An ethnobotanical study on plants used in broom making in different geographical regions of Türkiye

In this study; It is aimed to record the wild plants used by local people in making brooms from past to present in Turkey. The study was carried out in 15 provinces selected from different geographical regions of Turkey between the years 2019-2022 and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 120 informants. As a result of the study, it was determined that 69 plant taxa belonging to 32 families were used in broom production. Most of the plants used as brooms are from the Asteraceae family (8 taxa), followed by the Amaranthaceae (6 taxa) and Fabaceae (6 taxa) families. The plants most used by the local people as brooms; Bassia scoparia (burning bush), Artemisia scoparia (virgate wormwood), Erica arborea (tree heath), Spartium junceum (Spanish broom), Hypericum empetrifolium (Crowberry-leaved St. John's wort), Phillyrea latifolia (green olive), Sorghum bicolor (great millet), Sorghum halepense (Johnson grass) and Osyris alba (Osyris) was observed. It was observed that the local people mostly used the brooms made from plants to clean the courtyards and gardens of the houses (49 taxa), followed by the brooms used for cleaning the barns (3 taxa) and ovens (3 taxa). The above-ground (38 taxa) parts of the plants are mostly used in the construction of the broom; It was determined that this was followed by branches (19 taxa), whole plant (7 taxa), tassel (2 taxa) and shoot (2 taxa). Natural brooms, which are made from plants that have fallen in demand compared to the past, can partially continue to be used as a tool mostly used in courtyards, balconies and gardens in city life. However, it is also seen that natural brooms made from very different plant species are still used in rural neighborhoods.