An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used in Zacatecas state, Mexico

Abstract

Despite the fact that Mexico has vast biocultural biodiversity, there are numerous regions where the traditional medicinal use of plants has not yet been studied. We aimed to document, analyze quantitatively, and preserve medicinal plant knowledge among local people living in over 40 communities in the state of Zacatecas. Ethnobotanical information was collected by semistructured interviews with 132 informants. Data were analyzed using standard quantitative indices such as relative frequency of citation, family importance value, cultural importance index, and informant consensus factor. We recorded 168 medicinal plant taxa belonging to 151 genera and 69 botanical families and used to treat 99 health disorders. The most medicinally important plant families were Asteraceae (20 species), followed by Fabaceae and Lamiaceae (12 species) and Cactaceae (five species). The most culturally important species was Matricaria chamomilla L., mentioned 140 times, followed by Arnica montana L. (62 times) and Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt (48 times). The highest consensus for use was for diseases of the reproductive system. The type of disorder for which there was the highest number of references for use (389; 25% of all uses) and plant species (67) were diseases of the digestive and gastrointestinal system. The present study represents the first quantitative medical-ethnobotanical documentation and analysis of the traditional use of medicinal plants in Zacatecas state. Despite the semiarid climate, this region is botanically highly diverse, and its flora have versatile medicinal uses.

An ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal plants used for human ailments in Yem ethnic group, south Ethiopia

“…According to Prüss-Üstün et al (2008), the ailments associated with poor sanitation are particularly correlated with poverty which account for about 10% of the global burden of disease. In agreement with the current finding, there are other works that report prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases and internal organs disorders such as Garedew and Abebe (2018) in Yeki District Southwest Ethiopia, Bussmann and Sharon (2006) in northern Peru, Cheikhyoussef et al (2011) in Namibia, Umair et al (2017) in Hafizabad district, Punjab-Pakistan and Reimers et al (2018) in Zacatecas state, Mexico.…”

“…Similar to our finding, reports by Giday (2007) in Bench, Meinit and Sheko, Lulekal et al (2013) in Ankober Amhara, Agize et al (2013) in Dawuro, Maryo et al (2015) in Kembata Tembaro, Regassa (2016) in West Shoa Oromo ethnic groups in Ethiopia, and in overseas, Casagrande (2002) in Tzeltal Maya, Hong et al (2015) in Maonan people China and Reimers et al (2018) in Zacatecas state Mexico, have also reported traditional use of plants for treating human ailments.…”

“…Reports indicate that a big number of taxa of this family are proven to possess rich secondary metabolites such as steroids, terpenes and alkaloids which are used as anti-inflammatory, analgesic anti-pyretic and antioxidant agents that act against ailments in support with the traditional use of its taxa for human remedies (Desmarchelier & Witting-Schaus 2000, Ross 2005, Sílvia et al 2015. The dominance of taxa of Asteraceae for human remedies in current finding agrees with other works in Ethiopia such that of Giday (2007), Maryo et al (2015), Regassa (2016), and in overseas Hassan et al (2017) in Pakistan, Hong et al (2015) in China, Moerman et al (1999) and Reimers et al (2018) in Zacatecas state, Mexico.…”

Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants Used for Human Health Care in Yem Culture, South Ethiopia

“…This is due to long experience and trial & error that led to discovery of e cacious taxa by the society, the accessibility of Mps, cultural acceptance, and the cost of the biomedical health care. The diversity medicinal plants inventoried in the present study conforms with other cultures in Ethiopia and overseas that used Mps to treat human ailments [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Una propuesta metodológica innovadora para analizar el conocimiento tradicional relativo a la biodiversidad vegetal desde una perspectiva de género

“…Para la elección de las plantas es necesario realizar un estudio previo de la diversidad vegetal del lugar así como del contexto históricocultural que lo rodea. Estudios como los de (Sauini et al, 2020) o el de (Lara Reimers et al, 2018) no parten de una lista prediseñada de especies vegetales sino que esta se configura como resultado de la propia investigación, esto implica la necesidad de una mayor interacción con los entrevistados y una recogida e identificación de cada especie, lo que alarga mucho más los tiempos.…”