Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on the Knowledge of Medicinal Plants: A Case Study in the Truká Indigenous Population, Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

This study aims to assess the richness of knowledge about medicinal plants in the Truká indigenous community, highlighting the most important ones, as well as verifying whether that knowledge is influenced by socioeconomic factors. A survey on species used as therapeutic resources was carried out through semi-structured interviews, and the indices of use value (UV), relative importance (RI), and salience (SI) of the species were calculated. Additionally, the relationship of socioeconomic factors with the knowledge of medicinal plants was evaluated using generalized linear models (GLM). Ninety-nine ethnospecies were registered, and those most relevant to the indigenous community were among the botanical families Fabaceae and Lamiaceae. The plants most important to the residents of the community were used mainly for hypertension and anxiety. Older people, and those with a greater number of residents at home and lower income, knew a greater number of medicinal plants.