Use and knowledge of Cactaceae in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aimed to record the use, and knowledge that residents from São Francisco community (Paraiba, Brazil) have regarding the Cactaceae.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were carried out with 118 informants; 50 men and 68 women. The cacti cited in this study were organised into use categories and use values were calculated. Differences in the values applied to species and use categories by men and women were compared via a G test (Williams).ResultsThe nine species identified were: Cereus jamacaru DC., Melocactus bahiensis (Brtitton & Rose) Luetzelb., Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck., Opuntia ficus indica (L.) Mill, Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw., Pilosocereus gounellei (F.A.C. Weber) Byles & Rowley, Pilosocereus pachycladus F. Ritter, Tacinga inamoena (K. Schum) N.P. Taylor & Stuppy, Tacinga palmadora (Britton & Rose) N.P. Taylor & Stuppy. In total, 1,129 use citations were recorded, divided into 11 categories. The use value categories with the highest scores were forage (0.42), food (0.30) and construction (building) (0.25). P. pachycladus showed the greatest use value, versatility and number of plant parts used.ConclusionThe survey showed that the Cactaceae is extremely important for several uses and categories attributed to different species. Apart from contributing to the ethnobotanical knowledge of the Cactaceae, another important focus of this study was to reinforce the necessity for further studies that record the traditional knowledge about this plant family, which has been lost in younger generations.

Tissue culture of ornamental cacti

“…Native cactus genus and species-subspecies include Arrojadoa (8), Arthrocereus (7), Bragaia (1), Brasilicereus (2), Brasiliopuntia (1), Cereus (20), Cipocereus (8), Coleocephalocereus (11), Discocactus (14), Echinopsis (4), Epiphyllum (1), Espostoopsis (1), Estevesia (1), Facheiroa (5), Frailea (17), Gymnocalycium (8), Harrisia (2), Hatiora (3), Hylocereus (1), Leocereus (1), Lepismium (4), Melocactus (31), Micranthocereus (12), Opuntia (6), Parodia (36), Pereskia (9), Pilosocereus (45), Praecereus (1), Pseudorhipsalis (1), Quiabentia (1), Rhipsalis (42), Schlumbergera (11), Stephanocereus (2), Strophocactus (1), Tacinga (10) and Uebelmannia (8) (Zappi et al, 2011). Uses and knowledge of cacti species in northeastern Brazil have been summarized by Lucena et al (2013).…”

Reports of Knowledge and the Uses of Cactaceae Species in the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648): Comparative Past-Present Analyses

“…Information presented in the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae and in modern publications (which cover a wider spectrum of species of the Cactaceae) indicate that these plants can be used as food sources for animals (PICKEL, 2008;LUCENA, 2013;KINUPP and LORENZI, 2014) and humans (CERUTTI, 1998;SANTOS et al, 2012;CAVALCANTE et al, 2013;KINUPP and LORENZI, 2014), for medicinal purposes (ANDRADE et al, 2006b;LUCENA, 2013), as ornamental plants (KINUPP and LORENZI, 2014; LIMA, unpublished data), as living fences (CRUZ, 1982;BARROS, 1985;ANDRADE-LIMA, 1989;CERUTTI, 1998; LIMA, unpublished data), as fuel (CERUTTI, 1998;PICKEL, 2008), as sources of building materials, hallucinogens, charms, and for religious purposes (CERUTTI, 1998), and even as accessories (PICKEL, 2008).…”

“…Numerous authors have examined the interactions of human cultures with the Cactaceae in countries such as Brazil (ANDRADE et al, 2006a(ANDRADE et al, , 2006bPEREIRA, 2009;LUCENA et al, 2012aLUCENA et al, , 2012bLUCENA et al, , 2013LUCENA et al, , 2014LUCENA et al, , 2015NUNES et al, 2015), Colombia (FERNÁNDES-ALONSO, 2006;VILLALOBOS et al, 2007), Cuba (FUENTES, 2005), Mexico (CASAS et al, 1997(CASAS et al, , 2001(CASAS et al, , 2014LANSKY et al, 2008;LIRA, 2009;BLANCAS et al, 2010;MORENO-CALLES et al, 2012;PARRA et al, 2012), the United States (APODACA, 2001), Ethiopia (ASSEFA and ABEBE, 2001;YINEGER et al, 2008), South Africa (RASETHE et al, 2013), and India (KALITAET al., 2014), but there are still shortfalls in our knowledge of the past uses of many species.…”

“…The Cactaceae are particularly visible in the semiarid Caatinga biome of northeastern Brazil (SOUZA and LORENZI, 2008), with many endemic species (TAYLOR and ZAPPI, 2004;LUCENA et al, 2013).…”

Avanços nos Estudos sobre Sementes e Plântulas de Cactos do Brasil

“…Entretanto, até a publicação do artigo "Action of Light on Mandacaru Seed Germination" (Prisco 1966), a informação mais divulgada que se tinha sobre essa espécie vinha da música "O Xote das Meninas", de Luiz Gonzaga, que diz em sua letra: "Mandacaru quando fulora na seca é o sinal que a chuva chega no sertão...". Além de representar uma das estratégias utilizadas pelos profetas da chuva para a previsão da meteorologia popular no sertão (Silva et al 2013), o mandacaru é uma das espécies mais relacionadas ao conhecimento tradicional do povo sertanejo, que o indica para diversas categorias de uso como, por exemplo, alimento, construção, forragem, místico-religioso, medicinal e ornamental (Lucena et al 2012(Lucena et al , 2013(Lucena et al , 2015. Devido a todos os motivos apontados anteriormente, este é o cacto nativo do Brasil mais estudado até o momento, no que se refere à morfofisiologia de sementes e plântulas, ao comportamento germinativo e à produção de mudas de espécies da família Cactaceae no país ).…”