Common medicinal ethnobotany of the major ethnic groups in the Toledo district of Belize, Central America.

摘要

Belize, Central America is rich in accessible informational sources and tropical flora, yet little ethnobotanical information has been recorded. A general medicinal ethnobotanical study was done in the Toledo District from late 1987 to mid 1989. Information was gathered from ethnic groups including Garifuna, Creole, and Mayan Indians, and data on 35 commonly used plants was incorporated into plant profiles that contain common names, descriptions, plant distributions, medicinal uses in Toledo, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa, available chemical analysis information, and non-medicinal uses. Species profiled are in the genera Aloe, Alistolochia, Bixa, Bromelia, Bursera, Cassia, Catharanthus, Chiococca, Cissus, Cnidoscolus, Crescentia, Curcurbita, Cymbopogon, Desmodium, Jatropha, Kalanchoe, Lantana, Mimosa, Momordica, Myrica, Neurolaena, Persea, Phytolacca, Pimenta, Piper, Sansevieria, Sesamum, Sida, Simarouba, Solanum, Terminalia and Zingiber. Toledo medicinal ethnobotany was validated by its active use by Toledo's inhabitants, corroborating uses by others outside Toledo and the presence of therapeutic phytochemical constituents in 67 to 75% of the plants studied.