Estudi etnobotànic de Gallecs (Vallès Oriental / Vallès Occidental)

Abstract

Gallecs is a small rural area only 20 km north of the city of Barcelona. In the 1970s this land was designated by the Franco?s regime to become the site of a new city. However, this project was not carried out and, thanks to that, a fragment of nature survived amidst the concrete. In addition, many plants are still used and managed by the inhabitants of Gallecs. To study the ethnobotanical knowledge in this particular case, we conducted interviews with 28 people. We obtained information about 272 plant species, 256 of which have folk uses in the area studied. In this paper we summarize the work carried out and we discuss the most relevant data. The complete catalogue of Gallecs?s ethnoflora is available in Bonet et al. (2008). As a conclusion, an even a surprising high degree of richness of folk culture linked to plants is conserved in the area considered; however, as in other territories, the young generations show high levels of acculturation.