Ethnobotanical study of the medicinal flora of the province of Trujillo, Peru

Abstract

Trujillo, one of the main provinces of Peru, is home to a multicultural population, coming from the Coast, Sierra and Selva; of different ideologies, cultures, and ancestral knowledge about the correct use of medicinal flora. In this sense and in an effort to rescue this ancestral knowledge, the ethnobotanical study of the medicinal flora of the province of Trujillo was carried out. For which 96 semi-structured interviews were applied, using the "snowball" technique; followed by the collection, taxonomic determination and calculation of ethnobotanical indices: Use Value Index (IVU) and Informant Consensus Factor Index (FCI). It is concluded that the inhabitants of Trujillo make use of 102 species of medicinal flora, distributed in 95 genera and 46 families for the treatment and/or cure of 62 diseases. Of the total species, 24 turned out to be the most important (according to their IVU) for the cure of diseases of the Trujillo population.