The conservation of native priority medicinal plants in a Caatinga area in Ceará, northeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT Much of the Brazilian semiarid region faces a considerable process of degradation of natural resources, and ethnobotanical studies have collaborated with important information about the use and traditional knowledge, serving as a tool to design conservation strategies of native plant species. Thus, this study aimed to determine medicinal species meriting conservation priorities in a "Caatinga" area in the northeastern of Brazilian territory. The ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key subjects selected through the "snowball" technique. The availability and species conservation priority was verified by relative density, risk of collection, local use and use of diversity in the forest fragment sampled. It was recorded 42 native medicinal plants and conservation priority score was calculated for seven species, including Mimosa tenuiflora, Hymenaea courbaril, Ximenia americana and Amburana cearensis need immediate conservation and attention, since their collection does not occur in a sustainable way. In order to ensure the perpetuation of the species and the sustainability of traditional therapeutic practice there needs to be a development of conservation practices of caatinga remaining to better conserve the species of the biome.

Práticas terapêuticas tradicionais: uso e conhecimento de plantas do cerrado no estado de Pernambuco (Nordeste do Brasil) / Therapeutic traditional practices: usage and knowledge of cerrado plants in the state of Pernambuco (Northeastern Brazil)

Este trabalho visa registrar as práticas terapêuticas da comunidade Catolé utilizando a diversidade local das plantas medicinais verificando a versatilidade das espécies, consenso de uso e conhecimento dos informantes. Foram registradas 46 espécies nativas com fins medicinais, pertencentes a 42 gêneros e 26 famílias com destaque para Fabaceae. Dez espécimes apresentaram grande versatilidade de uso, no entanto Ximennia americana L. e Croton heliotropiifolius Kunth., apresentaram os maiores valores de IR (2,0 e 1,65). As indicações terapêuticas foram agrupadas em 15 categorias de sistemas corporais, com maior fator de consenso entre os informantes para; Doenças infecciosas e parasitárias (1,0), Transtorno do sistema respiratório (0,82) e Doenças das glândulas endócrinas, da nutrição e do metabolismo (0,81). Devido à diversidade de espécies nativas registradas, pode-se concluir que a preservação dessa área é de grande importância para a conservação da biodiversidade local e os informantes envolvidos possuem um vasto conhecimento da vegetação contribuindo para o conhecimento de plantas potencialmente úteis do cerrado.

This work aims to record the therapeutical practices of the community Catolé utilizing local diversity of medicinal plants verifying the versatility of the species, consensus usage and knowledge of the informants. Were recorded 46 native species for medicinal purposes, belonging to 42 genres and 26 families, highlighting Fabaceae. Ten specimens exhibited great versatility of use, however Ximennia americana L. and Croton heliotropiifolius Kunth showed the highest values of IR (2.0 and 1.65). The Therapeutic uses were grouped in 15 categories of bodily systems, with higher factor consensus among informants in: Infectious and parasitic diseases (1.0), disorder of the respiratory system (0.82) and Endocrine, nutrition and of metabolism (0.81). Due to the diversity of native species registered, it can be concluded that the preservation of these areas is of great importance for biodiversity conservation site and the informants involved have a vast knowledge of the vegetation contributing to the knowledge of potentially useful plants of the cerrado.