Ethnobotanical survey on plants used by traditional healers to fight against COVID-19 in Fez city, Northern Morocco

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now been spread around the world in the form of a highly contagious pandemic The lack of effective vaccines against this lethal viral infection is pushing researchers to identify potential sources from natural products that can help fight the pandemic In Morocco, medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) have long been used to combat infectious diseases According to our knowledge, this is the first ethnobotanical survey in Fez city, aimed to quantify the ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants used by herbalists for fighting against the COVID-19 Methods: An ethnobotanical survey was conducted in Fez city with traditional herbalists, in a period of two months (from the beginning of November to the end of December 2020) Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 well-known traditional herbalists A quantitative analysis approach was used resulting in the determination of plant use value (PUV) and family use value (FUV) to evaluate the ethnobotanical knowledge Results: In total, 49 medicinal plants species were recorded belonging to 28 botanical families According to the PUV index, the most important species were Syzygium aromaticum (L ) Merr & Perry, Thymus vulgaris L , Eucalyptus globulus Labill , and Artemisia vulgaris L The Lamiaceae was the most dominant family The aerial part was the most used plant part Most remedies were prepared in the infusion form and mostly administered orally According to herbalists, 47 36 % of customers were very satisfied using herbal remedies to combat COVID-19 Conclusion: The ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological information collected in our study provides basic data on medicinal plants which is promising in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 Thus, it is recommended that the safety and efficacy of these plants will be confirmed through pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies © 2021, Ilia State University, Institute of Botany, Department of Ethnobotany All rights reserved