Herbal Medicine Used in the Treatment of Human Diseases in the Rif, Northern Morocco

Since the beginning of time, the Moroccan people have used many medicinal plants as a popular medicine to cure many human and livestock health problems. Yet, few studies have been carried in the past to properly document and promote traditional ethnomedicinal knowledge. This study was conducted out from July 1st, 2016 to July 30th, 2018 in the Rif; it was aimed to establish the list of medicinal plants, together with the association of ethnomedicinal knowledge. The ethnomedicinal data obtained were from 1000 traditional healers using semi-structured discussions, free listing, and focus groups. Family importance value, plant part value, fidelity level, the relative frequency of citation, and informant consensus factor were applied in data interpretation. Plant species were accumulated, and deposited at the Plant, Animal Productions and agro-industry laboratory, Ibn Tofail University. A total of 280 medicinal plants belong to 204 genera and 70 families were documented. Asteraceae with 29 species was the most used family in this study area. Rosmarinus officinalis L. (RFC = 0.189) was the species the most commonly prescribed by local traditional healers. Similarly, the leaf was the most useful part of the plant (PPV = 0.364), the most frequent affections were osteoarticular affections (ICF = 0.983), and the majority of herbal remedies were prepared from a decoction (38.6%). The results of the present investigation confirmed the presence of indigenous ethnomedicinal information of plant species in the Rif's area to treat various disorders. More investigation on phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological should be considered to determine new drugs from these reported plants.