Ethnobotanical investigations in Mutki district (Bitlis)

This study aims to identify plants that naturally occur in the Mutki center and villages, provide benefits to the local people, and play a role in the traditional lifestyle of the local community through ethnobotanical research. To achieve this, between October 2021 and December 2022, Mutki district and 45 villages and 12 hamlets affiliated with the district were visited and examined. During the research period, interviews were conducted with 87 individuals, and ethnobotanical information about plants was collected. As a result of these compilations, 125 plant taxa belonging to 38 families and 92 genera were identified. Among these taxa, 11 are endemic. The ethnobotanical uses of two of these endemic taxa (Achillea nobilis subsp. kurdica, Centaurea saligna) have been determined for the first time in this study. In the research, the top 8 families containing the most taxa used by the public were identified as follows: Asteraceae 24 (%19), Lamiaceae 13 (%11), Rosaceae 9 (%7), Apiaceae 9 (%7), Fabaceae 6 (%5), Polygonaceae 6 (%5), Plantaginaceae 5 (%4), and Boraginaceae 4 (%3). Out of the 126 taxa, 62 are used for food, and 73 are used for medicinal purposes. Among these taxa, 44 are used solely for medicinal purposes, 33 are used only as food, and 26 are used for both food and medicinal purposes. Additionally, 10 taxa are used for objects, 6 for spices, 4 for dye, 3 for decoration, and 2 for religious purposes.