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 3. Ethnobotanical uses of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (Cactaceae) inItaly.

Survey area	Common name	Purpose	Plant part	Method of use	References
Apulia	Fid’dìnie	Diaphoretic	Cladodes	-	Bianchi & Gallifuoco (2004)
		Laxative
		For skin problems
	Ficarìzza	Food	Fruits	Raw as snack	Biscotti et al. (2021)
	Ficarìzza	Laxative	Fruits	Raw as snack	Biscotti et al. (2021)
	Sicodiani	For wounds	Cladodes	-	Frigino et al. (1999)
Basilicata	-	Food	Fruits	-	Caneva et al. (1997)
Calabria	Ficu’nniana	Skin problems	Cladodes	The cladode is heated in ash and applied to the corresponding part of the skin when the spleen is swollen and there is pain. Again, after being heated, the cladode is also used as a resolvent for boils and as a healer for burns.	Barone (1963)
	Ficu ndiani	Agropastoral	Cladodes	Before planting, pieces of cladodes were interred as fertilizer	Gentile et al. (2022)
	Ficundianu, Stidda	Healing	Cladodes	Cladodes roasted and placed directly on the skin, or even the mucilage of these mixed with olive oil are applied to sores and burns.	Leporatti & Pavesi (1989)
	Ficundianu, Stidda	Liver disorders	Cladodes	The mucilage of the crushed cladodes, reduced to a pulp and left to drain through a cloth, is drunk to cure various liver ailments	Leporatti & Pavesi (1989)
	Ficundiana	Dermatologic	Cladodes	The epidermis of the cladodes is removed and used to heal the wounds and skin excoriation	Maruca et al. (2019)
	Ficundiana	Antirheumatic	Cladodes	Used topically as antirheumatic for the knees	Maruca et al. (2019)
	Fik palet,Fichi a paletta, Fik de mori	Food	Cladodes	Peels sundried and then batter-fried	Mattalia et al. (2020a)
				Liquor
				Raw as snack
	Fichilindi	Food	Cladodes	Raw or baked	Mattalia et al. (2020b)
	Pittara	Dermatologic	Cladodes	The mucilage used as a wound cicatrizer	Musarella et al. (2019)
	Pittara	Ludic	Cladodes	Cladodes were cut and a handcar was realized by assembling the pieces with the cane	Musarella et al. (2019)
	Sico tu trucu, Ficarazzi (fruits); Pittara (plant)	Food	Fruits	Raw as snack	Nebel et al. (2006)
	Ficundianu, Stidda	AntispasmodicDiuretic	Flowers	Infusion	Passalacqua et al. (2007)
	Ficuniano	AntispasmodicAntidiarrhoeicDiureticTo treat bronchitisAnti-inflammatory	FlowersFruits	Infusion	Tagarelli et al. (2010)
	Ficuniano	Magic remedies	Cladodes	A “paletta” (cladode) was placed near the fireplace. It was believed that when the stem of the plant dried, the fever or the hepato-splenomegaly would disappear	Tagarelli et al. (2010)
Campania	-	Back pain	Cladodes	-	De Feo et al. (1992a)
	-	For corns and chilblains	Cladodes	-	De Feo et al. (1992b)
	-	Antirheumatics	Cladodes	-	De Feo & Senatore (1993)
	Figurine	Food	Cladodes	Raw or boiled in salads	De Natale et al. (2020)
	Ficurenia	Food	Fruits	Raw as snack	Di Novella et al. (2013)
	Figurine	Dermatologic	Cladodes	Mucilage used as a skin lenitive	Mautone et al. (2019)
	Ficurinie	Food	Fruits	Raw as snack	Menale et al. (2016)
	Fecurìnia	Food	Fruits	Fruits were deprived of the thorns, and the peels were dried in the sun, and preserved for the winter to be fried with potatoes. The pulp of the fruits, on the other hand, was consumed fresh	Salerno & Guarrera (2008)
	Fecurìnia	Agropastoral	Cladodes	The cladodes are broken up and interred where vegetables, especially cucumbers, are planted to make the soil more fertilized, moist and fresh.	Salerno & Guarrera (2008)
		Respiratory disease	FlowersCladodes	Decoction for cough, bronchitis and pneumonia	Savo et al. (2013)
	Making ships go faster	Cladodes	Cladodes are rubbed on the hull of ships to make them go faster		Savo et al. (2013)
Latium	-	Used for pertussis	Cladodes	-	Guarrera (1994)
Liguria	-	Treat varicose veins	Cladodes	Frictions with plant mucilage to treat varicose veins	Maccioni et al. (1994-1995)
Liguria	-	Astringent	Cladodes	-	Maccioni et al. (2000)
Marche	-	Purgative effect	Fruits	-	Guarrera (1981)
Sardinia	-	For burns	Cladodes	-	Atzei et al. (1994)
	-	Dislocation and swelling	Cladodes	-	Atzei et al. (1994)
	-	Skin problems	Cladodes	-	Ballero et al. (1994)
	Figu morisca	Dermatologic	Cladodes	Direct application for skin disease, viral infection (herpes) and joint pains	Ballero et al. (2001)
	Figu morisca	Antitussive	Fruits	Jam for cough catarrhal	Ballero et al. (2001)
		Antirheumatics	Cladodes	Used for myalgia and arthritis	Bruni et al. (1997)
		Skin problems	Cladodes	-	Bruni et al. (1997)
		For burns		Used for burns, oedemas, insect bites and nettle inflammation	Palmese et al. (2001)
Sicily	-	Diuretic	Flowers	Decoction	Amico & Sorce (1997)
	-	Diuretic	Flowers	Decoction	Arcidiacono et al. (1999)
	Ficudinia	Digestive disorders	Cladodes	A liquid is extracted from the mucilage of the cladodes	Arcidiacono et al. (2010)
	Ficudinia	Food	Fruits	With the fruits, typical sweets are prepared: "mustazzola" and "sulicchiati". To prepare, the fruits are cleaned of their thorns and cut into small pieces, then boiled, then added to the mixture	Arcidiacono et al. (2010)
	-	Diuretic	Flowers	Decoction	Barbagallo et al. (1979)
	-	Hemostatic	Cladodes	Mucilage is applied directly to the skin as a hemostatic	Barbagallo et al. (1979)
	-	Diuretic	Flowers	Infusion	Catanzaro (1968)
	-	Digestive disorders	Roots	Decoction with olive oil treat meteorism	Catanzaro (1968)
	-	Diuretic	Flowers	Decoction	Catanzaro (1970)
	Ficudinnia	Fodder	Fruits	Raw fruit given to animals	Galt & Galt (1978)
	Ficurinnia	Diuretic	Flowers	Infusion and decoction	Guarrera (2009)
		Hemostatic	Cladodes	Mucilage and epidermis are hemostatic
		Domestic	Cladodes	Cladodes were used as a container for the crystallization of “manna di pala", obtained from the sap of Fraxinus sp.
	-	Urological disease Kidney disease	Flowers	Decoction	Leonti et al. (2009)
		Diuretic and gastrointestinal refreshing	Flowers	Decoction with flowers	Lentini et al. (1988)
	-	Diuretic	Flowers	Decoction	Lentini et al. (1994)
	-	Emetic	Cladodes	-	Lentini et al. (1995)
		Skin inflammation
		Stomatitis
	-	For kidney stones	Cladodes	-	Lentini et al. (1997)
	Ficurinnia	Food	Fruits	"Sucu pa pasta cu li ficurinnia", sauce for pasta with fruits without seeds	Lentini & Venza (2007)
		Food		"Mostarda di ficurinia", a typical dessert prepared with boiled Opuntia fruit mucilage and other ingredients.
		Laxative		Infusion and decoction
		Treat tuberculosis	Cladodes	Infusion and decoction
	Ficu d'innia, Ficudinia	Food	Fruits	Make cake and preserves	Licata et al. (2016)
	-	Kidney disease	Flowers	Treat renal colic	Pitrè (1896)
Tuscany	-	Antitussive	Cladodes	-	Chiavoni & Raffo (1994)
	Fico d’India	Intestinal astringent, cicatrizing	Cladodes	Cladodes, well crushed to obtain a poultice, placed between two gauzes, is applied on slow-healing wounds	Manganelli & Tomei (1999)
	Fico d’India	For diarrhea	Fruits	Fresh fruit is eaten for diarrhea	Manganelli & Tomei (1999)

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

Table 3. Ethnobotanical uses of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (Cactaceae) inItaly.