Reflections of Socio-economic and Demographic Structure of Urban and Rural on the Use of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: The Sample of Trabzon Province

In this study, differences in how and why people in urban and rural regions use medicinal.and aromatic plants were investigated within the scope of socio-economic and demographic features. To this end a total of 400 people were interviewed face-to-face in rural regions (289) and urban (111) of Trabzon. Accordingly, 24.1% of people in rural and 22.7% of people in urban use plants during treatment process. People in rural (45.2%) prefer preparing these plants or plant mixture on their own more than those in urban (17.3%). It was detected that there are 72 taxa from 41 families used for various purposes in the region. The highest number of plant species was, found in Rosaceae, Lamiaceae and Apiaceae families. The mostly used parts of plants were leaf, fruit, flower, root and seeds. It was found that plants were consumed mostly as infusion, decoction, fresh and powder. Although Plantago major, Rubus fruticosus, Petroselinum crispum, Laurocerasus officinalis were used for similar purposes in rural areas, the medicinal use of these plants was not found in urban. Similarly, Salvia forskahlei, Cassia angustifolia, Foeniculum vulgare, Zingiber officinale were used only in urban and not found in rural. It was found that 813 records in rural and 146 records in urban were found related to health issues treated with medicinal and aromatic plants. According to statistical analysis. significant relationships were found between the use of herbal drugs and rural/urban, age groups and educational level.