ETNOBOTÂNICA DE PLANTAS MEDICINAIS NA REGIÃO DE INTEGRAÇÃO DO RIO TAPAJÓS, COMUNIDADE DO BAIRRO MARIA MAGDALENA, MUNICÍPIO DE ITAITUBA, PARÁ, BRASIL

Abstract

The use of medicinal plants is a common practice among human populations. The objective of this study was to carry out an ethnobotanical survey on the knowledge and use of plants in the community of the Maria Magdalena neighborhood, Itaituba-PA municipality. Data were collected from 30 informants, all local residents, randomly selected, through semi-structured interviews, participant observations and guided visits. In order to establish the relative importance of the species, the corrected main use agreement (CUPc) was used, which indicates the species that have use agreement for a specific disease, and can provide the researcher with indications of plants that deserve more studies pharmacological. A total of 79 species medicinal plants belonging to 48 families were identified. Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Laminaceae, Myrtaceae and Rutaceae were the most common families represented by four species each, followed by Amaryllidaceae, Aracaceae, Curcubitaceae and Malvaceae with three species, respectively. The leaves were the most commonly used plant parts and leaf tea the most common procedure used to prepare medicines. The species with higher values of CUPc were Chenopodium ambrosioides (Santa maria herb), Melissa officinalis (Bee balm), Mentha spicata (Green mint) and Zingiber officinale (Ginger), with 68, 53, 51,2 and 38.8, respectively. Plants with CUPc greater than 25% were Caelsapinia ferrea (Juca), Malva sylvestris (Kingdom mallow), Ruta graviolens (Arruda), Cymbopogon atratus (Holy grass), Dipteryx odorota (Cumaru) and Plectranthus barbatus (Boldo). These results confirm that the community living in the Tapajos River Integration Region uses medicinal plants as the main way to combat frequent illnesses. Keywords: Amazon; traditional knowledge; medicinal flora; traditional practice.