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Ethnobotanical research conducted so far in Croatia has mainly covered the coastal areas of the country, while the continental parts have been explored to a significantly lesser extent. For the area of Hrvatsko zagorje (northwestern Croatia), the research is currently going on, so, the aim of this work is to present the first ethnobotanical data recorded for the town of Zabok, and its rural surrounding area, respectively. The survey was conducted during 2017 and 2018, and within 16 settlements, 32 informants were interviewed (average age of 70), regarding the traditional knowledge of wild plants usage. A total of 116 useful taxa of vascular flora classified into 54 families were recorded in the study area. The most used plants belong to Asteraceae (24, 07%), Rosaceae (18, 51%) and Lamiaceae (12, 96%) families. The most frequently used plant parts are leaves and other aerial parts (55, 20 %), followed by flowers (22, 72%), fruits (14, 28%), whole plant (3, 90%) and underground parts (3, 90%). The research has shown that 116 plant taxa have been used in 204 ways. Plant parts are mainly used as infuses (16, 17%), in human nutrition (15, 68%), for medical purposes (15, 68%) and as brandy flavourings (11, 27%). So far, there have not been any recorded ethnobotanical data for aforesaid area, thus this research contributes to the preservation of traditional botanical knowledge of Hrvatsko zagorje, which will complement other ethnobotanical research in this area. |
