the Eastern Alps, are fragile ecosystems with rich biodiversity that are under threat from global changes. This study examined the ethnomedicinal knowledge of the area through interviews with local inhabitants and compared the findings with studies conducted 25 years ago. The comparison revealed that many of the plants currently in use were also used in the past, suggesting a continuity in medicinal plant usage.