MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY THE POPULATION OF VIÇOSA, MG, BRASIL - PRELIMINARY STUDY

Abstract

The Ethnobotany listing was realized from July to August 2006, in which 205 residents of Viçosa in the state of Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil were interview. The interview was realized using a semi-structured questionnaire containing a socioeconomic profile and questions related to the use of medical plants, in which the plants cited by the interview people were organized in 78 species with a total of 518 citations. Among the accounted plants the most cited were Hortelã (Mentha sp.) (17,4%), Boldo (Plectranthus barbatus Andrews) (7,9%), Erva cidreira (Melissa officinalis L.) (7,3%), Camomila (Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert.), (5,8%) and Macaé (Leonurus sibiricus L.), (5,8%). The most used part of the plants was the leaf (69, 1%), being infusion the most common way of administration cited (61, 9%). The Ethnobotany listing permitted verify that the traditional use of medicinal plants in the municipal of Viçosa-MG has traditionalism and its use is related with scientific knowledge, once its therapeutics recommendation are known by science and valid by traditional knowledge. 10.5216/ref.v8i4.16648