Medicinal plants in the southern region of the State of Nuevo León, México.

BACKGROUND: Although the flora of the State of Nuevo León is well known, there are few records of ethnobotancial information. An ethnobotanical study was undertaken in order to know the medicinal plants used by people living at the scrublands and oak-pine forest areas in the southern Nuevo León. Collection of plants specimens and interviews were carried out among the people of the municipalities of Aramberri, Galeana, and Zaragoza. Since former studies in the region are scarce, the aim of this work was to record the medicinal species and their uses in the scrublands and oak-pine forest areas, of southern Nuevo León, Mexico, and also to know if there are differences in the number of species and number of uses knowledge by people. METHODS: Field work was carried out over a 2 years period; useful plants were collected and a total of 105 people from 46 different villages were interviewed. A database was compiled using data collected by means of semi structured interviews. The data were analyzed by means of non-parametric statistics, using goodness-of-fit test (Chi-squared) (number of species known by people of each municipality, number of uses known by people of each municipality), Chi-squared modified to incorporate the Yates Correction (number of species known by people living at scrublands and oak-pine forest); the Kruskall-Wallis test (number of species known by women and men of the three municipalities), and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (age and number of species known, and age and number of uses). RESULTS: A total of 163 medicinal plant species were recorded in the study area, comprising 108 wild and 55 cultivated plants. A total of 117 species were recorded in the oak-pine forest, and 111 in the scrublands area, a total of 68 were recorded in both areas; 68 medicinal species are used in all three municipalities, 40 wild and 28 cultivated. We documented 235 different medicinal uses. The most common plant parts used for medicinal purposes were found to be leaves (123 species), stems (55), fruits (28), roots (17), and bark (14). No differences were noted in the number of medicinal plant species identified among people, but differences were significant in their knowledge with respect to the number of uses among people of the three municipalities studied; people from both, scrublands and oak-pine forest know similar number of species and number of uses. Men and women of the three different municipalities knew statistically the same number of species and number of uses. There was no correlation between resident's age and number of species known and resident's age and number of uses either in Galeana or in Aramberri, but, there was high correlation among these variables in Zaragoza. CONCLUSION: In southern Nuevo León people use at least 5% of the total State flora as medicinal plants, and most of these species are included in few plant families. Most of medicinal species are wild and indigenous to the region. The two most important major plant communities, scrublands and oak-pine forest provide almost the same number of medicinal species. A third of the medicinal flora recorded are used in all three municipalities, most of them are wild. Leaves, stems and fruits are the plant parts most commonly used for healing, and boiling is the most common method used for this purpose. Men and women from the three municipalities are familiar with nearly the same number of species; however, their knowledge of the number of uses varies significantly. In Galeana and Aramberri there was no correlation between a person's age and number of species recognized, however, in Zaragoza, there existed a high correlation between these two factors.

Análisis de la iiversidad arbórea en áreasrestaradas post-incendio en el parquue ecológicochipinque, México. / Analysis of the Arboreal Diversity in Restaurated After-Fire Areasin the Ecological Park Chipinque, Mexico.

La presente investigación evaluó la diversidad del componente arbóreo en áreas con y sin restauración ecológica, tras ser impactadas por un incendio forestal en el Parque Ecológico Chipinque (PECh), en el noreste de México. Para ello se estudiaron dos expo-siciones (noreste y noroeste) de la Sierra Madre Oriental, en cada exposición se evaluaron dos áreas, una donde no se llevaron acabo prácticas de restauración ecológica (testigo) y otra donde se llevaron a cabo dichas prácticas y, en cada una de ellas se delimitaron cuatro sitios de muestreo (16 sitios en total). Los sitios fueron de 10 m x 10 m en un ecosistema mixto pino-encino, con un rango de altura de 1.000 a 1.150 msnm. Se evaluaron todas las especies arbóreas con un diámetro ≥1,5 cm y se obtu-vieron los parámetros dasométricos de altura (h) y diámetro (d0,10). Se estimó la diver-sidad Αmediante los índices de Shannon (H’) y Margalef (Da) y se realizó un análisis de Bray-Curtis para determinar la diversidad Βde acuerdo a la similitud-disimilitud. Para evaluar la distribución vertical de las especies se estimó el índice de Pretzsch. La familia Fagaceae fue el grupo predominante en las dos áreas. De acuerdo a los análisis de diversidad realizados las áreas restauradas presentaron una disminución en la riqueza y diversidad. La especie con mayor peso ecológico en ambas exposiciones y áreas fue Quercus rysophylla; mientras que Pinus pseudostrobus fue la segunda especie de mayor peso ecológico en las áreas restauradas, debido a las acciones de revegetación.

This research assessed the diversity of the arboreal component of areas, with and without ecological restoration, after being impacted by a wildfire in the Ecological Park Chipinque (PECh), in Northeastern Mexico. Two areas were analyzed, one facing Northeast and the other Northwest in the Sierra Madre Oriental, in each facing were assessed two areas, one of them where there were not practices of ecological restoration (control) and other one in which these practices were carried out. Within each area, four sites were selected. Plots were 10 m x 10 m, in a mixed ecosystem pine-oak, ranging in height from 1000 to 1150 m above sea level; all trees with a diameter equal to 0.10 m ≥1.5 cm were assessed, and were obtained parameters of height (h) and diameter (d0.10). The diversity Αwas estimated using the Shannon index (H’) and Margalef (Da) and an analysis of Bray-Curtis was used to determine the diversity Βaccording to the similarity-dissimilarity between the ecosystems of both exposures. To evaluate the vertical distribution of species Pretzsch index was estimated, and species were distributed in different zones of altitude. The family Fagaceae was the predominant group in both areas. According to the analysis of diversity, sampled areas showed a decrease on richness and diversity. The species with the highest ecological weight in both aspects (NE and NO) and in both treatments (with and without restoration) was Quercus rysophylla; while Pinus pseudostrobus was the second specie in the restored areas due to the re-vegetation practices.