Ethnobotanical survey of Zagori (Epirus, Greece), a renowned centre of folk medicine in the past.

Zagori is a group of villages in and around the National Park of Vikos-Aoos, in Epirus, north-west Greece. It was renowned in previous centuries as a major centre of folk medicine, and its practitioners, called 'vikoyiatri' or 'komboyiannites', were famous beyond the borders of Greece. Given the rich biological and cultural heritage of Zagori, we have tried to evaluate the present status concerning the medicinal flora of the area and its uses in the everyday life of the Zagori inhabitants. About 100 plants and their uses for therapeutic and other purposes are reported. Information included comes from both literature sources and interviewed informants. Traditional healing has not been altogether wiped out of Zagori. However, it no longer reflects the famous past and rich medicinal flora of the area.