MEDICINAL PLANTS POPULARLY USED IN THE RURAL COMMUNITIES OF BEN SROUR (SOUTHEAST OF M’SILA, ALGERIA)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate medicinal plants in Ben Srour region of M'sila, province and their use for treating several diseases in traditional medicine. The traditional and local uses of collected plants were questioned through semi-structured interviews with local informants and practitioners. The obtained data allowed to identify 84 species belonging to 37 botanical families with dominance of Lamiaceae (11 species), Asteraceae (8 species), Fabaceae (7 species) and Apiaceae (6 species). The most used parts of the plant are leaves (43%), aerial parts (21.7%), stems (9.6%) and seeds (7.7%), respectively. Decoction (37.87%), infusion (27.51%), powder (11.31%), maceration (5.48%) and raw (6%) are mode of traditional preparation of the medicinal plants by the local people. According to the results, used plants in Ben Srour region can be as a potential source of useful drugs.