A review of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. ethnobotany in Italy and North Africa

Research Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences | Vol 5, Issue 1

Table 2. Ethnobotanical uses of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (Cactaceae) inMorocco and Tunisia.

Country	Common name	Purpose	Plant part	Method of use	References
Morocco	Hendi	Urinary inflammations and cystitis	Flowers	Infusion or Decoction	Ammor et al. (2020)
	Kermous Hendiya	Urinary inflammations and cystitis	Flowers	Infusion	Bellakhdar et al. (1991)
	-	Antidiabetic	Seeds	Extract	Berraaouan et al. (2015)
	Handya, Zaaboul	To treat urolithiasis	FlowersFruits	Infusion	Chakit et al. (2022)
	Híndi (arabe)	Digestive disorders	Flowers	The powdered flower is used against stomach disorders	De Natale & Pollio (2012)
	Hindiya	Stomach pain	Flowers	Powder	El-Hilaly et al. (2003)
	Dreg, lhandia	Genito-urinary disorders	Entire Plant	Infusion	Fatiha et al. (2019)
	Aknari	Kidney disease	Flowers	Decoction	Idm'hand et al. 2020)
		Digestive disorders	Flowers	Raw
		Stomach pain	Fruits	Raw
	Hendiya, Kermous	Antidiabetic	Flowers	Raw	Jouad et al. (2001)
	El handia	Dermatologic	Mucilage	Rubbing the ointment for skin disease	Lyoussi et al. (2023)
	El handia	Stomach pain	Flowers	Powdered and ingested	Lyoussi et al. (2023)
	Nawwar, Al'Handiyya	Diuretic	Flowers	Infusion	Merzouki et al. (2000)
		Antidiarrheal		Infusion
		Calefacient		Mixed with ‘Rass al Hannout’ (spice mix) preparation and ingested
	-	Analgesic	Cladodes	The dry material was ground to powder and then taken with water to alleviate stomach suffering	Mouhaddach et al. (2018)
				Cladode powder was swallowed with water or milk to relieve back pain
				Cladode powder was mixed with water and then applied to the legs to alleviate leg ache
		To treat cholesterol		Young cladodes were sliced and prepared in brine to reduce cholesterol levels
		Liver diseases		Mucilage was collected from cladodes and then freshly mixed with milk
		Hair care		Mucilage was collected from cladode and then freshly applied to the hairTo make hair softer
		Kidney diseases	Flowers	Decoction of dry and ground flowers
		Analgesic		Decoction of dry and ground flowers
		Used for asthma		Dry and ground flowers was mixed with honey
		Prostate diseases		Decoction of dry and ground flowers
		Liver diseases		Dry and ground
		Dermatologic	Seeds	Seeds were dried and ground to cure diseases of the skin
		Cardiovascular	Seeds	Seeds were dried and ground
		Respiratory	Roots	Dry and ground roots was mixed with honey or milkUsed for asthma
	Sabbar, Handiya, Karmoussnsara	Respiratory	FlowersFruits	Decoction, powder, infusion (oral and external use)	Ouhaddou et al. (2014)
		Digestive
		Skeleton
		Circulatory
		Urinary
		Diuretic
	Prickly pear	Antidiabetic	FlowersFruits	Powder	Tahraoui et al. (2007)
Tunisia	Figuier de BarbarieFiguier d'Inde	Elimination of kidney stones	Cladodes	Decoction	Ben salah et al. (2019)
		Elimination of kidney stones	Fruits	Cataplasm
		Stomach pain Antidiarrheal Dermatologic	Fruits	Raw
	-	Kidney disease	Cladodes	Extract	Wannes & Tounsi (2022)

A review<i> </i>of <i>Opuntia </i><i>ficus-indica</i> (L.) Mill. ethnobotany in Italy and North Africa

Table 2. Ethnobotanical uses of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (Cactaceae) inMorocco and Tunisia.