Diversity of popular names of the main medicinal plants (MP) used by the local people in the central region of South America

Abstract

The diversity of the main „medicinal plants names“-(MP) most used by the local people in the central region of South America (21 municipalities of the Southwest of Mato Grosso, Brazil) were investigated in 2005. Firstly, the popular names of the main MP were obtained. Three „reference“ people in each of the 21 municipalities were indicated as informants by their pairs (21×3=63 informants). In every region, the informants (63) listed 503 MP. The list presented from 42 to 137 different MP names by municipality. Two presented more than 100 MP names while one presented less than 50, and the remaining 18 municipalities between 50–100 MP. One way to measure the diversity of MP „within and between municipalities“ was through „recurrent indications“ of same MP. To this RI index was used (RI=Sum of the number of MP names cited by the three informants of each municipality divided by the number of different MP names cited in this municipality). The lowest RI value was 1.085 and the highest 1.693, indicating that the list of MP names was more distinct in the municipalities with lower RI and more similar in the municipalities with higher RI. The average number of MP listed per county (municipality) was 107. Only one MP(urtigão) was mentioned unanimously by the three informants of a same municipality. In general, the recurrence of indications (RI) was low. It's revealing a great informative, cultural and ethnoknowledge diversity in respect of medicinal plants used by these communities in central region of South America.