Ethnoknowledge: Use of Medicinal Plants in Communities

Aim: To evaluate the traditional knowledge as for the use of medicinal plants in the municipal districts that integrate the 14th Administrative Area of the Company of Technical Support and Rural Extension of the State of Paraíba.

Methodology: This study was promoted by a field research, of descriptive character with a qualitative approach. As instrument of data collection, a questionnaire was previously structure, containing objective and subjective subjects. 30 people were interviewed in the rural area and in the headquarters of each municipal district, in other words, in the nine municipal districts, totaling, like this, 315 interviewees. The data were analyzed as to the relative frequency of the medicinal plants being calculated in the Microsoft Excel Program.

Results: 82 species were mentioned with medicinal potential, distributed in 52 families, with 52 therapeutic indications, among them, anti-inflammatory activity with 32 species, anti-pains (analgesic) with 21 and antiseptic with 19 species, nineteen species were referred for hepatic upset and in the symptomatic treatment of influenza, and some species possessed more than a therapeutic indication.

Conclusion: The species more mentioned were: Herb cidreira, mallow, marcela, mint, angry Lavender, Grass saint, mastruz and cumaru. The families of plants used for the treatment of diseases with larger representativeness were: Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Verbenaceae, Malvaceae, Anacardiaceae and Euphorbiaceae.