Local Knowledge and Use of Medicinal Plants in a Rural Community in the Agreste of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil

Ferreira, Ezequiel da Costa; Anselmo, Maria da Glória Vieira; Guerra, Natan Medeiros; Lucena, Camilla Marques de; Felix, Cattleya do Monte Pessoa; Bussmann, Rainer W.; Zambrana, Narel Y. Paniagua; Lucena, Reinaldo Farias Paiva de

doi:10.1155/2021/9944357

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…This knowledge and associated practices have contributed significantly to the continuation of their culture, species conservation, and maintaining a healthy ecosystem (Beltran andPhillips 2000, Kunwar andBussmann 2008). The knowledge gained through continuous interaction with their ecosystems has become a useful means to discover a new source of medicines (Cámara-Leret and Dennehy 2019;da Costa Ferreira et al 2021). The specific knowledge about medicinal plant use depends on local communities' perception, belief, and culture, which is transferred from generation to generation (Berkes et al 2000;Cunningham 1996;Qureshi 2004).…”

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confidence: 99%

Medicinal plants and their use by an ethnic minority Jirel in Dolakha district, Central Nepal

Karki¹,

Dhital²,

Ghimire³

2023

Ethnobot. Res. App.

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Background: Plants are important source of traditional medicine and are used widely in the primary healthcare of indigenous peoples and local communities. Despite a considerable number of ethnobotanical studies in Nepal, there are still several regions to be explored and scientifically document the traditional uses of medicinal plants. This study was conducted in one of such areas in the Dolakha district of central Nepal with the indigenous Jirel community.Methods: Ethnobotanical information was collected using guided field walks, semi-structured interviews, and key informant interviews with traditional herbalists and elderly men and women of the Jirel community. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively using use value (UV), informant consensus factor (FIC), and preference ranking.Results: This study recorded 111 medicinal plant species belonging to 103 genera that were used to treat 11 health disorders. Families such as Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, and Rosaceae have contributed a higher number of species of the total species recorded. Gastrointestinal disorders, skeleton-muscular disorders, fever, headache and cut and wounds were the common health problems among the Jirel people. Roots were mostly used for the preparation of remedies, followed by leaves and fruits. The informant consensus factor (FIC) ranges from 0.74 to 0.93 with an average of 0.87. Paris polyphylla, Cirsium verutum, and Astilbe rivularis have the highest use values of 0.98, 0.96 and 0.92 respectively. This research finds that traditional knowledge about the use of medicinal plants is more centered on Jirel herbal healers (Lama/Jhakris) and elderly people than youths. Similarly, knowledge transmission routes are mainly from parents to their eldest child. Over-harvesting, premature harvesting, and deforestation were found as major threats to medicinal plants. Furthermore, the abandonment of traditional herbal practices, the loss of traditional healers, and the youth's unwillingness to traditional healing systems were threats to the ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants in the Jirel community.Conclusions: The diversity of medicinal plants in the area and the associated indigenous knowledge of use among Jirel people have contributed significantly to their healthcare system. The medicinal uses of the documented species provide the primary information for further ethnopharmacological studies and conservation of most useful species in the study area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medicinal plants and their use by an ethnic minority Jirel in Dolakha district, Central Nepal

Karki¹,

Dhital²,

Ghimire³

2023

Ethnobot. Res. App.

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“…The therapeutic effects of medicinal plants encourage people to use herbal medicines to cure physical and mental illnesses (Achour et al, 2022). In addition, it was stated that some plant species have versatile effects due to the rich chemical components they contain (da Costa Ferreira et al, 2021) and that several plants can be used in treatment as a mixture, as well as single plant administration (Shahrajabian et al, 2020; Sun et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of medicinal plants by individuals diagnosed with mental illness: A qualitative study

Öztürk

İlgün

2022

Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs

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Accessible summary What is known on the subject? Medicinal plants are a part of everyday life. Medicinal plants have many effects on the lives of individuals diagnosed with mental illness. What the paper adds to existing knowledge? Since there is no qualitative study in which individuals diagnosed with mental illness provided a detailed explanation of their views about the use of medicinal plants, this study will fill a gap in the literature and guide mental health nurses. This study provides information for mental health nurses about how individuals diagnosed with mental illness evaluate medicinal plants, what it means to them and the effects of medicinal plants. It provides ideas about the use of medicinal plants as a tool to protect and improve mental health. In addition, since the majority of the studies on mental illnesses and medicinal plants are quantitative studies, it was thought that this study was different from the seminal studies in the literature and could offer new ideas for future studies. What are the implications for practice? The results of this study show mental health nurses that the positive aspects of medicinal plants can be used to maintain and improve the mental health of individuals diagnosed with mental illness. Mental health nurses should evaluate the treatment and maintenance process in detail, considering that medicinal plants may interact with drug treatment or the risks of using medicinal plants in terms of adverse effects. Moreover, mental health nurses should fight against the negative aspects of medicinal plants. Mental health nurses and individuals diagnosed with mental illness should be made aware of the use of medicinal plants. Abstract Aim There was no qualitative study found in which individuals diagnosed with mental illness explained their views in detail about the use of medicinal plants. It is therefore thought that this study will fill this gap in the literature and guide mental health nurses in the field. The research was carried out to determine the use of medicinal plants by individuals diagnosed with mental illness. Method This research was a qualitative study conducted using the case study design. Ten individuals diagnosed with mental illness for at least 10 years, determined by the purposeful sampling method were interviewed. The data were collected between March and April 2022 with information form and semi‐structured interview form and analysed with the content analysis method. Findings Four of the participants had depression, four had anxiety and two had mood disorders. Themes were determined to be a source of healing (ointment for the soul, body tonic and organic and nature's miracles) and cultural accumulation (faith and inheritance, counselling helpline). Conclusion Participants described medicinal plants as a source of healing, stating that medicinal plants are good for bodily and mental health and provide purification. Individuals stated that the information about medicinal plants represents cultural accumulation as an inheritance, they applied...

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The influence of exotic and native plants on illnesses with physical and spiritual causes in the semiarid region of Piauí, Northeast of Brazil

da Silva,

Ferreira Júnior,

Zank

et al. 2024

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Background Local medical systems (LMS) include native and exotic plants used for the treatment of diseases of physical and spiritual nature. The incorporation of exotic plants into these systems has been the subject of many studies. In this context, an analysis was conducted on the influence of the origin of plants on diseases of physical and spiritual nature in order to evaluate the therapeutic versatility of native and exotic species in these therapeutic targets, to investigate whether exotic plants mainly fill gaps not met by native plants (diversification hypothesis), and identify which species are prioritized in the redundant targets in these two therapeutic groups in the rural community of Morrinhos, Monsenhor Hipólito, Piauí. Methods Data collection took place in 2 stages. First, free lists and semi-structured interviews with local residents (n = 134) were conducted to survey plants used for therapeutic purposes and the associated illnesses. Then, another phase of interviews was carried out to evaluate the prioritization between native and exotic plants in redundant therapeutic targets. To test the diversification hypothesis (DH) in each group of illnesses, data were analyzed using generalized linear models (Poisson and Binomial GLMs); versatility was measured by the number of therapeutic indications and compared between resources using the Mann–Whitney test, and prioritization in each group was verified by comparing the proportions of native and exotic plants with the χ2 test. Results One hundred and thirty-two species of plants were surveyed, being 71 exotic and 61 native, with indications for physical and spiritual illnesses. The results revealed that the diversification hypothesis did not explain the inclusion of exotic plants in the local medical system to treat physical or spiritual illnesses and that the therapeutic versatility of exotic and native resources in the two groups was also similar (p > 0.05). However, exotic plants were prioritized in illnesses with physical causes and native plants in illnesses with spiritual causes. Conclusions The local medical system presents similar and distinct patterns in the therapeutic targets, depending on the perspective evaluated. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the patterns of use of medicinal plants in different sociocultural contexts in order to broaden the debate about the role of plant origin in the selection of treatments for illnesses with different causes.

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Local Knowledge and Use of Medicinal Plants in a Rural Community in the Agreste of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil

Cited by 5 publications

References 72 publications

Medicinal plants and their use by an ethnic minority Jirel in Dolakha district, Central Nepal

Medicinal plants and their use by an ethnic minority Jirel in Dolakha district, Central Nepal

Use of medicinal plants by individuals diagnosed with mental illness: A qualitative study

The influence of exotic and native plants on illnesses with physical and spiritual causes in the semiarid region of Piauí, Northeast of Brazil

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