Volume 145, Issue 2, 30 January 2013, Pages 450–464
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
The
study documents current medicinal plant knowledge and use in two Andean
communities and depicts the dynamic nature of ethnobotanical
relationships by illustrating cultural integration of biomedicine and
local plant medicine into a complementary system.
Aim of the study
In
order to elucidate the importance of medicinal plants, the following
research questions were addressed: Which position do medicinal plants
have in the local health care system? Which plants are used medicinally,
and do they differ between the communities? Is their use supported
pharmacologically?
Materials and methods
Fieldwork
was done for seven months in 2010. Semi-structured interviews were
conducted with 120 informants in Uchumarca and Pusac/San Vicente de
Paúl, and the medicinal plant species mentioned by the informants were
vouchered.
Results
In total,
2776 plant remedy use reports were recorded. Most people in both
communities know at least some medicinal plants, usually from their
parents, grandparents, sometimes from books. There are different types
of local plant specialists, who are consulted above all for the
treatment of diseases thought to have a magical origin or for
recommendations of plants to treat minor diseases. Overall, 140
medicinal plants were documented, with a conformity of over 90% between
the communities. The effective use of the most frequently cited
medicinal plants is supported by scientific literature. Most uses were
reported for the treatment of gastrointestinal (17%), nervous (14%),
respiratory (14%), urological (13%) and dermatological diseases (8%);
nervous diseases were more prevalent in the mountain community, while
dermatological and urological diseases were more common in the valley.
Conclusions
People
combine medicinal plant use and biomedicine depending on the kind of
disease, their beliefs, and their economic situation. The local use of
different available medical resources is reflected by the combination of
related epistemologies to explain disease causes. Medicinal plant use
and biomedicine complement each other to form the local health care
system.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Ethnobotany;
- Medicinal plants;
- Traditional medicine;
- South America;
- Peru
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