The use of a popular Fitotherapy was studied among 782 families m the district o f Campina Grande in the state o f Paraíba The study was of a "descriptive survey" kind and the technique used was an interview applied on home visits. A data assessment instrument containing open and closed questions was used as an instrument o f data collection. lt was revealed that 82,9% of the studied families had a "specialist" in "medicinal plants" who used to prepare different kinds of medicines. lt was also observed that most of them were females (93,7%) aging from 15 to 44 (47,3%), 85,0% were catholics and the majority had learned to use the plants with their own families. The medicinal plants used the most were: Lippia alba (443), Cymbopogon citratus (3 34), Sambucus australis (313), Chenopodium ambrosíoides (231), Punica granatum (231), and Peumus boldus (215), Ruta graveolens (198) and Mentha x villosa (181)The main health problems treated by "the specialists" using the plants were, gastro-intestinal (21, 1%), throat, no se and lungs (18,2%), fever and cold (13,3%), psychoneurologicals (8,3%), cardiacs and circulatories (6,5%), female genitais (6,4%) and buccal (4,3%) problems. It was shown that those medicines were usually prepared as a tea (infusion or deccoto) (63,4%) made from fresh leaves (55,0%) for the "specialists",himself, and family use in general. lt was also observed that prescription complied with those of scientifical literature indicated and that most plants were taken from the backyards of the v "specialisfs house" or the neighborhood (54,5%). A great number of specialists (57,0%) noted that they had not found any toxical plant in those places. The author showed the importance of the use of Fitotherapy to be used not only the public health services but also the need of the University to participate in the process as well as the community services teaching and cooperating with research activities. INTRODUÇÃO Nome Popular Nome científico Família Cardeiro Cereus jamacant DC. Cactaceae Cardo-santo Argemone mexicana L. Papaveraceae Carqueja Baccharis trimera (Less) DC. Asteraceae Carrapateira Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castanha-do-cajú Anacardium occidentale L. Anacardiaceae Castanhola Termina/ia catappa L. Combretaceae Catingueira Caesalpinia pyramidalis Tul. Caesalpiniaceae Cebola branca Allium scalonicum L. Liliaceae Cebola do mato Allium scalonicum L.