Medicinal Plants Used In Traditional Treatment of Hypertension in Turkey

Abstract

Since ancient times people have used plants because of their therapeutic effects. People have recorded the therapeutic effects of plants throughout history. Turkey has a rich traditional medicine and ethnobotanical culture. People have preserved this ethnobotanical culture by transferring them from generation to generation. Medicinal plants are playing an important role in health care programmes worldwide, especially in developing countries. In Turkey there are many plant species known with their blood pressure lowering effect. In this study 150 plant taxa, used against hypertension in Turkey were compiled. The study contains botanical names, families, local names, used parts and method of use of these plant species. According to this research commonly used medicinal plants are from Rosaceae (27 taxa), Lamiaceae (26 taxa), Asteraceae (15 taxa), Apiaceae (11 taxa), Polygonaceae (6 taxa), Loranthaceae (3 taxa) and Rhamnaceae (3 taxa) respectively.