Flora and ethnobotany of Tosya district (Kastamonu)

This study was carried out to determine the floristic and etnobotanical features of Tosya district (Kastamonu). In the research area, 1058 plant specimens were collected from different vegetation periods between 2014-2016. After the identification, the 796 species, 13 subspecies and 7 varieties totally 816 taxa belonging to 409 genera and 97 families have been determined. The 5 taxa belonging to Pteridophytha and 811 to Spermatophyta divisio. Gymnosperms are represented by 10 taxa and Angiosperms by 801 taxa. The 713 Angiospermae taxa are Dicotyledoneae and 88 taxa are Monocotyledoneae. According to the number of taxa, Asteraceae (96 taxa, 11.76 %), Fabaceae (77 taxa, 9.44 %), Lamiaceae (49 taxa, 6.0 %) and Brassicaceae (49 taxa, 6.0 %) are the largest families. The largest genera are Astragalus (20), Silene (11) and Veronica (11). The number of endemic taxa is 79 and endemism ratio is 10.29 %. The distribution of phytogeographic elements is Irano-Turanian 114 (13.97 %), Euro-Siberian 143 (17.53 %), Mediterranean 66 (8.09 %) and multiregional or unknown phytogeographic elements 493 (60.41 %). The 23 taxa for A4 square and 24 for A5 are recorded as new records. Consequently, a new species named Solenanthus abayi Yıld. & G. Tuttu (Boraginaceae) is reported for the first time for scientific world, also Erysimum pseudopurpureum Polatschek (Brassicaceae) for the second gathering after 123 years. In order to determine the ethnobotanical properties, 200 resource persons were interviewed and 226 primary and high school students survey. As a result of this study, 135 taxa belonging to 111 genera and 46 families were detected to use by the local people. The plants are mostly used as folk medicine (103 taxa), food (93 taxa), tea (18 taxa), goods and sweeper (12 taxa), fodder (9 taxa), spice (8 taxa), dye (6 taxa), ornamental plants (5 taxa), firewood (4 taxa) and for diffrent usages (8 taxa). The first families containing the maximum used taxa, respectively; Rosaceae 20 (% 14,81), Asteraceae 15 (% 11,11), Lamiaceae 10 (% 7,40), Fabaceae 8 (% 5,93) and Brassicaceae, Poaceae, Polygonaceae 5 (% 4,98). Also, local names of 45 plants were presented in this study.