Levantamento do uso de plantas medicinais pela população da cidade de São José do Egito - PE

Abstract

Humanity has always maintained a close relationship with nature and sought in it means for their survival and for an improvement in the quality of life. Among the forms found, is the use of plants for medicinal purposes, which over the time has become part of the culture of different people and the knowledge acquired about them has been propagated through generations. The present study aimed to carry out a survey of the use of medicinal plants in the São José do Egito -PE county. Interviews were carried out with men and women, and the data collection took place through a questionnaire, totaling 70 informants between 20 and 90 years old, where was obtained information about 61 plant species, about their uses, part of the plant used, therapeutic indications and forms of preparation. The family that had the greatest representation were Fabaceae (6 spp.) and Lamiaceae (5 spp.). It was observed that the most used part of the plant were the leaves (66,2%) and among the ways of preparation, the tea (75,7%) by infusion and decoction. The most cited plant species were bushy matgrassis (Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Br.), lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf.), boldo (Peumus boldus Molina) and mint (Mentha arvensis L.). The Use Value (UV) and the Family Use Value (FUV) of the species was calculated and the rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), mint (Mentha arvensis L.), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus Labill) and mastruz (Chenopodium ambrosioides L.) had higher UV. The families with higher FUV were Chenopodiaceae, Lamiaceae and Verbenaceae. It was found that the knowledge about medicinal plants is passed on mainly through the family and that it is necessary to carry out further research and promote the dissemination of knowledge about these plants, their uses, and toxicities so that the entire population has access and knows how to use medicinal plants consciously.