Medicinal Uses of Flowers in Traditional and Folk Medicine

Flowers have played a significant role in human civilization, focusing on their aesthetic value rather than their medicinal potential. Since the earliest stages of human civilization, natural products with therapeutic properties have been used to treat and manage various diseases. Flowers are gifts from nature with various purposes like ornamental, decorations, medicine, food, during religious rites, to gods, culinary preparations, and beauty care products. Although many flowers found in our environment are widely used to treat different medical conditions, there are little scientific data on this topic. The presented results show that the flowers of a few species have a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of their use in traditional medicine, which implies that there is a necessity to preserve knowledge about the traditional medical application of flowers. It is also important to mention that the same flowers have different medicinal uses in different regions of the Balkan Peninsula. They are an excellent basis for researching the potential for inclusion in modern preparations and official medicine.