Exploring Urban Ethnobotany: A Case Study of Medicinal Plants Traded in Gede Hardjonagoro Market, Surakarta, Indonesia

The former royal city of Surakarta, Indonesia, is renowned for a uniquely cosmopolitan culture,blending high Javanese traditions with various peranakan (mixed ethnicity). This unique culturalfusion has facilitated the exchange of knowledge, particularly in relation to usage of various plantsas phytomedicine by the urban populace. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the variety, utility,and phytogeography of phytomedicine available at Gede Hardjonagoro Market (Pasar Gede), themain market of Surakarta and Greater Solo Area (GSA). An ethnobotanical approach was usedcombining semi-structured interviews, participative observation, and documentation. The utilityof plants was assessed through a descriptive and quantitative approach, using Use Value (UV) andFidelity Level (FL) metrics. The results showed that a total of 76 species were found from 39families of medicinal plants currently on sale in Pasar Gede. Zingiber officinale Roscoe had thehighest UV, while 7 species had the highest FL (100%) including Elephantopus scaber forhepatitis, Sonchus arvensis for urolithiasis, and Gynura pseudochina for mastitis.Furthermore, Caesalpinia sappan was for pruritis, Myristica fragrans and Piper cubeba fordiarrhea, as well as Curcuma heynaena for helminthiasis. Most species were native toIndomalayan realm (50 species), divided into Indochinese (21 species), Indian (12 species), SundaShelf (9 species), and others (8 species), with only 8 species found on Java Island. The resultsimplied that trade routes and cultural exchange among peranakan ethnic group had contributed tothe diversity of medicinal plants in Surakarta.