干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

An ethnobotanical study was carried out in the region of Campos de Nijar, comprising Cabo de Gata-Nijar Nature Park and neighboring zones. The geology of the region combined with its location in the South East of the Iberian Peninsula, the most arid area of Europe, has resulted in the presence of a flora rich in endemic and North African elements rare in Europe. Socioculturally it is a uniform region characterized by its population living in a multitude of nuclei, each with few inhabitants. The field work was based on 221 interviews with inhabitants of the region with knowledge of the plants and their uses. Information was compiled on the use of 253 taxa with a total of 558 medicinal and 240 other uses. We present a summary of the study with data on the uses of 98 species mentioned at least three times by the interviewees.