Volume 175, 4 December 2015, Pages 39–47
Do ferns and lycophytes function as medicinal plants? A study of their low representation in traditional pharmacopoeias
- a Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology. Department of Biology, Rural Federal University of Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manuel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil
- b Laboratory of Biodiversity, Biology Center, Federal University of Pernambuco, Centro Acadêmico de Vitória, Rua Alto do Reservatório s/n., Bela Vista, 55608-680 Vitória de Santo Antão, PE, Brazil
- c Biology and Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Western Bahia, Estrada do Barrocão, s/n, Morada Nobre, 47800-000 Barreiras, BA, Brazil
- Received 10 June 2015, Revised 1 September 2015, Accepted 2 September 2015, Available online 10 September 2015
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Ethnobotany
is becoming an important tool for understanding how traditional medical
systems are organized and which variables affect their structure and
dynamics. However, some phenomena observed in ethnobotanical studies led
us to question whether such phenomena are real or methodological
artifacts. The small proportion of ferns and lycophytes in
ethnobotanical surveys of medicinal plants is one such phenomenon, and
its causes should be identified using different approach levels. The
present study aimed to clarify the reasons for a low representation of
these two groups in studies of medicinal plants.
Materials and methods
The
present study considered the following hypotheses: 1) ferns and
lycophytes are little represented in different ethnobotanical studies
because of inadequate data collection methods to record these species;
2) ferns and lycophytes are little represented because of the local
perception of their low therapeutic efficacy; and 3) species of ferns
and lycophytes are represented in local pharmacopoeias in proportion to
the size of their families. We chose rural communities from Chapada do
Araripe, Northeast Brazil to test our hypotheses. Data on the medicinal
plant repertoires of the communities and on the perceived therapeutic
efficacy of ferns were obtained using two different methods,
semi-structured interviews associated with free lists and a checklist
interview, both applied to local specialists. The resulting data were
analyzed differently for each test. In addition, data regarding the
total flora x medicinal flora ratio were obtained with a
floristic survey and accessing data banks from previous studies
performed by our research team.
Results
All
hypotheses were confirmed, showing that all three factors contributed
to the low representation of these plant groups as medicinal resources.
The present study showed that free-list interviews are not a good method
to access traditional knowledge of medicinal ferns and lycophytes and
that the use of visual stimuli can help the memory of the informants,
thus making it possible to associate the perceived characteristics with
plant use. The results also showed that individuals perceive these
plants as inferior therapeutic resources compared to angiosperms, which
contributes to knowledge of their use not being transmitted. The final
result of the present study was that the distribution of medicinal fern
and lycophyte species within families was consistent with the total
flora x medicinal flora ratio. This result indicates that even
if the most appropriate data collection method was used for the
ethnobotanical survey, the number of species would not be as expressive
as that of angiosperms.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Ethnobiology;
- Ethnobotany;
- Traditional ecological knowledge;
- Medicinal plants;
- Medicinal pteridophytes
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