Identification of Medicinal Plants in Arshadchamani Rangelands of East Azarbaijan

Arshadchamani rangelands are placed in the north foothill of Sahand Mountain and near Kandovan Village. Therefore, it has plant diversity and economical values. In this region, medicinal plants are cut and sold by the stores with non-standard packaging without scientific name. Regarding the economical value of medicinal plants and thereby the investment necessity on these valuable resources for using in chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries, the collection and identification of these plants could be useful. Collection and identification of plants in the region were carried out during two years. 256 collected species were identified in herbarium and then medicinal plants were separated by the scientific references. During this project, 95 species of medicinal plants belonging to 78 genus and 32 families were identified. The highest number of medicinal plants were related to Lamiaceae (17 species), Asteraceae (11 species), Brassicaceae (10 species), Fabaceae (9 species) and Apiaceae (7 species). The life form of medicinal plant species was determined by Raunkier's method and they are including 57.89% Hemicryptophytes, 28.42% Therophytes, 7.36% Chamaephytes and 5.26% Geophytes. Six medicinal vegetation types were recognized in the are: Ziziphora clinopoioides Lam. Thymus kotschyanus Boiss. And. Hohen.,Urtica dioica L., Alcea flavovirens (Boiss. and Buhse) Iljin, Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl, Cichorium intybus L., Achillea willhelmsii C. Koch, Stachys inflata Benth., Peganum harmala L., Rosa domescena L. were economically very important.