Ethnoknowledge: Use of Medicinal Plants in Communities
Alberto Salgado Bandeira
14th Region Administrative of EMATER-PB, Pombal, PB, Brazil
Valéria Fernandes de Oliveira Sousa *
Postgraduate Program in Tropical Horticulture, Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Pombal, PB, Brazil
Gisele Lopes dos Santos
Postgraduate Program in Tropical Horticulture, Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Pombal, PB, Brazil
Marília Hortência Batista Silva Rodrigues
Postgraduate Program in Tropical Horticulture, Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Pombal, PB, Brazil
Patrício Borges Maracajá
Postgraduate Program in Agroindustrial Systems, Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Pombal, PB, Brazil
Rosilene Agra da Silva
Postgraduate Program in Agroindustrial Systems, Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Pombal, PB, Brazil
José Jaciel Ferreira Dos Santos
Agricultural Academic Unit (UAGRA), Federal University of Campina Grande, Pombal, PB, Brazil
Michel Douglas Santos Ribeiro
Agricultural Academic Unit (UAGRA), Federal University of Campina Grande, Pombal, PB, Brazil
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: To evaluate the traditional knowledge as for the use of medicinal plants in the municipal districts that integrate the 14th Administrative Area of the Company of Technical Support and Rural Extension of the State of Paraíba.
Methodology: This study was promoted by a field research, of descriptive character with a qualitative approach. As instrument of data collection, a questionnaire was previously structure, containing objective and subjective subjects. 30 people were interviewed in the rural area and in the headquarters of each municipal district, in other words, in the nine municipal districts, totaling, like this, 315 interviewees. The data were analyzed as to the relative frequency of the medicinal plants being calculated in the Microsoft Excel Program.
Results: 82 species were mentioned with medicinal potential, distributed in 52 families, with 52 therapeutic indications, among them, anti-inflammatory activity with 32 species, anti-pains (analgesic) with 21 and antiseptic with 19 species, nineteen species were referred for hepatic upset and in the symptomatic treatment of influenza, and some species possessed more than a therapeutic indication.
Conclusion: The species more mentioned were: Herb cidreira, mallow, marcela, mint, angry Lavender, Grass saint, mastruz and cumaru. The families of plants used for the treatment of diseases with larger representativeness were: Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Verbenaceae, Malvaceae, Anacardiaceae and Euphorbiaceae.
Keywords: Ethnobotany, phytotherapy, semi-arid, cultural meaning