Traditional medicinal plant use in Loja province, Southern Ecuador

Bibliographic Data

ID4622237
AuthorsR W Bussmann (0000-0002-3524-5273, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, corresponding author), Douglas Sharon (Hearst (United States))
Year2006
Volume2
Issue1
Pages44-0
Publication date2006-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1746-4269 • E-ISSN: 1746-4269
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1186/1746-4269-2-44
PMID17032450
PMCIDPMC1615866
OpenAlexW2144627943
LanguageEN
Citations received33
References cited6

This paper examines the traditional use of medicinal plants in Loja province, Southern Ecuador.Two hundred fifteen plant species were collected, identified and their vernacular names and traditional uses recorded. This number of species indicates that the healers, market vendors and members of the public interviewed still have a very high knowledge of plants in their surroundings, which can be seen as a reflection of the knowledge of the population in general. However, the area represents only an outlier of the larger Northern Peruvian cultural area, where more than 500 species of plants are used medicinally, indicating that in Ecuador much of the original plant knowledge has already been lost.Most plant species registered are only used medicinally, and only a few species have any other use (construction, fodder, food). The highest number of species is used for the treatment of "magical" (psychosomatic) ailments (39 species), followed by respiratory disorders (34), problems of the urinary tract (28), Fever/Malaria (25), Rheumatism (23) and nervous system problems (20

Agroforestry · Biodiversity · Biology · Environmental protection · Geography · Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies · Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies · Herbal Medicine Research Studies · Ecology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access