Ethnobotany of the Podhale region based on Józef Rostafiński’s (1850-1928) questionnaire, distributed in 1883

In 1883, an ethnobotanical enquiry was distributed by Józef Rostafiński (1850-1928), a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (then Austro-Hungary). Among the participants of the survey, 12 people submitted data (in 14 letters) from Podhale (the region north of the Tatra Mountains in the Carpathians). They sent 296 records (24.67 records per correspondent, median - 4). In the submitted responses ca. 105 species and at least 10 genera of plants and fungi were identified. The most frequently mentioned were: Solanum tuberosum L. - 9 records, and Avena sativa L. - 7 records. Identified taxa can be included in the following groups: food, ornamental, dyeing, healing, magic, and fiber. Compared to earlier and later ethnobotanical studies in the Podhale region, the data obtained from Rostafiński’s survey are the most extensive.