Research PaperEthno-medicinal study of plants used for treatment of human ailments, with residents of the surrounding region of forest fragments of Paraná, Brazil
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Ethnopharmacological studies have been used in different contexts. These studies may involve the registration of traditional use of plants and the understanding of the dynamics of traditional knowledge. Local knowledge of medicinal plants has been a source of research to prove the effects of plants and develop new therapeutic resources. Another approach aims to use traditional practices in formal health systems (Baptista et al., 2013). On the second half of the twentieth century there was a gradual decrease in the importance of the use of medicinal plants in Brazilian formal health care. This situation is modified nowadays with a growing interest in the use of medicinal plants. The Brazilian government has encouraged the use of medicinal plants and herbal medicines as a strategy to improve the use of the Brazilian biodiversity and public access to herbal medicines (Brasil, 2006).
Another context is related to the preservation of biodiversity, several authors address the potential relevance of the information in this context (Heinrich et al., 2009). The conservation of ethnobotanical knowledge as part of living cultural knowledge and practice between communities and the environment is essential for biodiversity conservation (Maroyi, 2011). Researches on the local knowledge also confirm the value of these cultures and self-sufficiency of local communities, as well as the importance of biodiversity to the sustainability of these populations (Di Stasi et al., 2002).
Traditional knowledge related to medicinal plants is the basis of folk medicine in Brazil, which is derived from a mixture of Brazilian indigenous cultures and European and African influences from the colonization period (Cartaxo et al., 2010). Several ethnobotanical studies have been developed in Brazil to record the local knowledge of communities associated with different biomes (Coelho de Souza et al., 2004). The presence of different biomes (tropical rainforest “Amazon”; tropical scrub forest “Caatinga”; tropical grassland and savannah “Cerrado”; tropical deciduous forest “Mata Atlântica”; flooded grassland “Pantanal” and subtropical prairies or grasslands “pampas”) characterize Brazil as the country with one of the greatest biodiversity on the planet.
The tropical deciduous forest “Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlântica” is among the major Brazilian biomes and the most disfigured by human occupation. The Atlantic Forest includes about 7.5–9.0% of remaining primary vegetation (Souza and Batista, 2004). Original vegetation of western Paraná State is semideciduous forest, in which a portion of the trees defoliates during the dry season (Souza and Batista, 2004). The seasonal semideciduous forests constituted about 90% of the original vegetation of the western Paraná State and currently remain as small forest fragments. The soil quality provided the expansion of agriculture which determined the near disappearance of seasonal semideciduous forests in Paraná (Roderjan et al., 2002). This constitutes the phytoecological unit most drastically disturbed.
This region is severely fragmented, and the landscape consists mostly of intensive agriculture with some forest remnants that cover only about 4–5% of total area. The western region of Paraná State received greater human occupation during the first half of the 20th century with the implementation of agriculture which resulted in intense deforestation. Currently there are few areas of original vegetation and protected areas that do not form a continuum, resulting in small forest fragments. The protected areas (national and regional parks) are the most representative regional forest fragments. Human occupation occurred with migration originating from other countries and other Brazilian regions, which contributed to the rich cultural and traditional knowledge. In this region the deforestation preceded the scientific research on the traditional knowledge associated with the native species.
In this study, we documented the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants from communities near a forest fragment of the western Paraná State (Parque Estadual da Cabeça do Cachorro), aiming to understand the pressures faced by the species of plants in this protected area, and suggest approaches to include the use of medicinal plants in formal health systems and contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.
Section snippets
Study area
This study was conducted in the western region of Paraná State, southeastern Brazil. A protected area and the support zone communities (Fig. 1) were used in this study. The area refers to the “Parque Estadual da Cabeça do Cachorro” (PECC) – situated 5 km from the São Pedro do Iguaçu city (coordinates 24°54′S and 53°55′W), and maintained by the Paraná State government in the Parks category (IAP, 2013). The regional climate is subtropical – Cfa, the average annual rainfall is 1600–1800 mm. The
Results
The group of twenty-four residents of the surrounding region of forest fragments was composed of 19 female and 5 male, with age range between 35–65 years. The profile of respondents was as follows: education up to elementary school, predominantly European ethnic influences, catholic religion, and residents in the region for 15–43 years. Regarding the origin of the knowledge about the medicinal plants, family and participation of the Catholic Church (Pastoral da Criança) were the most important.
Discussion
For the first time 115 medicinal plants belonging to 54 families were documented from the study area. These plant species are used for the treatment and prevention of many ailments and diseases grouped under 11 categories. Exact doses and duration of treatment are considered intellectual property of the informants, so, as their request, this information is not included in the present paper. Reported uses of various medicinal plants were compared to previously published ethnobotanical
Conclusions
The present study revealed that the residents of the surrounding region of forest fragments of Paraná are rich in ethnomedicinal knowledge and a majority of people relies on plant-based remedies for common health problems. This ethno-medicinal study includes 115 medicinal plants cited for 280 medicinal uses. These data show high herbal diversity of medicinal plants in the Tropical Atlantic Forest fragments as well as great potential for furthermore studies on the therapeutic activities. This
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Parque Tecnológico Itaipu (052/2007 - PTI-Brazil), Itaipu Hydroelectric (Brazil/Paraguay), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-Brazil), Diretoria Executiva de Gestão da Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação (DEGPP/UNIPAR-Brazil), Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação (PUCPR/Toledo-Brazil) for financial and technical support. All authors declare no financial/commercial conflicts of interest regarding the information in this article.
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