The herbal market of Thessaloniki (N Greece) and its relation to the ethnobotanical tradition

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2004.01.007Get rights and content

Abstract

The results of a survey of the medicinal plants found in the herbal market of Thessaloniki, which comprises traditional shops, modern shops and open-air market stalls, are presented. A total number of 172 taxa, Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta, were found in 18 selected market spots. Information is provided on the origin, the plant parts used, the ways of drug preparation and the medicinal uses of the herbs found. The majority of them (133 taxa) are of Greek origin and are gathered from the wild (99). A remarkable number of herbs (93) found in the market of Thessaloniki are mentioned by Dioscurides whereas the comparison to the recent ethnobotanical information shows that the utilization of Dioscurides’ plants remains uninterrupted. Thus it is suggested that the herb trade is still based on the Greek ethnobotanical tradition, dating from antiquity.

Introduction

The use of herbal drugs in Greece has its roots in ancient times. Hippocrates (5th century b.c.) and Dioscurides (1st century a.d.) established medicine as a science using the healing properties of the different plant species. This knowledge survived until our days and an array of herb shops are found in the markets of the modern Greek cities.

Thessaloniki is the second largest city of Greece and one of the oldest in Europe, continuously inhabited for more than 2300 years. Because of its strategic position (a port lying between Asia and Europe), it has been populated—besides Greeks—by several ethnic communities from the beginning and throughout its history. Thus, Thessaloniki became a multicultural city and an important commercial center of the East Mediterranean. From 1500 up to early 20th century the commerce was mainly in the hands of the Greeks and the Jews and among the traded goods, medicinal plants possessed a noticeable place (cf. Svoronos, 1956, Vakalopoulos, 1983, Nehama, 2000).

Nowadays the trade of medicinal plants in Thessaloniki mainly takes place in three groups of market spots:

  • (i)

    Traditional shops, situated in the market lying in the city center; such shops exist in the same area at least since 15th century (Dimitriadis, 1983, Vakalopoulos, 1983). These shops are old, with stalls and shelves simply arranged. The herbs are not packaged but stored in large fabric bags or in bundles. They are weighed according to the customers demand and packed in plastic or paper bags. Except herbs, these shops often sell spices, food and other items, like baskets and matters for religious ceremonies. The traditional shops are usually a family business, which passes from parents to children. The owners are not professional healers, but traders, who are able, when asked, to recommend specific herbs to cure common ailments. Their major suppliers are professional collectors, while the owners themselves may collect some of the plants.

  • (ii)

    Modern shops, which have opened in the last decade following the worldwide trend towards the increased demand in health care and food natural products. These shops, scattered throughout the city, are carefully decorated and their products are industrially manufactured, attractively packaged and displayed on shelves. They also sell other products of natural origin, e.g. soaps, essential oils, perfumes, ointments and lotions. The shop owners often have a university degree, but no formal education concerning plants. Their knowledge on herbal drugs mostly derives from modern textbooks and the information provided by the company suppliers.

  • (iii)

    Stalls in open-air markets, which run in different places of Thessaloniki once a week, with bunches of herbs or sacks of crushed material. Stall keepers are themselves professional plant collectors, with a comparatively low educational level and an empirical experience in herbal medicine, based on tradition.

The purpose of this investigation is to trace the current trends in the market of the medicinal plants in Thessaloniki, addressing to the following questions: (i) Which are the herbs traded? (ii) Are they imported or domestic? (iii) If domestic, do they derive from the wild or from cultivation? Moreover, information on the plant uses, the plant parts used and drug preparations was collected. Considering the above results, the relation of the current market trends to the traditional ethnobotany is further discussed.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

During a preliminary survey the authors visited repeatedly the herbal market of Thessaloniki. In the course of these visits many stores were examined in order to select a number of market spots that could form a reliable and representative model for this research. Finally a total number of 18 market spots, six from each of the three groups (traditional shops, modern shops, open-air market stalls) was chosen. Herb traders and customers were interviewed and a questionnaire was filled in, asking

Results and discussion

A total number of 172 plant taxa belonging to 72 plant families are recorded in all market spots (4 families of Pteridophyta and 68 families of Spermatophyta). The best-represented families in respect of the number of taxa found are Labiatae (27 taxa), Compositae (16) and Umbelliferae (10) (Table 1). It should be noted that different species are used similarly, under the same commercial and/or local name, e.g. “dyosmos,” for three spearmint (carvone-like) scented Mentha taxa, or “tsai tou

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Mrs. S. Mylona, Medical Doctor, for helping us in grouping the different diseases, as well as to the herb traders who generously provided us information.

References (23)

  • Kokkini, S., 1983. Taxonomic Studies in the Genus Mentha. Ph.D. Thesis. Aristotle University,...
  • Cited by (157)

    • Plants used in Lebanon and the Middle East as Antimicrobials

      2022, Medicinal Plants as Anti-infectives: Current Knowledge and New Perspectives
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text