Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Jan 9;15(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s13002-018-0263-2.

Traditional use of ethnomedicinal native plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Hanan Aati  1 , Ali El-Gamal  1   2 , Hamdy Shaheen  3 , Oliver Kayser  4
Affiliations
Review

Traditional use of ethnomedicinal native plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Hanan Aati et al. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. .

Abstract

The Arabian Peninsula is recognized as an arid area dominated by deserts and poor biodiversity. However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (henceforth abbreviated into KSA) has a wide range of flora, consisting of different species of trees, herbs, and shrubs and containing numerous edible and medicinal plants. The KSA is characterized by its vast area of diverse geographical landscapes and climates. Consequently, there is enormous variation in the distribution of plants across the Kingdom. The traditional use of ethnomedical plants in the KSA represents a strong interconnection among familiar remedies, health, diet, and traditional healing practices characterized by specific cultures. The present paper reviews a collection of medicinal plants in KSA used in ethnomedicine. This review might be useful in developing strategies for the sustainable use of medicinal plants which are among the threatened important natural resources in folk medicine in the KSA. The present study reports 309 genera which cover 471 species from a total of 2253 known species belonging to 89 families. The most dominating families are Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Solanaceae, Apiaceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae, Boraginaceae, Apocynaceae, Convolvoulaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Capparaceae, Polygonaceae, and Zygophyllaceae.

Keywords: Ethnomedicine; Folk medicine; Medicinal plants; Saudi Arabia; Threatened natural resources; Traditional use.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Geographical areas of Saudi Arabia
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Number of traditionally used species per family in Saudi Arabia
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Akgül G, Yılmaz N, Celep A, Celep F, Çakılcıoğlu U. Ethnobotanical purposes of plants sold by herbalists and folk bazaars in the center of Cappadocica (Nevşehir, Turkey) Indian J Tradit Knowle. 2016;15(1):103–108.
    1. Polat R, Çakılcıoğlu U, Ulusan MS, Paksoy MY. Survey of wild food plants for human consumption in Elazığ (Turkey) Indian J Tradit Knowle. 2015;1(1):69–75.
    1. Abdulkhaliq A, Al Azhari A, Al-Oqdah M. The prophetic medicine for Ibn Qayyim Al-jawziyyah. 1. Syria: Arabic Books Revival House Publisher; 1957.
    1. Ketab al-ḥawi fil-ṭebb, 23 parts in 25 vols., Hyderabad, Deccan, 1374-93/1955-73; tr. Faraj b. SALEM (Farraguth) as Continens, ed. Jacobus Britannicus Brixianus, as Liber el-Hauy.i: continent in medicine que composit Bubikir Zacharie Errish filius 2 vols., Brescia, 1486.
    1. Avicenna, Ibn Sina; Laleh Bakhtiar (1025). (2nd ed.). New York, NY: AMS Press, Inc. ISBN 0-404-11231-5. http://sekretariat.beacukai.go.id/data/aplikasi/Buku/Ibn%20Sina/Canon%20...

LinkOut - more resources