Plantas medicinais prioritárias para a conservação em comunidades ribeirinhas no estuário amazônico, Pará, Brasil.

Abstract

The theme of this research is centered on the knowledge and use of medicinal plants with a focus on the Amazon estuarine region. Based on secondary data obtained from studies on medicinal species used in sixteen riverine communities in the estuary of the Pará River, Brazil, this work aimed to identify which species deserve special attention in priority conservation actions. The survey of studies that provided support for this research was carried out in scientific databases. Nineteen publications (journal articles) from the last 35 years (period ranging from 1985 to 2020) were selected and the ethnobotanical information compiled in a database. The analyses devoted to the selection of the most important medicinal species were qualitative and quantitative, including the indexes of Relative Importance (IR), Sensitivity (IS) and Importance Value (IVI), as well as consultation of national and international official lists (CNCFLORA and IUCN), complemented with information from the collection of the Laboratory of Ethnobotany and Economic Botany of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (COBOT/MPEG). The total richness was 286 species, distributed in 84 botanical families, especially Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Asteraceae. As for the vegetative parts used, leaves (44%), bark (14%) and roots (12%) stood out, and tea was the most cited preparation method in the papers (231). The symptoms and diseases were included in 15 categories according to the International Classification of Primary Care – ICPC-2, being the most representative category “D – Digestive” (21,93%), whose main symptom cited was diarrhea. Carapa guianensis was the species with the highest number of citations (11) and therapeutic indications (26), also standing out with great versatility regarding its uses, presenting maximum value of IR (1.88). Socratea exorrhiza obtained the highest value for IS = 0.99. Seventy-four species were indicated with high conservation priority, of which C. guianensis stood out (IVI = 2.85). The ethnobotanical research in the Amazon estuary region was important for listing the plants used mainly in basic health care in the different riverside communities of the Pará River estuary, having made it possible to understand some factors that interfere with the conservation of medicinal plants.