Agricultural biodiversity and ethnobotanical studies in Osmaneli (Bilecik) region

This study aimed to determine the natural and agricultural plants and to reveal the diversity of utilization of these plants that the local people around Osmaneli (Bilecik) benefit from. The study was conducted between 2012 and 2014. Within the scope of the study, 4 neighborhoods located in county town and 27 villages of Osmaneli district were visited. During the research, interwievs were carried out with 115 local people. As a result of our ethnobotanical studies in the region; It has been determined that 161 plant taxa belonging to 62 families are used by the local people. 147 of these plants are natural and 14 are cultivated plants. Some of these cultivated plants are also found naturally in the region. From these plants, 82 of them are used as food, 44 of them are used as medicinal plants (37 of them are used in the treatment of human diseases and 7 of them are used in the treatment of animal diseases), 22 of them are used as animal feed, 31 of them are used in handicrafts (15 of them are used in woodworking, 10 of them are used as broom, 6 of them are used in obtaining paint), 12 of them are used as fuel, 43 of them are used as other useful plants (28 of them are ornamental plants, 9 of them are used in silkworm breeding, 6 of them are used in beekeeping). Also some of these plants, 49 plant taxa, have been recorded that are used in many areas such as gum, tea, herbal oil resourse, fence, poison, childeren's game, for against evil eye; addition to this some of these are the subject of legends and stories. In addition, 8 of these plants are endemic taxa that their intended use and local name aredetermined. 31 prescription of herbs were recorded that are used as medicinal plant in the region. The first 5 families with the most taxa are, respectively; Rosaceae (12), Asteraceae (11), Liliaceae (9), Lamiaceae (8) and Brassicaceae (6). Ethnobotanical data of 16 plant taxa have been recorded by this study for the first time in the region. In the study, 103 local agricultural varieties were registered, some of them are on the verge of extinction, some of them have quite limited cultivation areas, some of them preserve their cultivation areas due to their commercial value.