First Checklist of Traditional Wild Plants and Their Uses in The Nineveh Plains, Northern-Iraq

In the Nineveh Plains region of Northern Iraq, wild plants are important elements of ecological and social systems. To identify and document the knowledge, vernacular names, and ethnobotanical practices related to wild plants in this area, we conducted 421 in-person surveys across 40 villages, representing five ethnoreligious groups living in the Nineveh Plains (Christians, Yezidis, Shabaks, Turkmen, and Kaka’i). Thirty semi-structured interviews were also conducted with individuals knowledgeable about wild plants. Overall, people identified uses for 69 wild plant species in the study area, belonging to 68 genera and 35 families. Asteraceae and Papilionaceae were the dominant families, with nine species each. Wild plant use has significant socio-economic importance for the communities that reside in the Nineveh plains, as people report using wild plants for food, medicine, cosmetics, animal husbandry, and generating income. In both (RFC) and (CI), Gundelia tournefortii, Malva neglecta, Matricaria chamomilla, and Silybum marianum possessed the highest ranking. People substantially agreed on the species that were utilized for food more than decoration, medicine, and religious rites according to (IAF) and (Fic) for wild plant use categories. People identified the greatest threats to local wild plant habitats as drought, herbicide use, overgrazing, expansion of large-scale agriculture, urbanization, and fires. Elder community members also reported a lack of wild plant knowledge transfer between generations. The findings of this study have significant implications for developing a local biocultural conservation strategy to preserve the remarkable wild plants and natural heritage of the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural communities in Nineveh Plains.