Studies on pharmaceutical ethnobotany in the region of Pallars (Pyrenees, Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula). Part III. Medicinal uses of non-vascular plants.

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the region called Pallars--constituted by two districts, Pallars Sobirà and Pallars Jussà--, situated in the Central Pyrenees, in North West Catalonia (Iberian Peninsula), with an approximate area of 2530 km(2) and a population of 19000. Through interviews with 264 people, we obtained data on 437 plant species used for health care. We detected 867 unreported or uncommon uses corresponding to 272 plant species, 52 of which had never or very rarely been cited as medicinal. This is the third paper of a series intended to present the most important findings concerning the ethnopharmacology of the area studied; it includes information on 18 pharmaceutical uses of 16 non-vascular plant species (two algae, eight fungi, five lichens and one moss). Two previous papers reported the general results and the new or very scarcely reported medicinal vascular plants, and the unreported or very uncommon uses of already known medicinal plants. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.