Wild plants from open markets on both sides of the Bulgarian-Turkish border

Open markets are an integral part of urban areas that provide a means for intense sharing of knowledge and practices about plants among people from different social groups and different cultural and geographical origins. This study focuses on the diversity of wild plants found in open markets in urban areas on both sides of the Bulgarian-Turkish border, sold as food and plants for prevention, treatment and healing. Information was collected from open markets by free-listed observations and semi-structured interviews in border regions of Southern and South-eastern Bulgaria (Bg) and Northwestern Turkey (Tr). The present investigation was carried out through 2011-2013. A total of 41 wild plants belonging to 20 families were documented. In this study, two main groups of wild plants were outlined: medicinal and edible, sold mostly as fresh fruits, dry fruits, fresh aerial parts, preserved foods and mono-component herbal teas. The specific use of plants in the border sub-regions can be outlined as follows: as edible greens (Tr), as edible fruits (Bg), as ready-prepared herbal mixtures (Bg), as fresh herbs (Tr). Urtica urens (Tr) is a culturally distinctive plant as well as use of edible greens mixture (Tr) and use of the wild fruits for healthy and traditional food (Tr). Approximately 17% of the plants were common and widely reported on both sides of the border: such as Urtica dioica, Rumex patientia, Rumex acetosella, Cotinus coggygria, Hypericum perforatum, Sideritis scardica (endemic), Rosa canina and Tilia spp.