Diagnóstico etnobotânico das plantas medicinais comercializadas na feira livre do município de Cuité - PB.

Abstract

The ethnobotany researches are important tools of rescue and register of the empirical use of medicinal plants at traditional markets, generating information that can provide necessary support to researches which can prove the therapeutic efficacy of these plants, contributing in this manner to the conservation of the species, the valorization of knowledge and local culture. Recognizing this importance, this work had proposed realize a survey of the plant species with medicinal aims that are commercialized at the free market Cuité municipality, Curimataú of the state of Paraíba. It was employed the following methodologies: Participant observation, Technique of free-listing and semi structured interviews, applied to 10 sellers of fair of both genders, between 53 to 76 years. Data were collected between August to December 2013. From the total of registered plants it was possible to identify 61 in a specific level, which are encompassed in 57 genera and 35 families. From cast of commercialized plants there were also those identified in a generic level (one) and one plant indeterminate. The most representative families were: Fabaceae (19,6%), Asteraceae (8,1%), Lamiaceae (6,5%), followed by Apiaceae, Lauraceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae e Theaceae (3,2% each). From these results it can be affirmed that the importance of the medicinal plants cited is unquestionable, been the primary source of raw material for remedies. It is called attention to the cast of the species considered vulnerable, which the commerce of some parts of these plants make is present in the dynamics of the local pharmacopoeia.