Abstract:
This study was conducted to determine medicinal plant use habits of the people living in Ordu province of Turkey. A survey was conducted in 2017. A questionnaire was made with randomly selected 310 people living in city center and surrounding towns with face-to-face meetings. Present findings revealed that individuals mostly used medicinal plants occasionally (79.1%), they mostly bought medicinal plants from herbalists (69.7%), they learned about the use of medicinal plants in disease treatment from elderly (79.75) and media news increased the interest in medicinal plants (67.1%). Mint, linden, garlic, parsley, thyme and sage tea were the most common medicinal plants used in herbal drugs. Participants indicated that they usually went to the doctor when they got sick (65.8%); they used medicinal plants in treatment of chronic diseases (76.8%); they used medicinal plants supplementary to prescribed medication (62.6%); they had partial knowledge about the side effects of the medicinal plants (43.8%); they think medicinal plant were beneficial in disease treatment (55.2%); they tended to medicinal plants in treatment of some diseases without using synthetic drugs (55.2%) and they recommended the use of medicinal plants to surrounding people (63,9%). Medicinal plants were mostly used in treatment of common cold, digestive system diseases, stress/nervousness and rheumatism/joint diseases. Almost all of the participants were using infusion (brewing) method while preparing herbal drugs (100%), they usually used glass and porcelain material while preparing herbal drugs (50.7%). Majority of the participants were not using any materials to sweeten herbal drugs (35.5%), they usually preserved medicinal plants in kitchen cabinets (63.5%) and in glass jars (56.5%).