Knowledge and Use of the Flora in a Quilombola Community of Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the Quilombola Community of Serra do Evaristo in the municipality of Baturité, Ceará state, Brazil. We interviewed 41 residents who provided information on the plants used, the types of use, the preparation methods, the purchase location of the plants and their knowledge source. One hundred and fourteen species belonging to 53 botanical families were recorded. Six types of use were reported, with most species being used for medicinal purposes (43% of the species), followed by food (25%), decoration (23%), construction (5%), domestic fuel (3%) and ritualistic purposes (3%). The most cited species were Musa paradisiaca L. (banana), Zea mays L. (corn), Phaseolus vulgaris L. (bean), Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck (orange), Melissa officinalis L. (common balm), Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. (aloe vera), Cymbopogon citratus Stapf. (lemon grass), Mentha sp.(mint) and Psidium guajava L. (guava). The knowledge and use of the plants is part of a cultural heritage passed down through families, and has been helping the survival and maintenance of the Quilombola identity in the studied community.

Quilombola Ethnomedicine: The Role of Age, Gender, and Culture Change

“…Of these, 811 are located in the northeastern state of Bahia (Fundação Cultural Palmares 2020). Ethnobotanical research in these rural Afro-descendant communities has increased significantly in recent years, focusing mainly on medicinal plant surveys (Mota & Dias 2012;Silva et al 2012a;Ferreira et al 2014), some using participatory tools and local perception (Zank et al 2016), others using quantitative techniques to determine the influence of cultural or ecological features on the knowledge and use of traditional medicine (Gomes & Bandeira 2012;Silva et al 2012b;Santana et al 2016;Pereira & Coelho-Ferreira 2017), and still others exploring other non-medicinal categories (Ávila et al 2015(Ávila et al , Conde et al 2017Santos et al 2019).…”

The natural resource management to support tourism: A traditional knowledge approach in Pegunungan Arfak Nature Reserve, West Papua, Indonesia

“…Local people (99% native to the Arfak tribe), who are in the vicinity of the nature reserve, still use wood for their livelihoods and clear the forest for cultivation leading to habitat damage and decline in animal populations. Traditional knowledge has been part of local community activity, where it must be figured out to support the development of nature management (Santos et al 2019;Benner et al 2021). The areas of West Papua, including Pegunungan Arfak consist of high biodiversity and cultural aspects.…”