A Consensus Ethnobotany of the Q'eqchi' Maya of Southern Belize

Amiguet, Virginie Treyvaud; Arnason, John T.; Maquin, Pedro; Cal, Victor; Vindas, Pablo Sanchez; Poveda, Luis

doi:10.1663/0013-0001(2005)059[0029:aceotq]2.0.co;2

Cited by 98 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Like most Maya communities, the Q'eqchi of the eastern lowlands maintain a rich tradition of medical beliefs and practices that include the use of the native flora to treat a variety of illnesses. Compared to the numerous ethnographic and ethnobotanical studies on the Q'eqchi from the highlands (Carlson and Eachus, 1978;Booth et al, 1992;Wilson, 1995;Cabarrus, 1998;Siebers, 1998;Coe, 1999;Collins, 2001;Hatse and De Ceuster, 2001), fewer studies have been made on the lowland Q'eqchi (Arnason et al, 1980;Collins, 2001;Amiguet et al, 2005) and no known ethnographic studies on the Q'eqchi from the eastern lowlands of Livingston, Izabal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical potential of plants used by the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala for the treatment of women's health complaints

Michel

Duarte

Bolton

et al. 2007

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

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Investigation on the medical ethnobotany of the Q'eqchi Maya of Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala, was undertaken in order to explore Q'eqchi perceptions, attitudes, and treatment choices related to women's health. Through participant observation and interviews a total of 48 medicinal plants used to treat conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, menstruation, and menopause were collected and identified followed by the evaluation of 20 species in bioassays relevant to women's health. Results of field interviews indicate that Q'eqchi cultural perceptions affect women's health experiences while laboratory results (estrogen receptor and serotonin receptor binding assays) provide a scientific correlation between empirical medicinal plant use among the Q'eqchi and the pharmacological basis for their administration. These data can contribute to Guatemala's national effort to promote a complementary relationship between traditional Maya medicine and public health services and can serve as a basis for further pharmacology and phytochemistry on Q'eqchi medicinal plants for the treatment of women's health conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical potential of plants used by the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala for the treatment of women's health complaints

Michel

Duarte

Bolton

et al. 2007

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

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“…One must realize that the Q'eqchi' have a long tradition of using these same plants medicinally. This is supported by the consensus study conducted by Amiguet et al (2005) that suggests that the Q'eqchi' have a very high frequency of consensus among the healers who use these plants. In other words, there is a definite longstanding tradition of medicinal plant usage that took a significant period of time to develop, possibly dating to before the Classic period.…”

Section: Interpreting the Paleoethnobotanical Remains At The Quebradamentioning

confidence: 67%

Linking Past and Present: A preliminary paleoethnobotanical study of Maya nutritional and medicinal plant use and sustainable cultivation in the Southern Maya Mountains, Belize

Abramiuk

Dunham

Cummings³

et al. 2011

Ethnobot. Res. App.

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Paleoethnobotanical analysis of anthropogenic soils sampled from archaeological features dating to the Classic Maya Period (A.D. 250-900) reveal diagnostic phytoliths that help the authors bring to light evidence of a novel sustainable agricultural strategy and a variety of nutritional and medicinal plants that were utilized by the Classic Maya of the Maya Mountains, Belize, Central America. Given the archaeological context of these phytoliths, the authors infer that the plants from which they were derived were exploited by the Classic Maya of the region. These discoveries have the potential for improving health and wellness regionally in the present since the agricultural strategy that is reconstructed demonstrates an intensive means of cultivation that has the potential of sustaining large, dense populations. The nutritional and medicinal plants alluded to, in turn, provide further evidence in support of the utilization of traditional knowledge in sustaining community health and wellness. IntroductionIn recent years, the view of the ancient Maya, as imprudent exploiters of their environment with little regard for sustainability (e.g., Diamond 2005), has begun to change (Ford & Nigh 2009). Research has shown that the Maya lowlands during the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) were one of the most densely populated areas in the world (Fagan 2004:284). In some regions in the Maya lowlands, such as the southern Maya Mountains, population density estimates near 300 persons per squared kilometer (Abramiuk 1998). This estimate is quite staggering, especially if we consider that the people of this particular region had no efficient means for importing foodstuffs and therefore Published: June 30, 2011 Ethnobotany Research & Applications 258www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol9/i1547-3465-09-257.pdf

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“…One UR corresponds to the event where the informant (i) mentions the use of a species (s) for the treatment of an ailment category (u) [25]. In the present study, if an informant used a particular species for the treatment of more than one health disorder belonging to the same ailment category, it was considered as one UR [26].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical ethnobotany of herbal practitioners in the Turkestan Range, southwestern Kyrgyzstan

et al. 2016

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This study recorded and analyzed traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in the Turkestan Range in southwestern Kyrgyzstan, where ethnobotanical knowledge has been largely under-documented to date. Data was collected through participant observation and both semi-structured and in-depth interviews with 10 herbal specialists. A total of 50 medicinal plant taxa were documented, distributed among 46 genera and 27 botanical families. In folk medicine they are applied in 75 different formulations, which cure 63 human and three animal ailments. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices were calculated to analyze traditional knowledge of the informants and to determine the cultural importance of particular medicinal plants. Ziziphora pamiroalaica, Peganum harmala, and Inula orientalis obtained the highest use value (UV). The best-represented and culturally important families were Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, and Apiaceae. Gastro-intestinal system disorders was the most prevalent ailment category. Most medicinal plants were gathered from nearby environments, however, species with a higher cultural value occurred at distant rather than nearby collection sites. The findings of this study proved the gap in documentation of traditional knowledge in Kyrgyzstan, indicating that further studies on the traditional use of wild plant resources could bring important insights into ecosystems' diversity with implications to human ecology and biocultural diversity conservation in Central Asia.

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A Consensus Ethnobotany of the Q'eqchi' Maya of Southern Belize

Cited by 98 publications

References 10 publications

Medical potential of plants used by the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala for the treatment of women's health complaints

Medical potential of plants used by the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala for the treatment of women's health complaints

Linking Past and Present: A preliminary paleoethnobotanical study of Maya nutritional and medicinal plant use and sustainable cultivation in the Southern Maya Mountains, Belize

Medical ethnobotany of herbal practitioners in the Turkestan Range, southwestern Kyrgyzstan

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