BackgroundAn ethnobotanical survey was conducted on the Caribbean island of Trinidad to identify medicinal plants commonly used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of medical conditions.MethodsA pilot survey was conducted to identify the top ten most common ailments where medicinal plants were used. The results of the foregoing study guided a wider national survey conducted between October 2007 and July 2008. A total of 450 households from 50 rural communities were interviewed using the TRAMIL (Traditional Medicine in the Islands) questionnaire for data collection. Details of plants, part(s) used, and remedy formulations were elicited from informants and voucher specimens collected for identification at the National Herbarium of Trinidad and Tobago. The TRAMIL methodology set a limit of a plant with 20 % or more citations for any particular ailment as having significant or popular use.ResultsAt the end of the survey 917 single plant remedies were identified. The majority of species were from the following families; Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Leguminosae, Verbenaceae and Poaceae. Applying the TRAMIL 20 % citation of a plant for popular use as significant, Leonotis nepetifolia (for cough/common cold), Gomphrena globosa (for “stoppage-of-water”), Curcuma longa and Senna occidentalis (for “afterbirth”), Cymbopogon citratus and Neurolaena lobata (for fever), and Citrus limon (for kidney stones) qualified in our study. Those not reaching the TRAMIL 20 % significant (popular) use were Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl, Senna alata (L.) Roxb.and Momordica charantia L. which were widely used as “‘cooling/cleanser’” in our survey.ConclusionsOur survey showed significant retention of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in rural Trinidad. More interestingly, a large remnant of medico-cultural concepts such as “cooling/cleanser”, “afterbirth”, “stoppage-of-water” and “womb infection” persist in the rural population. Although the scientific literature show that some of the cited plants possessed antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and related pharmacological activities in laboratory studies, these results must be taken with caution until clinical trials are conducted to establish safety and efficacy.
We report on the results of a multi-disciplinary project (including wood identification, radiocarbon dating and strontium isotope analysis) focused on a collection of pre-Columbian wooden carvings and human remains from Pitch Lake, Trinidad. While the lake's unusual conditions are conducive to the survival of organic artefacts, they also present particular challenges for analysis. There is a loss of any contextual association beyond that of the lake, and specific methodologies are required to deal with pitch contamination. A surprising taxonomic range of woods was employed for the various utilitarian and ceremonial items recovered. The 14C results range from ca. 3200 BC to ca. AD 700, and include the earliest known wooden carvings in the entire Caribbean. The strontium isotope results -interpreted with the aid of an isoscape developed for the project, based on extensive samples of modern trees across Trinidad and Tobago -indicate that most carvings are consistent with the site's immediate environs; however, a 'weaving tool' came from a more radiogenic region that is unlikely to be found on Trinidad,suggesting links with the South American mainland.
Although the publication of the vascular flora of the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago extended from 1928–1992, it is incomplete with the family Poaceae still outstanding. Many of the early recorded families are in need of extensive revision. Therefore, this checklist is intended to fill these gaps by providing a comprehensive list of the vascular plants for the islands. We compiled the checklist using the results from herbarium records, literature citations, online resources and a Rapid Botanic Survey (RBS) of 240 sample plots across the islands. From the RBS plots 22,500 vascular plant specimens were collected, yielding 1530 species. The herbarium records, literature citations and the RBS plots yielded a total of 3639 species, of which 2407 are indigenous, 1222 are exotic and 108 are endemic or near endemic. The low endemism is attributed to the islands’ close proximity to and recent separation from the South American continent. A total of 262 species of grasses (Poaceae) is published here for the first time along with the results from the RBS plots. Our annotated checklist further presents two types of conservation rating: the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List Categories and a global Star rating system. Based on the clustering of the ‘Star rating’ of each species, plant communities in the following areas: the Heights of Aripo, parts of the Nariva Swamp and the North-west Islands were identified as ‘hot spots’ of high conservation value which should continue to, or receive greater protection in the National Parks and Protected Areas system established in Trinidad and Tobago.
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