Differences in the use of and knowledge about medicinal plants in one former eastern and western region in northern Germany

Abstract

After the second world war Germany was divided in two different countries. Thereby one interrelated population was split up and lived under circumstances mainly dominated by their respective protective powers. Since knowledge acquisition is context dependent, this setup allows to study a temporarily separated population on the example of medicinal plants. For this purpose, 27 semi-structured interviews in two German regions, one former eastern and one former western, and amongst two age groups are conducted. The aim is to explore the differences in knowledge (acquisition) and usage of medicinal plants. In total 124 taxa are reported and used in a medicinal context. The interest in plants originates mostly in the childhood, but broad medicinal plant knowledge is built during adulthood driven by active learning. The main reason to cultivate or collect medicinal plants for the older age group in both regions originates in supply scarcity due to war or mismanagement in the case of the former eastern German government, whereas self-interest and the urge to reconnect with nature are main drivers to expand the knowledge of the younger age groups. Since threats like wars did not occur for the last decades, reasons for knowledge acquisition and the way of doing so, converge across age groups and regions. Further investigation in this topic in the future with a larger group of participants might help to map knowledge and learning patterns in split societies.