Folk medicine in Mandaguaçu municipality, Paraná State: an ethnobotanical approach

Abstract

aiming the improvement and rationalization of medical practices, based on popular use of plants. We applied semi-structured interviews to 220 families from the urban area of Mandaguaçu municipality, Paraná State. During the interviews we recorded the following information about the used plants: common name; plant part used; method of preparation; collection site; therapeutic indication, and known adverse effects. Additionally, we compared the data obtained in the interviews with the literature in order to identify contradiction in use and application. Among the interviewees, 90% use medicinal plants, obtained especially from the backyards. We recorded 44 ethnobotanical citations, comprising 47 species (22 families). The species most frequently mentioned in the interviews were, respectively, Cymbopogon citrates (DC) Stapf. (Lemon grass), Mentha sp. (Mint), Plectranthus barbatus Andrews (False Boldo) and Plectranthus ornatus Codd (Dog bane). The applications most cited were: the treatment of diseases from the digestive tract (122 citations), respiratory (67 citations) and nervous system (40 citations). In general, the population knows the correct method for preparing the medicinal plants. However, they report that do not know any adverse effect caused by these plants. This scenario is worrying because some species are recognized in the literature as potentially toxic or responsible for adverse effects.

Plectranthus Species with Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Potential: A Systematic Review on Ethnobotanical and Pharmacological Findings

“…Ten species were reported in ethnobotanical studies: Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], Plectranthus barbatus (Andrews) Benth. [15,18,[24][25][26][27][28][29], Plectranthus neochilus Schtr.…”

“…Spreng [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], Plectranthus barbatus (Andrews) Benth. [15,18,[24][25][26][27][28][29], Plectranthus neochilus Schtr. [15,30], Plectranthus coleoides Benth.…”

“…[31], Plectranthus kilimandschari Gurke [32], Plectranthus lanuginosus [33], Plectranthus ornatus Codd. [18,21], Plectranthus rugosus [34], Plectranthus scutellarioides (L.) R. Br. [35] and Plectranthus zeylanicus Benth.…”

“…Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng receives a variety of popular names such as "hortelã-folha" [15,24], "malva-do-reino" [17,19], "orégano Cubano" [18], "pêng pèng xiāng" [23], "oregano" [20], "malvarisco" [21], and "omavalli" [22].…”

“…While the leaves were the part of the plant mainly used [18,[20][21][22][23][25][26][27]31,32,41], the roots [36] and the whole plant [29] were also mentioned. However, 8 of the 21 studies did not provide information on the part of the plant used [15][16][17]28,30,33,35].…”