ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 16 February 2021 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.598390 Borders as Crossroads: The Diverging Routes of Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living on the Romanian and Ukrainian Sides of Bukovina Giulia Mattalia 1,2, Nataliya Stryamets 1*, Anya Grygorovych 3, Andrea Pieroni 4,5 and Renata Sõukand 1 1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Mestre, Italy, 2Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Spain, 3Department of biology, chemistry and bioresources, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine, 4University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy, 5Medical Analysis Department, Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq Cross-border and cross-cultural ethnomedicine are novel ways to address the evolution of local ecological knowledge. As is widely acknowledged, ethnomedicinal knowledge is not static, but evolves according to several factors, including changes in ecological availability and socioeconomic conditions, and yet the effect of the political context on medicinal Edited by: knowledge remains largely underexplored. Bukovina, a small region of Eastern Europe that Hugo J. De Boer, has been divided by a border since the 1940s and is currently part of both Romania and University of Oslo, Norway Ukraine, represents a unique case study in which to address the impact of political Reviewed by: contexts on ethnomedicinal knowledge. The aim of this study was to compare plant-based Marilena Gilca, Carol Davila University of Medicine and medicinal uses among Romanians living on the two sides of the Romanian–Ukrainian Pharmacy, Romania border. In addition, we performed cross-cultural and cross-border analysis with published Suresh Kumar Mohankumar, JSS College of Pharmacy, India data on the ethnomedicine of the neighboring ethnolinguistic group of Hutsuls. We *Correspondence: conducted 59 semistructured interviews with conveniently selected Romanians living in Nataliya Stryamets both Romanian and Ukrainian Bukovina. We elicited preparations for treating different nataliya.stryamets@unive.it ailments and disorders by naming each part of the body. We also asked about the sources of this medicinal knowledge. We documented the medicinal use of 108 plant Specialty section: This article was submitted to taxa belonging to 45 families. Fifty-four taxa were common to both Romanian communities; Ethnopharmacology, 20 were only found among Romanians living in Romania and 34 only among Romanians a section of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology living in Ukraine. However, the number of recorded uses was higher among Romanians living Received: 24 August 2020 in Romania, revealing that they make consistent use of local medicinal plants, and Accepted: 15 October 2020 Romanians living in Ukrainian Bukovina use more taxa but less consistently. Comparison Published: 16 February 2021 with the data published in our study on neighboring Hutsuls shows that medicinal knowledge Citation: is more homogeneous among Hutsuls and Romanians living in Ukraine, yet many similar Mattalia G, Stryamets N, Grygorovych A, Pieroni A and uses were found among Romanian communities across the border. We argue that the Sõukand R (2021) Borders as 50 years during which Ukrainian Bukovina was part of the USSR resulted in the integration of Crossroads: The Diverging Routes of Herbal Knowledge of Romanians standard pan-Soviet elements as evidenced by several plant uses common among the Living on the Romanian and Ukrainian groups living in Ukraine yet not among Hutsuls and Romanians living in Romania. Sides of Bukovina. Front. Pharmacol. 11:598390. Keywords: Carpathians, cross-border, cross-cultural, plant-based remedies, local medicine, ethnomedicine, doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.598390 knowledge transfer Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 1 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina INTRODUCTION Hutsuls (Mattalia et al., 2020b) to assess whether Romanians share more medicinal knowledge with Hutsuls living in the same country Local medical systems are part of a larger local ecological (Ukraine or Romania) or with Romanians living on the other side of knowledge corpora held by local communities. According to the border. Díaz-Reviriego et al. (2016), those medical systems are based The specific objectives were the following: on two elements: the availability of local resources considered “medicinal,” which generally derive from mineral products, • to document and compare medicinal plant knowledge animals, plants, or mushrooms, and ethnomedicinal among Romanians living across the Romanian–Ukrainian knowledge, which is developed from the long-standing border, interaction of a community with the surrounding • to correlate the findings on medicinal plant knowledge environment. Therefore, local medical systems are especially among Romanians with a previous study on Hutsul fostered by communities living in highly biodiverse contexts, ethnomedicine, such as the Carpathian Mountains, whose richness results from a • to explore how the language in which medicinal plants are combination of several factors, including altitude gradient, mentioned may contribute to the possible influence of geographical position, geomorphology, and landscape knowledge origin among Romanians living in Ukraine, and heterogeneity (Mráz and Ronikier 2016). • to discuss whether local ethnomedicine is more similar The richness of landscapes is fostered by complex interactions under the same sociopolitical conditions within the same developed over the centuries by local mountain communities and is country (among Hutsuls and Romanians) or in different an important characteristic of the Carpathian area (Cioacă and countries but among the same ethnolinguistic group. Dinu 2010; Angelstam et al., 2013; Babai et al., 2015). In addition, landscape richness is also fostered by the wealth of cultural diversity promoted by the transnational nature of the Carpathians, where MATERIALS AND METHODS borders are often rich in biocultural diversity (Liu et al., 2020) and, thus, may promote a richer corpus of local ecological knowledge The Study Area (LEK) and, specifically, medicinal knowledge. Bukovina is a historical region of Eastern Europe that partially lies Indeed, ethnomedicinal knowledge is not static, but evolves in the Carpathian Mountains (Figure 1). From the second half of according to several elements, such as changes in ecological the 14th century to 1774, Bukovina belonged to the Principality of availability (Júnior et al., 2013) and socioeconomic conditions Moldova, after which it was occupied by the Austrian Empire (Srithi et al., 2009; Byg et al., 2010; Andriamparany et al., 2014; until 1918 when the region became part of the Kingdom of Menendez-Baceta et al., 2015), yet the effect of the political Romania. In the 1940s, Bukovina was divided in two: The context on medicinal knowledge remains largely Northern part was occupied by the Soviet Union and became underexplored. In fact, although it has been highlighted as an a territory of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic until 1991 when it important element of the context in which LEK is produced (e.g., became part of independent Ukraine, and Southern Bukovina has Posey and Dutfield 1996), it has rarely been researched and is remained part of Romania. limited to folk medicinal uses in time of war (e.g., Volpato et al., The study area is located at the Romanian–Ukrainian border 2007; Adnan et al., 2014). and includes one town on the Romanian side and one main town A few plant-based ethnomedicinal studies have been carried (including many parishes) on the Ukrainian side. On the out in the Carpathian Mountains, specifically among Hungarian European map, “B” indicates the position of Bukovina, and minorities (Papp et al., 2014a; Papp et al., 2014b), Hutsuls the map of Bukovina depicts our study area in which “R” (Sõukand and Pieroni 2016; Mattalia et al., 2020b), and stands for Romanians and “H” stands for Hutsuls, whose Boykos (Pieroni and Sõukand 2017), as has a historical plant-based ethnomedicine is discussed in Mattalia et al. (2020b). perspective on ethnomedicine at the Polish–Ukrainian border On both sides of the border, Romanians live in rural (Kozlowska et al., 2018). communities mainly devoted to family agriculture and small- In recent times, cross-border and cross-cultural studies have scale animal husbandry. On the Ukrainian side, the effect of received increasing attention as cultural or political borders can emigration to Western Europe is especially evident with a serve as a useful variable to detect the extent to which the different remittance economy starting to replace traditional activities. political conditions that exist in two territories may contribute to shaping the use of medicinal knowledge. In the Carpathian region, the case of Bukovina is quite unique. This historical METHODS region, which for centuries was “one” territory, was split by the Soviet Union in 1940, and since 1991, it has been part of We conducted extensive fieldwork in Northern and Southern both independent Ukraine (Northern Bukovina) and Romania Bukovina in the summers of 2018 and 2019 (Table 1). The (Southern Bukovina). interviewees were conveniently selected near their homes, in their Within this framework, the aim of this study was to compare plant- gardens, and in the street, sometimes using a snowball method. First, based medicinal uses among Romanians living across the the study was introduced and prior oral informed consent was Romanian–Ukrainian border and to perform cross-cultural and obtained. This study strictly followed the ethical guidelines of the cross-border analysis with the ethnomedicine of neighboring International Society of Ethnobiology, and the methodology was Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 2 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina FIGURE 1 | Map of the study area. approved by the ethics committee of Ca’ Foscari University. We interviews were conducted in each area (one interview in conducted 59 semistructured interviews, which consisted of Southern Bukovina was discarded as the interviewee was open-ended questions about folk medicinal uses. Current and selling medicinal products made using only knowledge derived past preparations for treating different ailments and disorders from books). were elicited by naming each part of the body (e.g., head, ear, Whenever possible, we collected herbaceous wild voucher mouth, etc.) and asking about the mode of preparation and specimens with the help of our interviewees. The Ukrainian application. In addition, we collected background information voucher specimens are stored in the “Roztochya” Nature Reserve regarding the interviewee’s age, length of time living in the area, (Ukraine) bearing codes NB001–NB259, and the Romanian main occupation, education, parents’ native language, and specimens are stored in the Herbarium of Ca’ Foscari University religion. Finally, we inquired as to where the interviewee had of Venice (Italy) bearing codes SB001–SB096. Voucher specimens learned about such medicinal uses. We attempted to ask plant by were identified using the The Plant List, (2013) and “Flora plant, but often interviewees could not remember each single Europaea” (Tutin et al., 1964). Plant families were classified use/plant and generally referred to the same sources of according to Stevens, (2001) and onward. knowledge for every plant/use they mentioned. We The responses were coded in detailed use reports (DURs) conducted 17 interviews in Romanian; two in Russian; two in using emic categories and entered into an Excel spreadsheet for Ukrainian; and nine using a mixture of Russian, Ukrainian, and comparison. Each plant-based DUR contained interview code, sometimes Romanian. Interviews primarily in Russian and language of the interview, Latin name of the plant species, local Ukrainian were carried out by the second author, who is a name (and its transliteration according to https://slovnyk.ua/ native Ukrainian and has near-native knowledge of the Russian translit.php for Ukrainian plant names and https://www.calc. language. Interviews in Romanian were carried out by the first ru/transliteratsyya.html for Russian plant names), language of author with the help of the third author for the majority of the plant name, plant part used, preparation method, emic interviews in Ukraine. In Romania, interviews were conducted purpose of use, and related etic system following the ICD-11 with a native Romanian speaker as a facilitator. (World Health Organization, 2019). The same methods as those employed in Mattalia et al. (2020b) To perform the cross-cultural and cross-border comparison, were used here as both studies were carried out under the we calculate the Jaccard index (JI) as follows: JI  (C/(A + B-C)) × framework of the same DIGe project, which looks to assess 100, where C is the number of uses common to A and B, A is the the influence of centralization and political scenarios on the number of uses in sample A, and B the number of uses of sample use of wild plants for medicinal purposes. In this study, 30 B (González-Tejero et al., 2008). TABLE 1 | Details of the study area. Group Romanians living in Romanians living in Romania (RR) Ukraine (UR) Number of interviews 29 30 Main municipality Straja (Suceava region) Krashnoilsk (Storozhenets region) Languages of the interview Romanian Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian When gathered Summer 2019 Summers 2018 and 2019 Landscape Hilly (400–500 m a.s.l.), mainly covered by small fields (e.g., corn), meadows and forest Plain (200–300 m a.s.l.), mainly meadows Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 3 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina To calculate the proportion of each knowledge transmission The two most important taxa among Romanians living in strategy, we assigned a total of 1 point to each interviewee. For Ukraine were common to the two communities and included instance, if the interviewee reported only one source of knowledge Matricaria chamomilla L (47 DURs in Romania and 51 in (e.g., grandparents), we assigned a value of 1; for two sources (e.g., Ukraine) and Hypericum spp. (39 DURs in Romania and 32 books and parents), we assigned 0.5 to each; three sources, 0.33 to in Ukraine). The two most important taxa in Romania [Achillea each, etc. Then, we summed these values according to the emic millefolium (50 DURs) and Calendula officinalis (42 DURs)] were categories of knowledge sources mentioned by the interviewees more rarely used among Ukrainian Romanians. The most (folk, books, parents, etc.) on both sides of the border. important families were Asteraceae (13 taxa), followed by On the Ukrainian side, Romanians often spoke a mixture of Rosaceae (11 taxa) and Lamiaceae (8 taxa). Among languages, including Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian. To Romanians living in Romania, 58% of the taxa were wild, and perform the linguistic analysis, we considered only the 17 this value was 53% among Romanians living in Ukraine. interviews conducted in Romanian. We organized each plant Regarding the number of DURs, we recorded 18% fewer DURs name according to the language in which it was mentioned. We among Romanians living in Ukraine as they often reported using considered 5 categories: Romanian, non-Romanian (Ukrainian or medicines from the local pharmacy or from abroad. Russian), international (when a plant has very similar names in the three languages), multilanguage (when the interviewee provided the Linguistic Analysis of Plant Names plant name in two or more languages), and dialect (when the plant Mentioned by Romanians Living in Ukraine name was not reported among Romanians living in Romania and a) Although Romanians living in Romania only speak Romanian, was not included or b) was included as a dialect name in the the linguistic analysis of plants mentioned by Romanians living in Romanian dictionary DEX). The linguistic analysis was not Ukraine revealed that only 65% of the plants were named in performed among Romanians living in Romania as they were Romanian (Figure 3), whereas 16% were mentioned in Ukrainian monolingual (Romanian). The average age of the interviewees and/or Russian, and 6% were given in multiple languages, thus was 60 years old in Ukraine and 63 years old in Romania. providing a name in Romanian and its equivalent in one or more Gender distribution in both areas was 80% female and 20% other languages. Eight percent were international names (e.g., male, and all interviewees were born in the Bukovina region. In Aesculus hippocastanum, Viburnum opulus, Melissa officinalis, both areas, the interviewees were Orthodox Christian except for Aloe spp.), and 5% were local dialect names, including two people who were Baptist. Most of the Romanian “chiparusca” for Capsicum annuum, “curul găinii” for interviewees in Southern Bukovina were retired (53%) Taraxacum officinale, “iarba tatei” or “iarba lui tatin” for although 37% were employed outside the home, 6% worked Symphytum officinale, “curechi” for Brassica oleracea, and in small-scale family farming, one person was on parental leave “minciuna” for Plantago major. In some instances, languages and one person unemployed. Only two interviewees had higher were mixed within the same plant name as was the case for education although half of the interviewees had primary Lamium album, which was called “mertvaia urzica”—mertvaia is education and 12 people had secondary education. In the Russian translation of moartă (dead) and urzică is Romanian Northern Bukovina, 45% of interviewees had primary for Urtica dioica. Indeed, in Romanian, “urzică moartă” is the education, 37% secondary education, 8% basic education, 5% name for Lamium album. A similar situation was observed for specialist education, and 5% higher education. As in the Lilium album, locally called “lilia alba,” which is a mixture of the Romanian part of Bukovina, most of the interviewees in Ukrainian name “lilia” (in Romanian, it would be “crin”) and the Ukraine were retired (60%), 20% were employed outside the Romanian adjective “alba” (white). home, and 20% worked in small-scale family farming. Cross-Border Comparison of Medicinal RESULTS Uses Among Romanians Living Across the Bukovinian Border Cross-border comparison of medicinal plants used among Among Romanians living in Romania, plant remedies were Romanians living across the Bukovinian border. especially used for treating the digestive and respiratory We recorded the medicinal use of 108 plant taxa belonging to systems, which correspond to emic treatments, such as “good 45 families (Table 2). Fifty-four taxa were common to both for the stomach” and “good for the liver” or “cough” and “cold,” Romanian communities, 20 were found only among respectively. General health (e.g., “panacea,” “healthy,” and “good Romanians living in Romania, and 34 only among Romanians for kids”) was equally important in both communities (Figure 4). living in Ukraine, corresponding to a JI of 50 (Figure 2). When Among Ukrainian Romanians, the musculoskeletal and we considered only those plant taxa mentioned by at least 3 integumentary systems were also frequently mentioned, interviewees (about 10% of the interviews), we observed a JI of 52 indicating a preference for external uses. with 61 taxa in total, of which half (32) were common across the In both communities, tea was the most important medicinal border, 11 were found only among Romanians in Romania, and preparation as just water and the plants themselves are needed. In 18 only among Romanians in Ukraine. Thus, 44% of the taxa were Romania Bukovina, we met a 92-year-old woman who showed us mentioned by only one or two people in each community. the panacea tea she makes every year. She stored it in a big burlap Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 4 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Abies alba Mill. (Pinaceae) Brad Twigs Tea Cold Respiratory 2 0 Syrup/Tea Good for the lungs 4 0 Syrup Cough 6 0 Sore throat; good for the throat 4 0 Respiratory ways 3 0 Achillea millefolium L. (Asteraceae) Coada şoricelului; Coada şoarecului; Aerial parts Tea Good for the stomach Digestive 15 3 tjs>yfmіtojl @ SB011 (Tysiachelitnyk @) Good for the intestine 0 2 SB050 Diarrhea 0 1 SB074 Stomach pain 0 2 NB060 Pancreatitis 0 1 NB117 Abdominal pain 0 1 Good for the liver 7 0 Good for the abdomen 2 0 Nausea 2 0 Good for bile 1 0 “Waking up the female side” Genitourinary 0 1 Women’s problems 3 3 Good for the kidneys 3 1 Bladder problems 0 2 Genital problems 1 0 Good for the urinary tract 1 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 1 0 Intestinal worms Certain infectious diseases 2 0 Parasites 2 0 Pinworm 2 0 Panacea General health 7 1 Relaxing Nervous 1 0 5 Acorus calamus L. (Acoraceae) Zmăoaică Roots Tea Good for the stomach Digestive 0 2 Infused in alcohol Good for the stomach 0 3 Abdominal pain 0 2 Good for kidneys Genitourinary 0 1 Aesculus hippocastanum L. (Sapindaceae) Caştan; laztao § (Kashtan §) Flowers Infused in alcohol and locally applied Warts Certain infectious diseases 0 2 Good for the joints Musculoskeletal 0 6 SB057 Good for the skin 0 2 NB067 Fruits Good for the joints 0 2 Allium cepa L. (Amaryllidaceae) Ceapă; xjbum> § (Tsybulia §) Bulbs Fresh Lowering blood pressure Circulatory 2 0 Relaxing Nervous 2 0 Tea/Fresh Cough Respiratory 0 2 Fomentation Healthy General health 0 1 Whole plant Any preparation Thrombus Circulatory 0 1 Allium sativum L. (Amaryllidaceae) Usturoi; yfsopl@ (Chesnok@) Bulbs Fresh Good for the heart Cardiovascular 3 0 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Blood thinning Circulatory 2 0 Cold Respiratory 0 2 Allium ursinum L. (Amaryllidaceae) Usturoi de padure; Leurdă; Usturoiul ursului Leaves Fresh in salad Detox General health 2 0 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Good for immunity Immune 2 0 Alnus spp. (Betulaceae) Arin Twigs Tea Diarrhea Digestive 0 1 Aloe spp. (Xanthorrhoeaceae) Aloe; ampє § (aloie §) Leaves Infused in alcohol Stomach ache Digestive 0 1 Ointment with fat, locally applied Hemorrhoids 0 1 Fresh, locally applied Warts Certain infectious diseases 1 0 Good for the skin Integumentary 0 2 Althaea officinalis L. (Malvaceae) Nalbă mare Flowers Tea Good for the colon Digestive 1 0 Anethum graveolens L. (Apiaceae) Mărar; lrjΠ § (Kryp §) Seeds Tea Pain relief General health 0 2 SB032 Good for the stomach Digestive 0 2 Children’s abdominal pain and intestinal gas 2 0 Aerial parts Good for the stomach 0 1 Lowering blood pressure Circulatory 0 2 Arctium lappa L. (Asteraceae) Brusture; mpΠuχ § (Lopukh §) Roots Fresh Panacea General health 1 0 SB052 Infused in alcohol Rheumatism Musculoskeletal 2 0 SB091 Cancer Neoplasm 2 0 Tea Wounds Integumentary 0 1 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Leaves Tea Good for the stomach Digestive 2 0 Good for bile 2 0 Gently pressed and locally applied Varices Circulatory 1 0 Heel pain 0 1 Joint pain Musculoskeletal 1 3 Headache Nervous 2 3 Foot pain 2 0 Fever General health 0 1 Warts Certain infectious diseases 0 2 Heel cracking Integumentary 0 1 Aerial parts Boiled Good for the hair Integumentary 0 5 Armoracia rusticana P.Gaertn., B.Mey. and Scherb. (Brassicaceae) Hrean Leaves Boiled Blood cleansing Hematopoietic 0 1 SB031 Roots Locally applied Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 1 NB028 Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) Arnica Infused in alcohol Good for the stomach 2 0 Roots Ulcer Digestive 2 0 Flowers Promoting cicatrization Integumentary 0 1 Artemisia absinthium L. (Asteraceae) Pelin Aerial parts Bath Good for the feet General health 1 0 SB005 Women’s problems Genitourinary 1 0 Tea Detox General health 1 0 Blood cleansing Hematopoietic 1 0 Good for bile Digestive 1 0 Good for the stomach 4 0 Good for the liver 2 0 Hepatitis 2 0 Fresh Worms (in children) Certain infectious diseases 0 1 Infused in alcohol Organism cleansing General health 0 2 Artemisia dracunculus L. (Asteraceae) Tarhon Aerial parts Tea Panacea General health 0 2 SB015 6 SB029 Asplenium scolopendrium L. (Aspleniaceae) Limba cerbului Aerial parts Tea Good for the liver Digestive 1 0 Good for the stomach 1 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 1 0 Vascular diseases 1 0 Good for the blood Hematopoietic 1 0 Avena sativa L. (Poaceae) Pcs>ola @ (ovsianka) Seeds Tea Podagral Musculoskeletal 0 1 Diarrhea Digestive 0 1 Constipation 0 1 Beta vulgaris L. (Amaranthaceae) Sfeclă roşie Tubers Fresh Cough Respiratory 1 0 SB026 Anemia Hematopoietic 1 0 Juice Anemia Hematopoietic 1 0 Cough Respiratory 1 0 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Cancer Neoplasm 0 2 Betula pendula Roth. (Betulaceae) Mesteacăn; bfrfia§ (bereza) Buds and small leaves Tea Good for vessels Circulatory 0 2 SB087 Good for the prostate Genitourinary 0 2 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 NB155 Sap Fresh Good for the gallbladder Digestive 1 0 NB040 Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 1 0 Panacea General health 3 0 Organism cleansing 0 2 Bidens tripartita L. (Asteraceae) Turiţă; yfrfea § (chereda §) Aerial parts Bath Good for the skin Integumentary 0 4 NB090 Skin cleansing 0 4 Tea Allergies Immune 0 2 Diabetes Endocrine 0 1 Blood cleansing Hematopoietic 0 1 Brassica oleracea L. (Brassicaceae) Varză (verde); Curechi; laΠusta § (kapusta §) Leaves Gently pressed and locally applied Joint pain Musculoskeletal 6 6 Gout 0 2 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Calendula officinalis L. (Asteraceae) Gălbenele; oa[іelj § (Nahidky §) Flowers Tea Good for bile Digestive 2 0 NB170 Good for the liver 10 1 Sore throat Respiratory 0 1 Headache Nervous 1 0 Bone pain Musculoskeletal 1 0 Genital problems Genitourinary 1 0 Disinfecting General health 3 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 2 0 Bath Good for the colon Digestive 1 0 Women’s problems Genitourinary 0 2 Ointment Good for the skin/Dry skin Integumentary 9 0 Dried heels 1 0 Pimples 1 0 Burns 1 0 Warts Certain infectious diseases 2 0 Cold Respiratory 1 0 Varices Circulatory 1 0 Foot/Hand/Leg/Joint pain Musculoskeletal 3 1 Dislocation Injury 1 0 Sores General health 1 0 Panacea 0 1 Mastitis Genitourinary 0 1 Tampon Cervix Genitourinary 0 1 Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. (Brassicaceae) Traista ciobanului; Πastuza sunla § Aerial parts Boiled Incontinence Genitourinary 0 1 (Pastusha sumka §) SB012 Tea Panacea General health 1 0 NB218 Women’s problems Genitourinary 1 0 Capsicum annuum L. (Solanaceae) Chiparuşcă & Fruits Any preparation Thrombus Circulatory 0 2 Carpinus betulus L. (Betulaceae) Qrab § (Hrab §) Wood Burned for soap Body cleansing General health 0 2 7 Carum carvi L. (Apiaceae) Săcărică; Secărica; Chimion; lnjo § (kmyn §) Aerial parts (including seeds) Infused in alcohol Healthy General health 1 0 SB007 Tea Diarrhea Digestive 10 0 NB037 Good for the stomach/Stomach pain 12 12 Stomach closing 4 0 Good for the liver 1 0 Abdominal pain 2 0 After giving birth Pregnancy 1 0 Panacea General health 1 0 Organism cleansing 1 0 Cough Respiratory 0 2 Chelidonium majus L. (Papaveraceae) Rostopasca; yjstptfm @ (Chistotel @) Aerial parts Tea Good for the liver Digestive 9 2 SB003 Good for the prostate Genitourinary 1 0 NB154 As an antibiotic Immune 1 0 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Joint pain Musculoskeletal 1 0 Sore throat Respiratory 1 0 Ulcer Digestive 0 2 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Ointment Hemorrhoids Digestive 0 1 Infused in alcohol Good for bile Digestive 2 0 Cancer Neoplasm 0 1 Sap Locally applied Warts Certain infectious diseases 4 1 Cuts Integumentary 1 0 Good for the eyes Visual 0 1 Roots Tea Women when weak General health 0 2 Cichorium intybus L. (Asteraceae) Cicoarea Flowers Tea Good for the abdomen Digestive 2 0 SB046 Good for the intestine 2 0 Constipation 2 0 Crataegus monogyna Jacq. (Rosaceae) Păducel; bp>r9zojl@; bp>rjzojl @ Twigs Tea Blood pressure normalization Circulatory 6 3 [mіe§; Malaieş (boiaryshnyk @; boiaryshnik@, hlid) SB064 Flowers and fruits Good for the heart Cardiovascular 12 5 NB234 Flowers High blood pressure Circulatory 0 4 Good for the liver Digestive 0 2 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Cucumis melo L. (Cucurbitaceae) Pepene Fruits Locally applied Good for the skin Integumentary 0 1 Cucumis sativus L. (Cucurbitaceae) P[іrpl § (Ohirok §) Stems Tea Calmant (for children) Nervous 0 2 Cucurbita pepo L. (Cucurbitaceae) [arbui § (Harbuz §) Seeds Fresh Good for the stomach Digestive 0 2 Tea Stimulate appetite General health 0 2 Prostatitis Genitourinary 0 2 Daucus carota L. (Apiaceae) Morcov Roots Fresh Improve vision Visual 3 0 Juice Blood cleansing Hematopoietic 0 1 Cancer Neoplasm 0 2 Dipsacus pilosus L. (Caprifoliaceae) Scaius Aerial parts Locally applied Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Elaeagnus rhamnoides (L.) A. Nelson (Elaeagnaceae) Cătina Fruit Syrup Immune system Immune 4 0 Tea Cough Respiratory 2 0 Blood pressure normalization Circulatory 1 0 Dried Panacea General health 2 0 Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) Barba ursului; Coada calului; xcp7 Πpm:pcjk Aerial parts Tea Blood cleansing Hematopoietic 1 0 § (Khvoshch polovyi §) SB020 Panacea General health 4 0 NB093 Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 5 4 Water eliminating 2 0 Genital problems 1 0 Good for the prostate 1 0 Good for the bladder 1 4 Bath Food and hand pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Fragaria vesca L. (Rosaceae) Fragi; Frăguţ; ifnm>oіla@; >[pej§ Whole plant Tea Panacea General health 1 0 (Zemlianika @; yahody §) SB094 Fruits Syrup/Tea Healthy General health 0 2 NB071 Tea/Fresh Fever General health 0 2 Fresh Vitamin provider Endocrine 0 2 Fruits/Aerial parts Tea/Fresh Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 1 Galium verum L. (Rubiaceae) Sânzâiene Aerial parts Tea Good for the thyroid Endocrine 0 1 8 SB093 NB150 Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) [іo[p bіmpba § (Hinho biloba §) Aerial parts Tea Good for the brain Nervous 0 1 Helianthus annuus L. (Asteraceae) Floarea-soarelui Seeds Oil, locally applied Good for the ear Auditory 2 0 Helianthus tuberosus L. (Asteraceae) TpΠjoanbur § (Topynambur §) Tuber Tea Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Leg pain 0 2 Helichrysum maracandicum Popov (Asteraceae) Bfisnfrtojl @ (Beszmertnik) Aerial parts Tea Good for the liver Digestive 0 2 Good for the stomach 0 2 Hordeum spp. (Poaceae) Orz Seeds Locally applied Back pain Musculoskeletal 0 1 Humulus lupulus L. (Cannabaceae) Hamei Flowers Tea Blood pressure normalization Circulatory 1 0 SB081 NB163 Hypericum spp. (Hypericaceae) Pojarniţa; Sunătoare; icfrpbpk@; icіrpbіk § Aerial parts Tea Good for the stomach/Stomachache Digestive 13 16 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina (Zveroboi @; zvirobii §) SB092 Diarrhea 0 3 SB068 Gastritis 0 2 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 NB148 Pancreatitis 0 1 Good for the abdomen/Abdominal pain 0 4 Indigestion 2 0 Good for the liver 4 0 Panacea General health 5 1 Healthy 0 2 Organism cleansing 1 0 Diabetes Endocrine 2 0 Relaxing Nervous 4 3 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Headache 3 0 Women’s problems Genitourinary 3 0 Sore throat Respiratory 1 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 1 0 Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae) Nuc; Γprіx § (gorih§) Leaves Tea Good for the hair Integumentary 6 0 SB051 Husk Good for the hair Integumentary 1 0 NB153 Fruits Cough Respiratory 0 1 Unripe fruits Infused in alcohol Diarrhea Digestive 0 1 Syrup Tongue cuts (in children) 0 1 Lamium album L. (Lamiaceae) Urzică cu floare albă; Urzică ı̂nflorită; Urzică Aerial parts Tea Women when weak General health 0 2 moartă; nfrtca> ureijla (Mertvaia urdzyka)* SB025 Aerial parts Women’s problems Genitourinary 1 0 Lavandula spp. (Asteraceae) Lavanda Flowers Mixed tea/Bath Relaxing Nervous 1 1 Leonurus cardiaca L. (Lamiaceae) Talpa gâştei Aerial parts Tea Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 1 Relaxing Nervous 0 1 Levisticum officinale W.D.J. Koch (Apiaceae) Leuştean Aerial parts Tea Weight-loss Endocrine 2 0 SB030 Infused in white wine Detox General health 2 0 Lilium candidum L. (Liliaceae) Lilia albă*; Crin; Crin alb; mjmj>@; mіmі>§ Flowers Infused in alcohol Burns Integumentary 0 1 (Lilia§@) SB049 Wounds 0 1 Good for the skin 0 5 Cuts 4 0 Warts Certain infectious diseases 9 3 Joint pain Musculoskeletal 2 2 Disinfecting General health 2 0 Linum usitatissimum L. (Linaceae) Mfo § (Len §) Seeds Tea Podagra Musculoskeletal 0 1 Boiled Abscesses Certain infectious diseases 0 2 Tea Gastritis Digestive 0 2 Boiled and locally applied Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 1 9 Wounds Integumentary 0 2 Lycopodium clavatum L. (Lycopodiaceae) Pedicuţa Aerial parts Tea Joint pain Musculoskeletal 2 0 SB053 Good for the liver Digestive 3 0 SB054 Jaundice 2 0 Malus domestica L. (Rosaceae) Mere Fruits Vinegar Promoting digestion Digestive 2 0 SB038 Juice Gall stones 0 1 Blood cleansing Hematopoietic 0 1 Uzvar Healthy General health 0 1 Malva spp. (Malvaceae) Nalbă Aerial parts (including flowers) Tea Cough General health 0 2 SB024 Bronchitis Respiratory 0 1 NB199 Good for the throat 0 2 Matricaria chamomilla L. (Asteraceae) Muşeţel; Romaniţă; rpnazla § Aerial parts Tea Constipation Digestive 3 0 (Romashka §) Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina SB002 Good for the intestine 2 1 SB019 Good for the teeth 2 2 NB171 Colic 1 0 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Good for the stomach 1 7 Diarrhea 0 2 Gastritis 0 2 Good for the abdomen/Abdominal pain 0 2 Tooth removal 0 2 Stomach cleansing 0 2 Jaundice 0 1 Body cleansing (children) Integumentary 3 5 Wounds 0 2 Cold Respiratory 1 0 Cough 1 1 Good for the throat/Sore throat 3 1 Disinfecting General health 7 0 Warming up 0 1 Panacea 2 5 Good for children 0 1 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Pain relief (children) 0 2 Fever 0 8 Relaxing Nervous 2 0 Good for the prostate Genitourinary 1 0 After giving birth Pregnancy 2 0 Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 1 As an antibiotic Immune 0 1 Gargling with honey Sore throat Respiratory 2 0 Bath Women’s problems Genitourinary 3 0 Hemorrhoids Digestive 0 1 Ointment Good for the skin Integumentary 2 0 Locally applied Eye cleansing Visual 4 1 Conjunctivitis 2 0 Warts Certain infectious diseases 2 0 Dried heels Integumentary 1 0 Melissa officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) Melisa Aerial parts Tea Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 2 SB095 Relaxing Nervous 0 1 Mentha sp. (Lamiaceae) Izma; Menta calului; Mintă; Menta chiparata Leaves Tea Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 2 oіota&; njotj&; (Ninta&; mynty&) SB014 Relaxing Nervous 4 8 SB016 Headache 1 0 SB034 Panacea General health 3 0 SB096 Diarrhea Digestive 2 0 NB172 Good for the stomach 5 0 NB025 Good for the abdomen/Abdominal pain 2 0 Good for the liver 3 0 After giving birth Pregnancy 1 0 Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 1 10 Infused in alcohol Mosquito bites General health 0 1 Cancer Neoplasm 0 1 Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae) Busuioc Aerial parts Bath Ringworm Certain infectious diseases 2 0 Tea Fever General health 0 1 Tea Good for children 1 0 Tea Depression Mental 2 0 Tea Headache Nervous 2 0 Origanum vulgare L. (Lamiaceae) Sovârf; şovarv; natfrjola§ (materynka §) Aerial parts Tea Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 1 SB036 Women’s problems Genitourinary 0 4 NB099 Breathing Respiratory 0 1 Bronchitis 0 1 Good for the lungs 0 1 Panacea (99 diseases/17 diseases) General health 2 2 Good for organism 0 1 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Good for the stomach Digestive 1 1 Headache Nervous 2 0 Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss (Apiaceae) Pătrunjel; Πftruzla § (Petrushka §) Aerial parts Tea Good for the teeth Digestive 1 0 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 SB033 Detox General health 2 0 Wounds Integumentary 0 1 Roots After giving birth Pregnancy 1 0 Women’s problems Genitourinary 0 2 Good for the kidneys 0 3 Prostatitis 0 2 Weight-loss Endocrine 0 2 Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Leguminosae) Fasole Pod exocarp Tea Weight-loss Endocrine 1 0 Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. Possibly including Abies alba Mill (Pinaceae) Molid; Xcp> § (Khvoia § needle) Twigs Syrup Good for the lungs Respiratory 5 0 Fever (children) General health 2 0 SB008 Sore throat Respiratory 5 0 SB021 Cold Respiratory 1 0 NB043 Tea/Syrup Cough Respiratory 8 0 Panacea General health 2 0 Tea Good for the liver Digestive 1 0 Bath Hemorrhoids Digestive 0 1 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Hand and Foot pain Musculoskeletal 0 1 Needles Bath Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Relaxing Nervous 0 2 Plantago lanceolata L. (Plantaginaceae) Pătlagină ı̂ngustă; Limba soacrei; Minciuna Leaves Tea Cough Respiratory 1 0 SB037 Roots Tea Good for the lungs Respiratory 2 0 Plantago major L. (Plantaginaceae) Pătlagină (lată) Leaves Syrup Panacea General health 2 0 SB066 Good for the throat Respiratory 1 0 NB161 Good for the respiratory ways 2 0 Syrup/Tea Cough Respiratory 4 3 Tea Good for the stomach Digestive 0 1 Gastric diseases 0 1 Bronchitis Respiratory 0 1 Locally applied Wounds Integumentary 0 4 Cuts Integumentary 1 0 Hand and Foot pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Good for the skin Integumentary 0 4 Warts Certain infectious diseases 7 1 Skin disease (roza) Integumentary 0 1 Disinfecting General health 0 1 Potentilla anserina L. (Rosaceae) Coada racului Whole plant Tea Panacea General health 1 0 Primula veris L. (Primulaceae) Ciuboţica cucului; Πfrcpxcіt § (Pervotsvit §) Flowers Tea Cough Respiratory 1 0 Liver problems Digestive 0 2 Aerial parts Tea Good for the abdomen Digestive 1 0 Good for the organism General health 1 0 Relaxing Nervous 2 0 Good for the lungs Respiratory 2 0 Prunus avium (L.) L. (Rosaceae) Cireş Stalks Tea Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 3 0 SB059 Good for the urinary tract 2 0 11 Prunus cerasus L. (Rosaceae) Vişine; Cireş amar; cjzo> § (Vyshnia §) Twigs Tea Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 2 SB045 Fever General health 0 2 Healthy 1 0 Cold Respiratory 0 2 Fruits Infused in alcohol and sugar Diarrhea Digestive 0 1 Good for the stomach Digestive 0 1 Infused in alcohol Headache Nervous 2 0 Stalks Tea Jaundice Digestive 2 0 Good for the liver 2 0 Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 1 0 Prunus domestica L. (Rosaceae) Prun; Perja Seeds Fresh Parasites Certain infectious diseases 1 0 Organism cleansing General health 1 0 Fruits Fresh Constipation Digestive 0 1 Uzvar General health General health 0 2 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Pyrus communis L. (Rosaceae) Pere Fruits Uzvar Healthy General health 0 1 SB080 Quercus spp. (Fagaceae) Stejar; eub § (Dub §) Bark (and leaves) Bath Hemorrhoids Digestive 0 3 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 SB056 NB160 Raphanus sativus L. (Brassicaceae) Ridiche neagră; rfe:la § (Redka §) Roots Boiled Cough Respiratory 0 1 Raw Good for the liver Digestive 2 0 Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 2 0 Healthy General health 2 0 Rheum rhaponticum L. (Polygonaceae) Ravint Stalks Syrup Good for the liver Digestive 2 0 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Good for ulcers 2 0 Rhododendron myrtifolium Schott & Kotschy (Ericaceae) Bujor de munte Flowers Syrup Asthma Respiratory 1 0 Bronchitis 1 0 Cold (in children) 1 0 Rhus typhina L. (Anacardiaceae) No name Flowers Boiled Abdominal pain Digestive 0 1 Good for the stomach 0 1 Ribes nigrum L. (Grossulariaceae) Snprpeіoa §; lplxj ef o>[rj (Smorodina §; Fruits Fresh Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 1 koktsy de niahry &) SB043 High blood pressure Circulatory 0 3 Blood pressure normalization 0 2 Tea/Syrup Healthy General health 0 4 Robinia pseudoacacia L. (Leguminosae) Salcâm Flowers Tea Good for the lungs Respiratory 2 0 SB041 Cough (children) 0 1 Cold 1 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 3 0 Relaxing Nervous 6 0 Panacea General health 1 0 Good for children 2 0 Leaves Tea Good for the liver Digestive 2 0 Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae) Măceeş; Cacadir; scfrbj[uila §; Fruits Tea Cold Respiratory 1 0 (Sverbyhuzka §) SB062 Cough 1 0 NB083 Aerial parts (including flowers) Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 5 Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 0 5 Flowers/Roots High blood pressure Circulatory 0 5 Good for the liver Digestive 0 2 Rubus idaeus L. (Rosaceae) Zmeură; namjoa §; namіoa @ (Malyna §; Fruits Syrup/Fresh Healthy General health 2 2 malina @) 12 SB009 Juice/Fresh/Infused in alcohol Fever General health 0 6 SB071 Aerial parts Tea Improve vision Visual 3 0 NB082 Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 9 Good for the stomach Digestive 1 0 Women’s pains Genitourinary 1 0 Good for women General health 1 0 Fever 0 5 Panacea 0 1 Sleep inducing 3 0 Cold Respiratory 0 4 Cough 0 1 Rubus spp. Including Rubus caesius L. (Rosaceae) Mure; fhfcjla @; yprojx>§ (Yezhevyka @; Aerial parts Tea Joint pain Musculoskeletal 1 0 chornytsia §) SB083 Good for the liver Digestive 2 0 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina NB001 Good for the stomach 2 0 NB062 Diabetes Endocrine 2 0 Hair loss Integumentary 0 1 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 High blood pressure Circulatory 0 1 Fruits Syrup/Fresh Healthy General health 2 2 Tea Cold Respiratory 0 2 Fresh Fever General health 0 2 Rumex acetosa L. (Polygonaceae) Macriş Aerial parts Tea Panacea General health 0 1 SB076 Fresh Bronchitis Respiratory 0 1 NB081 Rumex patientia L. (Polygonaceae) Stejie; Stevie Roots Tea Diarrhea Digestive 4 1 Good for the stomach 0 1 Locally applied Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Salix spp. (Salicaceae) Răchită; Cfrba § (Verba §) Wood Burned for soap Body cleansing General health 0 2 SB040 Twigs Tea Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 SB047 Leg pain 0 2 NB073 Salvia officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) Salvia Leaves Tea Good for children General health 1 0 SB028 Menopause Genitourinary 1 0 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Tea Good mood Mental 2 0 Tea Relaxing Nervous 2 0 Sambucus nigra L. (Adoxaceae) Soc; buijoa§ (Buzyna §) Flowers Tea Cough (children) Respiratory 3 9 SB084 Improve breathing 0 2 Good for the lungs 2 1 Sudorific Integumentary 2 0 Blood pressure normalization Circulatory 0 2 Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 2 Fever General health 0 3 Syrup/Tea Cold Respiratory 5 1 Sore throat 6 0 Healthy General health 3 0 Solanum lycopersicum L. (Solanaceae) Roşie Fruits Gargling with lemon Sore throat Respiratory 0 1 Solanum tuberosa L. (Solanaceae) Cartofi; Barabule; lartpzla @ (kartoshka @) Tuber Locally applied Headache Nervous 2 4 Fomentation Cough Respiratory 0 1 Women’s problems Genitourinary 0 2 Solidago virgaurea L. (Asteraceae) Splinuţă Aerial parts Tea with Lamium album Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 0 1 Sorbus aucuparia L. (Rosaceae) r>bjoa@; yproa> r>bjoa @ (ryabina @; Fruits Juice/Tea High blood pressure Circulatory 0 5 chornaia ryabina @) Symphytum officinale L. (Boraginaceae) Tătăneasă; Iarbă tatei &; Iarbă lui tatin &; Roots Bath Body cleansing General health 0 1 hjcplpst§ (Zhyvokost §) SB070 Ointment Leg pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 NB176 Rubbed fresh/poultice/infused in alcohol Joint pain Musculoskeletal 3 5 NB177 Locally applied Fracture Injury 0 1 Heel pain Musculoskeletal 0 1 Infused in alcohol Rheumatism Musculoskeletal 2 0 Rubdown General health 1 0 Pain relief 2 0 13 Tea Healthy General health 1 0 Whole plant Tea Panacea General health 2 0 Leaves/Roots Locally applied Warts Certain infectious diseases 3 0 Leaves Infused in alcohol Dislocation Injury, poisoning or certain other 2 0 consequences of external causes Roots and flowers Tea Vascular diseases Cardiovascular 1 0 Syringa vulgaris L. (Oleaceae) Liliac Aerial parts Tea Cough Respiratory 0 1 Taraxacum campylodes G.E.Haglund (Asteraceae) Păpădia; Pască gaine &; Curul găinii &; Roots Tea Asthma Respiratory 0 2 lum:baba§ Peucaoyjlj @ (kulbaba §; Oduvanchiki @) SB063 Flowers Syrup Good for the throat/Sore throat Respiratory 2 0 NB084 Bronchitis 1 1 Good for the lungs 0 1 Asthma 1 0 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Cold 3 0 Good for children General health 0 1 Panacea 1 0 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Good for the liver Digestive 4 0 Liver detoxing 2 0 Good for immunity Immune 1 0 Fresh Lung problems Respiratory 1 0 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR Chewing fresh Stomach cleansing Digestive 0 1 Tea Cancer Neoplasm 0 1 Aerial parts Tea Good for the liver Digestive 2 1 Stems Fresh Good for the liver Digestive 2 0 Thymus spp. Including Thymus serpyllum L./Thymus vulgaris L. (Lamiaceae) Cimbrişor; Cimbru; yfbrfx:§ (Chebrets §) Aerial parts Tea Panacea General health 2 0 SB001 Healthy 0 2 SB090 Headache Nervous 1 0 NB027, NB030 Good for the stomach Digestive 2 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 1 0 Cold Respiratory 0 2 Good for the lungs 0 1 Bronchitis 0 1 Tea/Fomentation Cough Respiratory 0 7 Tilia cordata Mill. (Malvaceae) Tei; mjΠa § (Lypa §) Flowers Bath Body cleansing General health 0 1 SB017 Tea Good for the heart Cardiovascular 1 0 NB253 Cough Respiratory 1 0 Sore throat 1 0 Cold 5 2 Good for the lungs 1 0 Panacea General health 0 1 Fever (children) 3 2 Healthy 1 0 Diabetes Endocrine 2 0 Cramps Nervous 1 0 Relaxing 14 0 Headache 1 0 Flu Certain infectious diseases 0 2 Trifolium spp. (Leguminosae) Trifoi roşu; Trifoi; lmfcfr @ (Klever@) Aerial parts Tea Good for the heart Cardiovascular 0 3 14 SB075 Good for the organism General health 0 2 SB077 Headache Nervous 0 2 SB078 Gastritis Digestive 0 2 SB072 Good for the gallbladder 0 2 NB076 Bath Leg and Foot pain General health 0 1 Tussilago farfara L. (Asteraceae) Podbal Leaves Tea Good for the stomach Digestive 0 1 SB065 Infused in alcohol and locally applied Good for the skin Integumentary 0 1 SB085 NB070 Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae) Urzică Aerial parts Tea/Fresh Blood/Vessel cleansing Hematopoietic 9 8 SB088 Aerial parts Tea/Soup Good for blood circulation Circulatory 6 0 NB026 Shampoo Good for the hair Integumentary 4 6 Soup Vitamin provider Endocrine 0 1 Tea Blood changing Hematopoietic 1 0 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Hair loss Integumentary 0 1 Good for bones Musculoskeletal 0 2 Blood pressure normalization Circulatory 2 0 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 1 0 Good for the stomach Digestive 1 0 Panacea General health 0 1 Kidney stones Genitourinary 0 1 Headache Nervous 0 1 Whole plant Tea/Fresh Iron provider Endocrine 6 0 Vaccinium myrtillus L. (Ericaceae) Afina; yfrojla @ (Chernika @) Fruits Fresh Improve vision Visual 3 0 (Continued on following page) Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org Mattalia et al. TABLE 2 | (Continued) Recorded medicinal plants among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). Local names are in Romanian except for § (plant named in Ukrainian), @ (plant named in Russian), §@ (plant named using a term common to both Ukrainian and Russian), * (plant named with a mixture of two languages), and (plant named in the local dialect). Latin name Local names Part used Preparation Use System ICD-11 RR UR SB006 Fresh/Jam Good for eyes 3 2 NB060 Tea/Fresh/Infused in alcohol/Syrup Stomach pain Digestive 2 6 Dried/Infused in alcohol Diarrhea 2 3 Jam Pancreatitis 0 1 Infused in alcohol Abdominal pain 0 1 Aerial parts Tea Diabetes Endocrine 3 0 Improve vision Visual 8 0 Good for the eyes 2 0 Good for stomach Digestive 3 0 Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. (Ericaceae) Merişoare; Merişor Aerial parts Tea Fever General health 1 0 SB010 Panacea 0 1 NB061 Improve vision Visual 2 0 Good for the eyes 2 0 Good for the heart Cardiovascular 2 0 Women’s problems Genitourinary 2 0 Valeriana officinalis L. (Caprifoliaceae) Valeriană; camfrіaoa § (valeryana §) Roots Infused in alcohol/Tea Good for the heart/Heart problems Cardiovascular 2 1 Viburnum opulus L. (Adoxaceae) Calina; lamjoa § (kalyna §) Fruits Tea Cold Respiratory 1 0 NB157 Flu Certain infectious diseases 1 0 Tea/Syrup/Raw Cough (children) Respiratory 5 5 Tea/Fresh Blood pressure normalization Circulatory 1 6 Fresh Tuberculosis Respiratory 0 1 Viola spp. Including Viola tricolor L. (Violaceae) Panseluţa; Trei fraţi pătaţi Aerial parts Tea Allergies Immune 2 0 SB079 Viscum album L. (Santalaceae) Vasc Aerial parts Tea Good for the heart Cardiovascular 2 0 Vitis vinifera L. (Vitaceae) Strugure Leaves Tea Diabetes Endocrine 1 0 Zea mays L. (Poaceae) Porumb; lulurueia § (kukurudza §) Fruit Bath Joint pain Musculoskeletal 0 2 Cough Respiratory 1 0 Good for the kidneys Genitourinary 4 6 15 Good for the urinary tract 0 1 Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae) Imbir Tuber Tea Organism cleansing General health 0 2 Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina FIGURE 2 | Proportional Venn diagram of taxa used by Romanians living in Romania (RR) and in Ukraine (UR). (A) considers all taxa, and (B) includes only taxa mentioned by at least 3 people. JI A  50; JI B  52. bag along with 12 dried species, including the flowers of Primula used as relaxants, and the roots of Symphytum officinalis were vulgaris, Primula elatior, Arnica montana, Calendula officinalis, used to treat joint pain. Urtica dioica was mentioned as a Robinia pseudoacacia, Rosa rugosa, and Tilia cordata; the stalks of shampoo. Moreover, 4 use combinations were reported Prunus cerasus; and the aerial parts of Mentha spp., Hypericum identically by at least 20% of the interviewees (6 individuals) perforatum, Achillea millefolium, and Thymus serpyllum. and included a cultivated species, Brassica oleracea, locally In both areas of Bukovina, tea was sometimes sweetened with applied for joint pain and three wild species: Urtica dioica was honey, especially for treating respiratory disorders. External uses, used for blood cleansing and Carum carvi and Hypericum spp. such as “locally applied” or “infused in alcohol and then locally Specifically, the last two plants were mentioned by some 40% of applied,” as well as “raw” uses were equally important across the the interviewees for treating stomach conditions. border although a bath preparation was considerably more important in Ukraine and syrup much more often mentioned in Romania. Cross-Cultural Comparison of Medicinal Fifteen DURs related to 11 taxa were mentioned by at least 3 interviewees (10% of the sample) on both sides of the border. Plant Uses with Hutsuls Living in Romanian Both groups used Achillea millefolium for stomach ailments and and Ukrainian Bukovina women’s problems and Crataegus spp. for normalizing blood The comparison with data from our previous publication (Mattalia pressure and being good for the heart. Likewise, in both et al., 2020b) addressing a cross-border comparison among Hutsuls communities, Equisetum and Zea mays teas were used for living in Romania and Ukraine showed that 18 taxa were common to treating the kidneys, Lilium candidum was infused in alcohol the four communities (Figure 5). Some uses were reported by all four and locally applied to warts, and Matricaria chamomilla was used Bukovinian communities across the border, including Carum carvi for body cleansing. The leaves of Plantago major, tea made from and Hypericum spp. for stomach ailments as well as boiled Urtica Sambucus nigra flowers, and the fruits of Viburnum opulus were dioica for washing hair and for cleansing the blood. Some other used to treat cough among Romanians in both Romania and species growing at higher altitudes (where Hutsuls live), such as Ukraine. Teas made from Mentha spp. and Hypericum spp. were Arnica montana and Vaccinium myrtillus, were not so common among Romanians. On the contrary, the shared species are widely available and respond to common and not-so-urgent needs, such as stomach pain or hair washing. In line with our findings among Romanians, Hutsuls living in Romania mentioned more plant-based remedies for the digestive system, and the musculoskeletal and integumentary systems were more often cited by Hutsuls living in Ukraine. Cross-Cultural Comparison in Romanian Bukovina Hutsuls and Romanians living in Romania shared 41 plant taxa used for medicinal purposes although 22 were found only among Hutsuls and 33 only among Romanians for a total of 96 taxa (Figure 6). The JI between these two groups was 43, thus indicating less similarity than that between the two Romanian groups, i.e., those living in Romanian and Ukraine. The taxa shared FIGURE 3 | Distribution of languages used to mention medicinal plants exclusively among these two groups living in Romania included among Romanians living in Ukraine. Potentilla anserina, Prunus avium, and Salvia spp. However, they Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 16 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina FIGURE 4 | Cross-border comparison of treated systems among Romanians living in Romania (RR) and Ukraine (UR). equally mentioned, whereas topical applications were more important among the latter group. Of the top 5 most used plants within each community, only Hypericum spp. was found in common (32 DURs among Hutsuls and 39 among Romanians). The most used plant taxa among Hutsuls included Vaccinium myrtillus, Urtica dioica, and Tilia cordata, and among Romanians, they included Achillea millefolium, Matricaria chamomilla, and Calendula officinalis. Cross-Cultural Comparison in Ukrainian Bukovina Romanians and Hutsuls living in Ukrainian Bukovina mentioned 126 medicinal plant taxa, of which 65 were shared, 38 were found only among Hutsuls, and 23 only among Romanians (Figure 7). The related JI was 52. When considering only those taxa mentioned by at least three interviewees, the overall numbers decreased significantly to 34 common plants, 16 found only among Hutsuls, and 15 only among Romanians. However, the JI was the same at 52. The most important treated systems were the digestive system among Romanians and the respiratory system as well as the general health category among Hutsuls. The cardiovascular, circulatory, endocrine, and visual systems were mentioned FIGURE 5 | Proportional Venn diagram of taxa used by at least 3 interviewees in each community. RH  Hutsuls living in Romania, RR  more often among Hutsuls than among Romanians. Indeed, Romanians living in Romania, UH  Hutsuls living in Ukraine, UR  Romanians Hutsuls reported a higher number of medicinal DURs. living in Ukraine. Of the 5 top used plant taxa, three were found in common between the two communities (Rubus idaeus, Hypericum spp., Urtica dioica). The most used plant among Hutsuls was were mentioned by only one or two people. Indeed, considering Vaccinium myrtillus, which was not available to Romanians, those plant taxa mentioned by at least 3 interviewees, only one whose most used species was Matricaria chamomilla. plant (Abies alba) was common to only these two groups as the Nine taxa were mentioned as being used for medicinal purposes other 23 were also shared with the Ukrainian groups. by at least three interviewees, all in Ukraine. They included two wild The analysis of the treated systems revealed that the digestive, species (Quercus spp., Rumex patientia) and seven that are cultivated circulatory, immune, and nervous systems were more important (Aesculus hippocastanum, Aloe vera, Anethum graveolens, Linum among Romanians, and the musculoskeletal system was more usitatissimum, Malus domestica, Melissa officinalis, Ribes nigrum). important among Hutsuls. Plant-based remedies for the cardiovascular, genitourinary, integumentary, and respiratory systems were equally reported in the two communities. In Knowledge Transmission, a Cross-Border Romania, Hutsuls mentioned 22% fewer DURs than Romanians. and Cross-Cultural Analysis Regarding medicinal preparations, teas were less important We recorded seven sources of knowledge among Romanians in among Romanians than Hutsuls (55% vs. 67%), and syrup was Romania. The most mentioned source was parents (41%), followed Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 17 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina FIGURE 6 | Proportional Venn diagram of taxa used by Hutsuls (RH) and Romanians (RR) living in Romania. Diagram A considers all taxa, and diagram B includes only taxa mentioned by at least 3 people. Diagram C shows the systems treated with plants among Romanians and Hutsuls living in Romania. FIGURE 7 | Proportional Venn diagram of taxa used by Hutsuls (UH) and Romanians (UR) living in Bukovina, Ukraine. (A) considers all taxa, and (B) includes only taxa mentioned by at least 3 people. Diagram C shows the systems treated with plants among Romanians and Hutsuls living in Ukraine. by grandparents (20%) and the elderly (15%), and written sources accounted for 18% (Figure 8). When considering the categories (including the category “school,” which is based on the response proposed by Van den Boog et al. (2017), vertical transmission was “biology books” provided by many interviewees) altogether predominant, followed by written sources and oblique transmission. Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 18 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina FIGURE 8 | Knowledge transmission among Romanians living in Romania per emic category (A) and etic category adapted from Van den Boog et al. (2017) (B). Comparison with the knowledge transmission strategies an understandable way] about everything. Everything I told you among Romanian Hutsuls revealed that the elderly played a is from books, from television, and from our life.” Although major role among Hutsuls although among Romanians written other Romanians living in Ukraine also mentioned the sources were more important. Indeed, some Romanian Romanian-language channel MEGA as a source of interviewees living in Straja reported that they had started knowledge, the woman highlighted “from our life,” which reading books on medicinal plants since their retirement as was also mentioned by other interviewees with the they have had more spare time. They already knew most of expressions “from myself” or “from my job.” This concept the plants, but as they have had more free time, they have was not mentioned among Romanians living in Romania and deepened their knowledge and started valuing the same plants may underline the importance of personal strength to overcome for other purposes. For instance, one person said, “I have read a difficult times, such as those they probably experienced during lot about what they [the plants] are good for because we knew the the Soviet period and the socioeconomic crises after the Soviet plants from our grandparents as they used many plants for Union collapsed. everything” (female, born 1948). Another female interviewee At the same time, among Romanians living in Ukraine, there also reported having learned from monastery books: “I have were also some individuals who did not use books because “we learned from my parents, but there are a lot of books from read books and we forget,” which was also something monasteries because there they use a lot [of plants]. They [the mentioned among Hutsuls living in Romania. This attitude plants] have been used for long time, but newer recipes have might be indicative of a rejection of that bibliophilic society in appeared” (female, born 1957). which books are a source of pride (found in the Ukrainian Among Romanians living in Ukraine, we recorded ten sources society), still coexisting with the perspective that “there is no of knowledge (Figure 9). The most mentioned were parents, time for books,” and somehow vertically transmitted followed by grandparents (together representing vertical knowledge is more important (found in the Romanian knowledge and 61% of the total). Horizontal knowledge society). However, another factor may be the high reliance (neighbors and folk) accounted for 13%, and the elderly on “neighbor knowledge” or oral knowledge transmitted (oblique knowledge) constituted 5%. Written and visual horizontally. sources represented 17% of the sources of knowledge. A couple of women (born in 1954 and 1960), when asked In present-day Ukraine, where culture and education are more about medicinal plants, declared, “I don’t know. We bring them accessible, owning a book is still a sign of social prestige, e.g., an from Romania; in Italy, they have such a good tea mixture interviewee told us, “I have learned from my parents and from against cancer. My sister-in-law brings them to me from school and a medicinal book. I have son who is a doctor, so I have Romania, Italy, and America. Cancer is the hardest to treat.” a big book with all the plants, and I have looked through it. There Interestingly, remedies for cancer were mentioned by an are many plants we still don’t know.” During the socialist era, educated couple in Romania, and it was mentioned by six medicinal books were considered “scarce,” and they were very interviewees in Ukraine. All the interviewees reported having hard to buy. Also, in Ukraine, it is a point of pride to own books learned about cancer remedies recently. At the same time, the and to have knowledge from books as, during Soviet times, only ongoing erosion process was also mentioned by another those who had an education and books had good jobs and Romanian man (born in 1935) in Ukrainian Bukovina: “I salaries. In addition, as a post-Soviet phenomenon, local or don’t know a lot. In the past, the grandmas harvested “grandmother” knowledge has been criticized and even satirized. [medicinal plants], but now not too much. You go to the However, an important role was also assigned to television: “I shop and can get everything you need.” have learned a lot from television. There are programs by Comparing the ecological knowledge transmission of Hutsuls Romanians [on Romanian TV], where doctors talk nicely [in and Romanians living in Romania, we observe that the elderly Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 19 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina FIGURE 9 | Knowledge transmission among Romanians living in Ukraine (n  22; 8 interviews  source of knowledge unknown). were more important among the former (42%) than the latter and Romanians living in Romania have the least similarity (JI  44 for (15%) as their societal structure is likely different—more centered all taxa and JI  43 for taxa mentioned by at least three interviewees). at the community level than the family level—due also in part to These results indicate a stronger cohesion between the two groups the higher degree of remoteness of their mountain dwellings. In living in Ukraine. We found some plant taxa shared only by the two addition, books and schools were less important sources of Ukrainian groups, possibly confirming our previous hypothesis knowledge among Hutsuls, representing 2% and 3%, regarding the presence of some pan-Soviet influence in the respectively (they were 8% and 10% among Romanians). ethnobotany of Ukrainian Bukovina (Mattalia et al., 2020b). Hutsuls and Romanians living in Ukrainian Bukovina shared a Among possible pan-Soviet elements, Aesculus hippocastanus more similar way of transmitting ecological knowledge, yet the infused in alcohol for relieving joint and rheumatic pain was also elderly were still more important among Hutsuls as were parents reported in Belarus Sõukand et al. (2017a) and in Estonia (Sõukand and grandparents. Books and TV had the same importance in the and Kalle 2011), where an increase in use was also detected during two communities. Soviet times. Another plant common to other Eastern European countries is Aloe spp., which is used especially for treating the skin but also the digestive system (Sõukand et al., 2017b). Linum DISCUSSION usitatissimum, well known in Estonia for its ethnoveterinary for its ethnoveterinary properties (Kalle and Kaas, 2020), is still Caveats of the Study sometimes used for the digestive system (Sõukand et al., 2017b). Before discussing the results of the study, we want to mention Finally, Ribes nigrum was mentioned on the Romanian side of the some caveats that may affect our interpretation and were border but only for food purposes, and in Ukraine, it was also considered in the following discussion. As the interviews in mentioned for treating the circulatory and cardiovascular systems, Romanian were conducted with the help of facilitators, small and it was reported for several other uses in Belarus (Sõukand et al., details of the narratives could have been lost in translation. 2017b). Interviews among Ukrainian Romanians were conducted partially in Romanian and partially in Ukrainian and Russian, What Language Can Reveal depending on the interviewer and also the language that the Linguistic analysis of the plant names mentioned among interviewee preferred. However, interviewees often responded in Romanians living in Ukraine reveals possible links to a mixture of the three languages, which sometimes made it (written) sources of knowledge in Russian and/or Ukrainian. difficult to capture particulars of their narratives. Moreover, A prime example is provided by Arctium lappa (“lopukh”), we conducted the linguistic analysis only among the interviews which was mentioned among Romanians living in Ukraine for conducted in the Romanian language to avoid bias as a result of hair care. The same use was quite popular among Ukrainian the vehicular languages of the interviews. Finally, the sample was Hutsuls although, on the Romanian side, it was not mentioned not randomized, for which the representativeness of responses at all. During Soviet times, Arctium lappa was actively used; can be questioned. there was even a state standard for collection of its roots (Spravochnik 1983). In published books, it is explained that the roots help to have “beautiful and nice hair” (Reva and Romanian Ethnomedicine Across Borders Lypoveckyi 1977) and that the oil extract is used for hair and Cultures care (Kharchenko et al., 1971). However, the plant described The JI of plant-based ethnomedicine reveals that the closest groups by Komendar, (1971) as good against hair loss and also skin are Hutsuls and Romanians living in Ukraine (JI  52 for all taxa and cancer is Arctium tomentosum, not Arctium lappa, as the local for taxa mentioned by at least three interviewees) followed by name is the same. Similarly, Avena sativa and Linum Romanians on both sides of the border (JI  52 for all taxa and usitatissimum were mentioned only among Hutsuls and JI = 50 for taxa mentioned by at least three interviewees) and Hutsuls Romanians living in Ukraine. Avena sativa was described as Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 20 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina a source of vitamin B and good for the appetite (Olijnuk et al., linguistics. Indeed, they declared not being able to speak any 1990). Linum usitatissimum is described as having anti- language properly as they do not speak “român curat,” or correct inflammatory properties (Kharchenko et al., 1971; Romanian (literally: clean Romanian, sometimes also referred to Spravochnik 1983) and as a remedy for gastric ulcer as Moldovenesc—local Romanian written with Cyrillic (Gammerman et al., 1976). Another example is provided by characters), and they speak only incorrect Russian and few Ribes nigrum, which is referred to with the non-Romanian name words of Ukrainian. This linguistic duality is currently seen as “smorodina.” In Soviet books, it is described as rich in vitamins, an advantage for both obtaining a Romanian (thus, European especially vitamin C, and as antidiarrhea and diuretic remedies Union) passport and importing contraband cigarettes into (Kharchenko et al., 1971; Karhut, 1976; Mamchur, 1986). Its use Romania, which is a profitable job in the area (Cassidy, 2017). for treating circulatory and cardiovascular disorders was Considering that, before border creation, the two groups of reported only in Ukraine (among both Romanians and Romanians possessed homogeneous LEK, the different political Hutsuls). On the other side of the border, Romanians used and, therefore, socioeconomic trajectories experienced by this taxon only for food purposes, using the Romanian name Romanians on the two sides of the border may have shaped “coacăze negre.” This term was also used among Romanians in the current LEK. On the one hand, we could not find the main Ukraine but to treat general health issues. These examples drivers of LEK change among Romanians living in Romania as suggest that language can serve as a vector, providing a clue the area was very limitedly touched by the sistematizarea to the possible roots of such uses. policies (rural systematization) implemented by Ceauşescu In addition, the linguistic analysis highlighted the use of very because of the resistance of local inhabitants to specific terms among Romanians living in Ukraine when collectivization, the limited interactions of the population compared with Romanians living in Romania. Indeed, they with the communist regime, and the unfavorable used such terms as “ghemoglobin” (hemoglobin), “pancratit” geographical conditions (Olaru, 2019). On the other hand, (pancreatitis), and “trombii” (thrombus), which were not used after border creation and the consequent annexation of among Romanians living in Romania. The latter, on the contrary, Northern Bukovina to the USSR, Romanians living in used very common and basic medical terms, mainly referring to Ukraine underwent a process of assimilation into Soviet different parts of the body. Ukrainian Hutsuls mentioned several culture (or Sovietization). Despite the fact that, in the study technicisms, including “cardiomagnil”. area, the Romanian language has prevailed for a long time in both schools and churches (considered the most important local The Divergent Evolution of LEK Held by authorities), villagers underwent a process of indirect Romanians Living Across the Border assimilation into Russian culture, also through the adoption Another aspect revealed by the cross-border analysis involves the of the Cyrillic alphabet to write the Romanian language different knowledge transmission strategies of the different (Popescu, 1994). With regard to medicinal knowledge, the groups. In Romania (mainly Romanian) interviewees assimilation process could have also been fostered by the mentioned using books to supplement the knowledge they evolution of the Northern Bukovinian health system during acquired from their parents, and this occurred only in people and after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. According to the who had an above-average education and the time afforded by historical analysis proposed by Lekhan et al. (2010), during the retirement. Basically, while enjoying more free time, they Soviet era, the medical system provided universal access to reported reading and learning about new uses for the plants health services, and pharmaceutical products were well they had known since childhood. An interesting comment was distributed at the local level. Despite their wide availability, made by a woman who highlighted local monasteries as a source the quality of such pharmaceuticals were not high as medical of knowledge. Indeed, in Bukovina, Orthodox monasteries have guidance was mostly based on “expert” advice rather than on been crucial elements of the cultural landscape for many centuries evidence-based medicine (Danichevski et al., 2008; Rechel et al., (Nicu and Stoleriu, 2019). No one in Romania reported television 2011). Therefore, several medical treatments were ineffective or the Internet as a source of their knowledge. Conversely, we despite the country having one of the highest numbers of may describe our Ukrainian interviewees as bibliophilic as they physicians per capita (Cromley and Craumer 1990; Rechel often proudly reported having big medicinal books and using et al., 2011). The creation of the independent state of them when needed. Therefore, we can argue that the current Ukraine and the hard shift from a communist to a market medicinal knowledge held by Romanians living in Ukraine has an economy resulted in a decline in population health as well as a important scholarly knowledge component (sensu Mattalia et al., high cost of medical supplies (Lekhan et al., 2010). 2019) that originated in the Soviet context. Moreover, they This health context may have promoted the use of local mentioned having learned from television as well, but in our resources, especially in the economic crisis of the 1990s, when presence, they searched for answers on YouTube in the Russian many people could read Russian (and the books published in this language. Indeed, the era of television’s influence dates to the language), and medicinal products were rare and expensive. As 1980s and 1990s when, in Soviet countries, many healers soon as the economic situation improved, Romanians living in provided medical advice on various programs, and many Ukraine, in order to make a profit from their ability to navigate people still believe them (Bogdanov, 2020). multilinguistic and multicultural systems, started emigrating and Interviewees appeared proud to be able to navigate different obtaining medicines from other countries as well as obtaining systems, which is similarly experienced in other spheres, such as remittances to be able to buy from local pharmacies. Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 21 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina The introduction of Soviet elements into the local Romanian (2) The more divergent LEK of Hutsuls and Romanians living in (and formerly Austro-Hungarian) culture also promoted the Romania who have been living relatively independently from ability of local inhabitants to obtain access to Russian books as one another may be due to the lack of any recent strong medicinal sources of knowledge, thus introducing some global centralization force in the valley as Ceauşescu’s policies do (pan-Soviet) elements into the local (Romanian) ethnomedicine. not appear to have impacted LEK because of their limited This new local knowledge resulted in the current higher number implementation in the Bukovinian area. The similarities of plant taxa used for medicinal purposes but in their less among the two Romanian communities could instead be consistent use (compared to Romanians living in Romania). due to common historical roots and language and, therefore, What emerges from this analysis is the inner border of possible common sources of knowledge (e.g., Romanian Romanians living in Ukraine, e.g., a cultural border also found books and television). in other communities living in the proximity of political borders (3) From the perspective of divergent trajectories of herbal (e.g., Mattalia et al., 2020a). Indeed, they hold Ukrainian knowledge, we observed substantial differences in LEK passports, but they mostly share only the Soviet era with transmission across the border. The main difference concerns Ukrainians as only younger generations can speak some the use of written and visual sources, which is quite limited Ukrainian. As they clearly explained to us, they are among Romanians and Hutsuls living in Romania (where Romanians who happened to be included in the Soviet Union. vertical transmission prevails), but is rather important among Therefore, while sharing with Ukrainians some (pan-) Soviet the bibliophilic communities living in Ukrainian Bukovina. characteristics, such as the love of books and the consequent (4) Finally, we found that, in multilanguage communities (such tendency toward knowledge standardization, Romanians living in as that of Romanians living in Ukraine), an analysis of plant Ukraine also share some Romanian elements as they watch names can provide important clues to trace the possible Romanian television and, in a great majority of cases, their origin of such medicinal uses. parents were born in a Romanian environment. Therefore, paraphrasing Marsico, (2016), they belong to the two sides Further research is needed to more thoroughly explore the without being defined by either of the 2 parts. Indeed, link between wild plants and the way people refer to them in Romanians living in Ukraine are an interesting case of order to understand the implemented strategies of LEK “unbelongingness.” This is probably the result of a forced transmission in multicultural contexts. assimilation into the dominant Soviet culture and the consequent loss of some pieces of Romanian (formerly Austro-Hungarian) identity. However, the centripetal forces of DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT the USSR did not allow interstices and expanded homogeneously The datasets generated for this study are available from the to most of its territories despite the presence of ethnolinguistic authors upon reasonable request. Data from ERC project DiGe diversity. This resulted in a forced “alphabetization” of the last will be fully available after the project ends. “Latin” island of Romanians into the Slavic world, which had been developed for centuries in other trajectories. This also occurred through precise strategies of science popularization with a few books regarding medicinal plants published several AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS times (for a possible list, see Mattalia et al., 2020b). RS conceptualized the research; GM, NS, and AG conducted fieldwork; GM analyzed the data; NS conducted literature research on plants in Soviet medicinal books; and GM drafted CONCLUSIONS the manuscript. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript and read and approved it. Overall, the results reveal four main findings. (1) The communities living in Ukraine share more LEK than the FUNDING ones living in Romania. We can argue that, for about 50 years (1940–1991), Northern Bukovina belonged to a larger political This project received funding from the European Research system, the USSR, which uniformly delivered health services, Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 equally affecting Hutsul and Romanian medicinal knowledge research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 714874). corpora by integrating homogeneous pan-Soviet (global) elements, as indicated by several plant uses common among the groups living in Ukraine, into the local corpus of ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ethnomedicinal knowledge, thus creating a glocal ethnomedicinal corpus of knowledge. In addition, Romanians We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the communities of Northern Bukovina appear to use a smaller number of and individuals who agreed to participate in this study. We are medicinal plants due to their movement to other European also grateful to Angela Ghinea and Misu Ciobanu for their kind countries where they (proudly) buy foreign medicinal products. assistance in the field. Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 22 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina REFERENCES Marsico, G. (2016). The borderland. Cult. Psychol. 22, 206–215 doi:10.1177/ 1354067X15601199 Adnan, M., Ullah, I., Tariq, A., Murad, W., Azizullah, A., and Khan, A. L. (2014). Mattalia, G., Sõukand, R., Corvo, P., and Pieroni, A. (2020a). Dissymmetry at the Ethnomedicine use in the war affected region of northwest Pakistan. border: wild food and medicinal ethnobotany of slovenes and friulians in NE J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 10, 16. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-10-16 Italy. Econ. Bot. 74, 1–14. doi:10.1007/s12231-020-09488-y Andriamparany, J. N., Brinkmann, K., Jeannoda, V., and Buerkert, A. (2014). Mattalia, G., Sõukand, R., Corvo, P., and Pieroni, A. (2019). Scholarly vs. traditional Effects of socio-economic household characteristics on traditional knowledge and knowledge: effects of sacred natural sites on ethnobotanical practices in Tuscany, usage of wild yams and medicinal plants in the Mahafaly region of south-western Central Italy. Hum. Ecol. 47, 653–667. doi:10.1007/s10745-019-00102-x Madagascar. J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 10, 82. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-10-82 Mattalia, G., Stryamets, N., Pieroni, A., and Sõukand, R. (2020b). Ethnobotany Angelstam, P., Elbakidze, M., Axelsson, R., Čupa, P., Halada, L. U., Molnar, Zs., of Hutsuls living in the carpathian mountains of Bukovina (SW Ukraine and NE et al. (2013). “Maintaining cultural and natural biodiversity in the Carpathian Romania). J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 16, 4. doi:10.1186/s13002-020-00391-3 Mountain ecoregion: need for an integrated landscape approach,”in The Menendez-Baceta, G., Aceituno-Mata, L., Reyes-García, V., Tardío, J., carpathians: Integrating ature and society towards sustainability. Editors J. Salpeteur, M., and Pardo-de-Santayana, M. (2015). The importance of Kozak, O. Katarzyna, A. Bytnerowicz, and B. Wyżga (Berlin, Heidelberg: cultural factors in the distribution of medicinal plant knowledge: a case Springer), 393–424. study in four Basque regions. J. Ethnopharmacol. 161, 116–127. doi:10.1016/ Babai, D., Tóth, A., Szentirmai, I., Biró, M., Máté, A., Demeter, L., et al. (2015). Do j.jep.2014.12.007 conservation and agri-environmental regulations effectively support traditional small-scale farming in East-Central European cultural landscapes?. Biodiv. Mráz, P. and Ronikier, M. (2016). Biogeography of the Carpathians: evolutionary Conserv. 24, 3305–3327. doi:10.1007/s10531-015-0971-z and spatial facets of biodiversity. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 119, 528–559. doi:10.1111/ Bogdanov, K. (2020). Alternative healing practices, conspiracy theory, and social trust bij.12918 in post-soviet Russia. Truth Fict. 193, 117. doi:10.14361/9783839446508. Nicu, I. C. and Stoleriu, C. C. (2019). Land use changes and dynamics over the last Byg, A., Salick, J., and Law, W. (2010). Medicinal plant knowledge among lay century around churches of Moldavia, Bukovina, Northern Romania–Challenges people in five eastern Tibet villages. Hum. Ecol. 38, 177–191. doi:10.1007/ and future perspectives. Habitat Int. 88, 101979. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.04.006 s10745-009-9300-z Olaru, M. (2019). 70 de ani de la ı̂nceputul colectivizării agriculturii–cu privire Cassidy, K. L. (2017). “Border crossings, shame and (Re-)narrating the past in asupra părşii de sud a bucovinei. Analele Bucovinei 53 (2), 357–369. the Ukrainian-Romanian borderlands,” in Migrating borders and moving Olijnuk, P., Dolynska, O., and Byldyak, Y. (1990). Soky likarskyh roslyn, Lviv times: temporality and the crossing of borders in Europe Manchester. Editors [Pmіkojl, U., Epmjos:la P., Bum:e>l 5., Splj mіlars:ljy rpsmjo. H. Donnan and M.C. HurdLeutloff-Grandits (Manchester: University Press), 58–79. 1990 M:cіc]. Cioacă, A. and Dinu, M. S. (2010). “Romanian Carpathian landscapes and Papp, N., Birkás-Frendl, K., Farkas, Á., and Czégényi, D. (2014a). “Hungarian cultures,” in Landscapes and societies (Dordrecht: Springer), 257–269. ethnobotanical studies in Romania,” in Ethnobotany and biocultural diversities in Cromley, E. K and Craumer, P. R (1990). Physician supply in the soviet union the balkans, Editor A. Pieroni and C. L. Quave (New York, NY: Springer), 29–44. 1940–1985. Geogr. Rev. 80, 132–140. Papp, N., Czégényi, D., Hegedus, A., Morschhauser, T., Quave, C. L., Cianfaglione, Danichevski, K., McKee, M., and Balabanova, D. (2008). Prescribing in maternity K., et al. (2014b). The uses of betula pendula roth among Hungarian csángós care in Russia: the legacy of soviet medicine. Health Pol. 85, 242–251. doi:10. and székelys in transylvania, Romania. Acta Soc. Bot. Pol. 83 (2), 113–112. 1016/j.healthpol.2007.08.001 doi:10.5586/asbp.2014.011 Díaz-Reviriego, I., Fernández-Llamazares, A., Salpeteur, M., Howard, P. L., and Pieroni, A. and Sõukand, R. (2017). Are borders more important than geographical Reyes-García, V. (2016). Gendered medicinal plant knowledge contributions to distance? The wild food ethnobotany of the Boykos and its overlap with that of adaptive capacity and health sovereignty in Amazonia. Ambio 45, 263–275. the Bukovinian Hutsuls in Western Ukraine. J. Ethnobiol. 37, 326–345. doi:10. doi:10.1007/s13280-016-0826-1 2993/0278-0771-37.2.326 Gammerman, A. F., Kadaev, G. N., Shupinskaya, M. D., and Yatsenko- Popescu, I. (1994). Aspecte sociolingvistice ale asimilarii romanilor din regiunea Khmelevsky, A. A. (1976). Medicinal plants (Healing plants). 2nd Edn., Cernăuşi. Analele Bucovinei 1, 163–171 http://analelebucovinei.ro/pdf/ Moscow. Russia: Vysha Shkola Analele_Bucovinei_1_1994_cuprins.pdf. González-Tejero, M. R., Casares-Porcel, M., Sánchez-Rojas, C. P., Ramiro- Posey, D. A. and Dutfield, G. (1996). Beyond intellectual property: toward Gutiérrez, J. M., Molero-Mesa, J., Pieroni, A., et al. (2008). Medicinal plants traditional resource rights for indigenous peoples and local communities IDRC. in the mediterranean area: synthesis of the results of the project Rubia. Rechel, B., Kennedy, C., McKee, M., and Rechel, B. (2011). The Soviet legacy in J. Ethnopharmacol. 116 (2), 341–357. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2007.11.045 diagnosis and treatment: implications for population health. J. Pub. Health Pol. Júnior, W. S. F., Santoro, F. R., Nascimento, A. B., Ladio, A. H., and Albuquerque, 32 (3), 293–304. doi:10.1057/jphp.2011.18 U. P. (2013). The role of individuals in the resilience of local medical systems Schultz, D. S. and Rafferty, M. P. (1990). Soviet health care and perestroika. Am. based on the use of medicinal plants–a hypothesis. Ethnobio. Conserv. 2, 1–10. J. Publ. Health 80, 193–197. doi:10.2105/ajph.80.2.193 doi:10.15451/ec2013-8-2.1-1-10 Skultans, V. (1999). Narratives of the body and history: illness in judgement on Kalle, R. and Kass, M. (2020). “Local Practice of Cattle Farming and the Soviet past. Sociol. Health Illness 21, 310–328. doi:10.1111/1467-9566.00158 Ethnoveterinary Medicine in Estonia: Case Study of Saaremaa and Sõukand, R. and Kalle, R. (2011). Change in medical plant use in Estonian Muhumaa,”in Ethnoveterinary Medicine. Editors McGaw, Lyndy J., Abdalla, ethnomedicine: a historical comparison between 1888 and 1994.. J. and Muna Ali (Cham: Springer), 345–374. Ethnopharmacol. 135, 251–260. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2011.02.030 Karhut, V. (1976). Medicine around us. Kyiv, Ukraine: Zdorovya. Sõukand, R. and Pieroni, A. (2016). The importance of a border: medical, Kharchenko, M., Syla, V., Volodarskyi, L., and Kyiv (1971). Medicinal plants and veterinary, and wild food ethnobotany of the Hutsuls living on the their use in folk medicine. Kyiv, Ukraine: Zdorovya. Romanian and Ukrainian sides of Bukovina. J. Ethnopharmacol. 185, 17–40. Komendar, V. (1971). Medicinal plants of Carpathians Kyiv, Ukraine: Zdorovya. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2016.03.009 Kozlowska, W., Wagner, C., Moore, E. M., Matkowski, A., and Komarnytsky, S. Sõukand, R., Hrynevich, Y., Prakofjewa, J., Valodzina, T., Vasilyeva, I., Paciupa, J., (2018). Botanical provenance of traditional medicines from Carpathian et al. (2017b). Use of cultivated plants and non-plant remedies for human and mountains at the Ukrainian-Polish border. Front. Pharmacol. 9, 295. doi:10. animal home-medication in Liubań district, Belarus. J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 3389/fphar.2018.00295 13, 54. doi:10.1186/s13002-017-0183-6 Lekhan, V. N., Rudiy, V. M., and Richardson, E. (2010).Ukraine: health system Sõukand, R., Hrynevich, Y., Vasilyeva, I., Prakofjewa, J., Vnukovich, Y., Paciupa, J., review. Health Syst. Trans., 12, 1–154 et al. (2017a). Multi-functionality of the few: current and past uses of wild plants Liu, J., Yong, D. L., Choi, C. Y., and Gibson, L. (2020). Transboundary frontiers: an for food and healing in Liubań region, Belarus. J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 13, 10. emerging priority for biodiversity conservation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 35, 8. doi:10. doi:10.1186/s13002-017-0139 1016/j.tree.2020.03.004 Srithi, K., Balslev, H., Wangpakapattanawong, P., Srisanga, P., and Trisonthi, C. Mamchur, F. (1986).Handbook of herbal medicine1986. Kyiv, Zdorovya [Nanyur (2009). Medicinal plant knowledge and its erosion among the Mien (Yao) in V. Epcіeojl i vіtptfraVіїLjїc, Ieprpc’>. northern Thailand. J. Ethnopharmacol. 123, 335–342. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.02.035 Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 23 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390 Mattalia et al. Herbal Knowledge of Romanians Living in Bukovina Stevens, P. F. (2001). Angiosperm phylogeny website. Available at: http:// of human migrations. Editors A Pieroni and I Vandebroek (Oxford: Berghahn), www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/ (Accessed March 28, 2020). 245–269. version The Plant List (2013). The plant list Available at: www.theplantlist.org (Accessed Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the March 29, 2020). absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a Tutin, T., Heywood, V., Burges, N., Valentine, D., Walters, S., and Webb, D. (1964). potential conflict of interest. Flora Europaea. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Van den Boog, T., van Andel, T., and Bulkan, J. (2017). Indigenous children’s Copyright © 2021 Mattalia, Stryamets, Grygorovych, Pieroni and Sõukand. This is knowledge about non-timber forest products in Suriname. Econ. Bot., 71, an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons 361–373. doi:10.1007/s12231-017-9400-4 Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other Volpato, G., Ahmadi Emhamed, A., Mohamed Lamin, S., Broglia, A., and di Lello, forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) S. (2007). “Procurement of traditional remedies and transmission of medicinal are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance knowledge among Sahrawi people displaced in southwestern Algerian refugee with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted camps,” in Traveling cultures and plants: the ethnobiology and ethnopharmacy which does not comply with these terms. Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 24 February 2021 | Volume 11 | Article 598390