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.

Primer informe de Ascaridia dissimilis (SECERNENTEA: ASCARIDA) en guajolote silvestre Río Grande de Nuevo León, México / First Report of Ascaridia dissimilis (SECERNENTEA: ASCARIDA) in Rio Grande wild turkey of Nuevo Leon, Mexico

The health risk of wildlife management programs especially focusing on introducing or mobilization populations, has not been properly evaluated in Mexico. The importance of this study was to identify the potentially disease-causing nematode species carried by a Rio Grande wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) population introduced from Texas to Nuevo Leon, Mexico ten years ago. Twenty eight digestive tracts of adult males donated by hunters during the game season (March-April) from 2000 through 2003 were analyzed. Thirty seven individuals of the nematode Ascaridia dissimilis (Family: Ascaridae) were found. They were fixed, transparented and mounted using the routine techniques. No other nematode species were found. It is rejected the presence of Heterakis gallinarum, potential transmitter of Histomona meleagridis (histomonosis or black head disease). This is the first report of Ascaridia dissimilis for Rio Grande wild turkey of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

El riesgo sanitario de los programas de manejo de fauna silvestre, en cuanto a la introducción y movilización de poblaciones, no ha sido evaluado adecuadamente en México. La importancia de este estudio fue identificar las especies de nematodos potencialmente patógenas en una población de guajolote silvestre Río Grande (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) introducida de Texas, Estados Unidos de América a Nuevo León, México, hace diez años. Se analizaron 28 tubos digestivos de machos adultos donados por cazadores durante la temporada cinegética (marzo-abril) de 2000 a 2003. Se localizaron 37 individuos del nematodo Ascaridia dissimilis (Familia Ascaridae), que fueron fijados, transparentados y montados utilizando técnicas de rutina. No se encontraron otras especies de nematodos. Se descarta presencia de Heterakis gallinarum, transmisor potencial de Histomona meleagridis (Histomonosis o Cabeza negra). Este es el primer informe de Ascaridia dissimilis para guajolote silvestre Río Grande de Nuevo León, México.