Ethnobotanical Survey among the Nubian and South Eastern Tribes of Egypt

This survey was conducted on 4 tribes (Ababda, Bisharia, Nubian and Rashayda) live in the south of the Nile and the Eastern Desert of Egypt with the aim to document and compare the traditional herbal medicines and assess the relationships among these tribes. A total of 180 interviews were conducted with the Bedouins and herb healers. Thirty-nine species belonged to 36 genera and 27 families were employed. Fabaceae and Poaceae and Rutaceae were the species-rich families. The used wild species comprised 43.6%, cultivated species (38.5%) and the imported from herbalist shops (17.9%). The leaves were the most used parts (31%), followed by stems and fruits with about 22% each. Distinct species included Acacia nilotica is used in the treatment of dental pain with use value 33.3%, Cymbopogon schoenanthus subsp. proximus in treatment of both cough or headache with use values 35 and 30.6% and a combination of Acacia nilotica with Lawsonia inermis in the treatment of sore throat with use value 22.2%. The highest similarity was recorded between Nubian and Rashayda tribes (55.3%), Ababda and Bisharia (46.8%). Diarrhea and headache were the most popular diseases with 7 different treatments, cough and dental pains with 6 treatments.


INTRODUCTION
The Eastern desert covers nearly quarter area of the Egyptian land (225,000 km 2 ). It occupies the area between the Red Sea and the Nile, with about 200 to 500 km width and 1080 km length. The Eastern desert is mountainous arid Sahara, with characterized coastal granite mountain chain run parallel to the Red Sea coast; these mountain chain cut by two groups of transverse wadis, eastern wadis that run towards Red Sea and the western that run towards the Nile valley,

Bubenzer et al. (2020).
The Eastern desert climate is distinguished from other parts of Egypt as arid desert with winter rain reached 14 mm annually (Climate-data.org). The amount of rain varied from year to another as well along Red Sea coast get lesser to the south and return to be higher in southern part at Ras Banas (Gamal, 2000). The average annual temperature in the city of Shalatin is 26.1 °C.
These harsh arid climatic conditions resulted frequently cattle death; which contributed in the movement of Bedouin down from the mountains to the modern cities (Ghazaly 2006).
The original dwellers of this region related to Beja tribes in Egypt as two general Bedouins tribes; Ababda and Bisharia (Fig. 1). Ababda are divided into 5 subtribes Alshemab, Alferganab, Nubia geographic region stretches along the Nile for 310 kilometers from Aswan Dam south to the Sudanese Frontiers, south of that lies the Sudanese Nubia. The Nubian people mainly depend on agriculture on the Nile banks. The Nubian culture has more social attributes, and there is substantial collaboration, with members of various families and communities, who own waterwheels, palm trees, farms and livestock. (Abdel Meguid, 2005). Nubian people live mainly in the south of the upper Nile in the narrow alluvial wadi which is intensively cultivated, however Ababda and Bisharia live in the vast eastern desert which is extensively arid (Fernea, 1994;Belal et al. 1998;Badri & Hamed 2000).
The use of plant resources for medicinal treatment has been conducted since ancient times and may even be considered the genesis of contemporary medicine, Salmerón-Manzano et al.
(2020). Plant chemicals were and still a major source of medicinal compounds. The tendency in worldwide research has been seen to concentrate rather than to cultivate or domesticate plant species with this shown potential on the hunt for new or active medications or chemicals. It is a fact that all civilizations have created this type of medication, Gurib-Fakim (2006) based on the cultivated, wild or native plant species in their own habitat, Houghton (1995). There are even authors who claim that this transmitted knowledge is the origin of medicine and pharmacy. Even Documentations of the ethnobotanical relevant data (plant ingredient, utilization, descriptions, preparation, tribal attitude, etc.) are lacking not only at the tribal level but extends to the whole Egypt. In addition to the threats facing the ethnobotanical data for some tribes due to urbanization expansion, modernization and youth migration to the modern cities in and out Egypt.
And additional threats for the Nubian tribe appeared after the tribal dislocation from their homevillages after the construction of Aswan High Dam.
This paper aimed to document the ethnobotanical related data and compare the plant utilization in the ranges of the studied four Bedouin tribes (Ababda, Bisharia, Nubian and Rashayda) inhabiting the southern part of the Nile and the Egyptian Eastern Desert. Also, it tries to assess the relationships among these tribes on the basis of their uses to the ethnomedicinal plants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Several strategies have been employed for collecting ethnobotanical data (Briggs 1986, Crane and Angrosino 1992, Johns and Kimanani 1990) and interview techniques according to Briggs (1986), Crane and Angrosino (1992). Interviews were mostly done in vernacular Arabic language (sometimes we need translation from Beji into Arabic). Herbs market surveys were carried out with herbalists to identify some herbs described in the interviews as those described by Bye and Linares (1983). Moreover, we take in consideration the methodology of Rana et al. The identified plants were listed with its scientific name, family, mode of using, and categorizing (wild or cultivated), sometimes the plants were imported.

Use value
The relative importance of the species was calculated using the use value which is a quantitative tool (Phillips et al., 1994) with slight modification that the resultant is multiplied by 100 to give a percentage: UV = ΣU/n*100 where (U) is the number of plants cited by each informant for a given species and (n) is the total number of informants (45) for each tribe. Also, the total use value for all informants (180) was calculated.

1-Taxonomic identity of the traced species:
Thirty-nine species are commonly used by at least two of the investigated 4 tribes (Ababda, Bisharia, Rashayda and Nubian) as ethnomedicinal plants for the treatment of their diseases (Table   1) (Table 1).
The collected species from the vicinity of the desert, canyons, shaded mountain slopes and wadi bottoms comprise the main bulk and known as wild species (17) about 43.6% of the total number of species, given a superscript letter ( w ) in Table (1), cultivated species ( c ) count for 15 species (38.5%) and the imported ( i ) (bought) from herbalist shops (Attarin) count for 7 species (17.9%).
The collected field data from the studied tribes revealed that these species were used in the treatment of 72 diseases. One can classify the different ethnomedicinal treatments (recipes) or utilization of these species into 3 main categories. The first category contains 4 recipes that are used by the -all-the 4 tribes, of course with different use values, Acacia nilotica is used in the treatment of dental pain with use value 33.3%, Cymbopogon schoenanthus subsp. proximus in treatment of either cough or headache with use values 35 and 30.6%; respectively, and a combination of Acacia nilotica with Lawsonia inermis in the treatment of sore throat with use value 22.2%. The second category contained twenty-one recipes that are used by 3 of the 4 tribes and the remaining 37 are used by 2 of the 4 tribes only.
According to the total number of recipes used in each tribe, it was found that Nubian and Rashayda tribes are the highest and more or less equal 49 and 48 recipes respectively, Bisharia shows the least 35 and Ababda were 41 recipes (Table 1). Table (

2-Tribal affinity in relation to their usage of the plant-based ethnomedicine:
In a trial to understand the similarity in the utilization of plant species as ethnomedicinal treatments among the 4 tribes. Table (2) elaborates that the highest similarity was recorded between Nubian and Rashayda tribes (55.3%), again this similarity is relatively significant between Ababda and Bisharia (46.8%). On the other hand, the least similarity was recorded with Bisharia in relation to Nubian, and Rashayda that recorded 13.4% and 15.6% respectively.

3-The used plant parts in ethnomedicinal stuff:
The investigated ethnomedicinal stuff showed that the leaves were the highest (31%), followed by stems and fruits with about 22% each. Gums, bulbs, roots and flowers were the least ingradients ranging between less than 1% to 3%, Figure (3).

4-Distinct species
These species are frequently or commonly used by the different tribes for 3 or more different ethnomedical treatments. This list includes: The stems and leaves of Solenostemma argel, were used in the treatment of 7 diseases, abscess, activation, cough, headache, kidney, sore throat and stomachache. The informants indicated that 100% Bisharia use this species in the treatment of sore throat while 73.3% of Ababda The drink made of Zingiber officinale was used in the treatment of 3 diseases (activation, sore throat and dental pains). Nubian recorded 73.3% in the treatment of sore throat, Rashayda recorded 15.6% in the treatment of dental pain, Bisharia recorded 4.4% in the treatment of activation while Ababda has no record for this species.

5-Distinctive tribal species
Some species showed distinctive uses in each tribe. Five species recorded more than 93% in the treatment of definite diseases within one or more tribes. Solenostemma argel was used by 100% of Bisharia in the treatment of sore throat, Syzygium aromaticum was used by 95.6% and 93.3% of Nubian and Rashayda ; respectively in the treatment of dental pain, Phoenix dactylifera was used by 95.5% of Bisharia in the treatment of anemia, Psidium guajava and Sesamum indicum were used by 93.3% of Nubian and Rashayda in the treatment of cough and activation.

DISCUSSION
The Egyptian Eastern Desert has a depauperate vegetation; with large barren areas (Kassas and Zahran, 1962, 1965, 1971 recipes followed by cough and dental pains 6 different recipes. Our field observations, reflecting that the harsh climatic aspects and the drinking water (direct underground) may be responsible for diseases like diarrhea and headache.
The results indicated the dominance of using the leaves, stems and fruits ( Cymbopogon schoenanthus subsp. proximus recorded to be used for rheumatism remedies or for lung diseases (Mandaville, 2011).
Another 4 species that are used by one or more tribes with use values more than 90% include 3 cultivated plants. Phoenix dactylifera was recorded in the treatment of anemia in Bisharia with use value 95.6%, is documented by many authors for its benefit in the treatment of tiredness,