No abstract

ABSTRACT(Medicinal plants used in the "caiçara" community of Praia do Sono, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Th e "caiçara" community of Praia do Sono retains some of the habits and traditions from ancient generations. Th is may be due to the diffi culties of accessibility to that area. Th is paper aims to investigate the knowledge about the medicinal plants in this community. Twelve specialist informants were selected and interviewed (six men and six women). Eighty-nine species were cited, belonging to 43 botanical families. Lamiaceae and Asteraceae are the most representative ones. Th erapeutic indications were decoded and grouped in 13 categories of diseases. Th is classifi cation follows the ICD-10 adopted by WHO. Information regarding the plant tissue used, their uses and the collection sites were indicated. Ten species showed great versatility of uses, with IR>1. Of the 13 species that have CUPc values over 50%, Cecropia pachystachya Trec.; Davilla rugosa Poiret and Trema micrantha (L.) Blume are native to the Atlantic Forest. Th ese results can be used as a motivation for further studies in the area and also can provide the basis for future studies on chemical constituents and pharmacological proprieties of the plants cited.

The chemical composition, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of essential oil from Ageratum fastigiatumwere investigated. The main compounds found in the essential oil were germacrene D, α-humulene and β-cedrene. The oil, with LD 50 of 2.50 g/kg, inhibited the acetic acid-induced writhing at the dose of 200 mg/kg. In the formalin test, the oil inhibited the first phase (200 mg/kg) and the second phase (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg). In the hot plate test, after 30 and 60 min of treatment the doses of 100 and

The number of publications about the Caiçaras population is growing, which shows that researchers are interested in these natives. This study aimed to survey the flora used by local specialists of the Praia do Sono Caiçara community, and recorded how these taxa were used, with the goal of understanding traditional management systems that help to conserve natural ecosystems. Twelve informants were selected and interviewed. The applied grouping analysis, together with the chi-squared test, underlined that the analysed ethnobotanical knowledge showed a heterogeneous distribution in relation to the gender of the interviewee. A total of 190 taxa were cited and were classified into nine usage categories. The Shannon-Wiener index (H') value obtained in this study was the second highest in comparison to other Brazilian coastal communities. This work showed that the local specialists of this Caiçara community maintain a wide knowledge of, and affinity to, the plant resources that surround them. This knowledge is not only important, but fundamental to discussions about the application of sustainable use and management strategies for this area of conservation value.

ResumoO presente trabalho foi realizado na área urbana e rural da cidade de Santa Teresa, localizada no município de Santa Teresa, Estado do Espírito Santo, Brasil, com o objetivo de identificar as espécies vegetais medicinais utilizadas por benzedores e outros informantes. Um levantamento qualitativo, por meio de conversas informais e do método de observação participante foi desenvolvido junto à 14 moradores locais, escolhidos de forma aleatória ou pelo método "bola de neve". Considerou-se cinco destes moradores como colaboradores-chave por serem usuários de plantas medicinais, aos quais foram conduzidas entrevistas estruturadas e semi-estruturadas. O material botânico coletado foi depositado no Herbário do Departamento de Botânica do Museu Nacional (R). Registrou-se o uso de 62 etnoespécies, sendo todas Angiospermas e, em sua maioria, de porte herbáceo. Para a cura de enfermidades os benzedores fazem orações e indicam espécies vegetais, cuja forma de preparo mais comum foi a decocção e a parte da planta mais utilizada foram as folhas. AbstractThe present work was carried through in the urban and rural area of the city of Santa Teresa, located in the Santa Teresa County, State of Espirito Santo, Brazil, with the objective to identify the medicinal vegetal species used by healers and other informants. A qualitative survey, by means of informal conversation and of the participant observation method was developed together the 14 local inhabitants, chosen of random form or by the "snow ball" method. Five of these inhabitants were considered as keycollaborators for being usuary of medicinal plants, to which structured and semi-structured interviews had been lead.