Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants in urban home gardens in the city of Abaetetuba, Pará state, Brazil

Abstract

This was an ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants occurring in home gardens in the northern Brazilian Pará state. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the owners of 233 home gardens selected by probability sampling. We analyzed the data qualitatively, complemented by indices Total Species Diversity and Total Species Equitability (SDtot and SEtot, respectively); Use Value (UVs); Importance Value (IVs); and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF). We identified 124 species within 107 genera and 55 families. Of the medicinal species identified, 17.6% were considered effective in the treatment of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases. The home gardens evaluated harbored a great diversity of medicinal species (SDtot-47.43), although knowledge of the plants was not distributed evenly (SEtot-0.383). Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers. showed the highest UVs (0.462) and Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E.Br. ex Britton & P.Wilson showed the highest IVs (0.104). The highest ICF value (0.94) was for the treatment of Behavioural Disorders.