O saber medicinal tradicional é essencial para resolver problemas de saúde e para mitigar dores, nos países da América Latina. Há mais de uma década, o Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT), em Portugal, vem pesquisando espécies vegetais usadas por cidadãos de baixa renda, assim como por adeptos da fitoterapia. Em 2010, extraiu-se uma amostra na cidade de São Luís, no Brasil. O principal objetivo do trabalho de campo era o de estabelecer comparações entre os gêneros usados pelos informantes brasileiros, assim como entre os povos latino-americanos, sob a hipótese de que a sua localização geográfica e a história da colonização explicavam aplicações terapêuticas similares. Os resultados obtidos confirmaram que as espécies nativas da América dominam as preferências, para vasta gama de enfermidades crônicas e problemas de saúde.
the main objective of this research is to investigate how the residents of Kochi manage to solve their health problems, when they cannot access the healthcare system or when they choose to use alternative therapies, in modern times. the specific objective of this work is to compile the therapeutic species used in the 16 th century and to compare them with the ones used nowadays. the indian flora and particularly the spices have been fascinating mankind from the beginning of times. in 1498, the Portuguese discovered the sea route to East indies and for the next two centuries this small European country has largely dominated the spice trade. following the spice route the Portuguese tropical research institute (iiCt) recently organized a scientific mission to Kerala in order to investigate the fruits, vegetables, spices, tubers, and medicinal plants gardened in front and backyards, traded in fairs and shops, and recommended by Ayurvedic medicine healers in the city of Kochi. We started by reading four 16 th century manuscripts where several spices, aromatic and medicinal plant species were enumerated. results show that a good number of plants collected during the iiCt survey, in 2013, were already in use during renaissance.Keywords: india. Gardens. spices. Medicinal plants.MAdALEno, isabel. Plantas medicinais consumidas em Cochim, no século XVi e na atualidade. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.