Popular knowledge about medicinal plants used in Mafra, SC, Brazil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24302/sma.v9i0.2466Abstract
Although popular knowledge about medicinal plants is widespread in Brazil, it is being lost due to globalization. In addition, despite having advantages, the erroneous use of plants can cause damage to the health of users. The present study aimed to point out some plants used in the municipality. It also aims to rescue a small portion of regional popular knowledge and compare common sense information with scientific knowledge about medicinal plants. The ethnobotanical survey took place between May and June 2019, through semi-structured interviews with the population of the municipality of Mafra (SC). After data collection, literature searches were performed on the species mentioned by the interviewees. Among the 22 respondents, was observed a predominance of women (86.36%). In addition, most participants are over 60 years old (36.36%) and have incomplete elementary school (22.72%). The main source of popular knowledge about plant use was transmitted by ancestors. Some informants (18.18%) reported the appearance of adverse effects with the use of some species. Eighty-six plants distributed in 49 families were mentioned, the dominant ones being Asteraceae (11.5%) and Lamiaceae (10.3%). The most cited plants were: babosa (Aloe sp.), camomila (Chamomilla sp.), capim-limão (Cymbopogon sp.), gervão (Stachytarpheta sp.), hortelã (Mentha sp.) e penicilina (Alternanthera sp.). With these results, it was possible to map the use and collect data about some medicinal plants used by the population of Mafra and conclude that most species of popular use have the same indication found in the scientific literature.
Keywords: Ethnomedicine. Ethnobotany. Therapeutic species. Popular medicine.