Article

Imereti and Meskheti are historical provinces of Georgia located on the south-facing macroslope of the western part of the Greater Caucasus (Imereti) and east of the Lesser Caucasus towards the Black Sea (Meskheti), while Pshavi and Pankisi, which is administratively part of Kakheti, lie on the Eastern extension of the greater Caucasus. In this study we documented traditional plant use in Imereti, Meskheti, Ukana Pshavi and Pankisi. Fieldwork was conducted in October-November 2018. Interviews using semi-structured questionnaires were conducted with 34 participants (12 women and 22 men), with oral prior informed consent. We encountered 220 plant species belonging to 159 genera of 59 vascular plant families, 4 undetermined species, and 2 fungal species and 22 undetermined fungi, belonging to at least 5 fungal families being used in the research region. Of these 127 vascular plant species were exclusively wild-collected, 91 were grown in homegardens, and only 2 were both grown in gardens and collected in the wild. Plants and their uses mostly overlapped among the areas within the region, with a slightly wider divergence in uses than in plants. The environmental fit analysis showed that a large degree of this variation was explained by differences among participant communities. The elevation of the participant community significantly fit the ordination in plant-space and explained a large degree of the variation in plant species reported but not in use-space. Gender was not significant in plant-space or use-space.