Centennial Knowledge of Medicinal Plants Held in Communities of Espírito Santo, Brazil

摘要

The naturalist Auguste Saint-Hilaire, during a visit to Espírito Santo in 1826, recorded the popular use of some native plants, cited by the vernacular names fedegoso-do-mato, milhomens, erva-do-brejo, taririquim, batata-de-jun?a, and jarro. The aim of this study was to collect and systematize information about popular medicinal plants used in Afonso Cláudio, including the ones mentioned by Saint-Hilaire. The method used was a semi-structured snowball type research. Most of the 34 participants reported to know some of the plants cited by Saint-Hilaire, except the one known as jarro. The use of 156 ethnospecies was recorded, 60 of them were collected. These plants belong to 30 families, predominantly Lamiaceae and Asteraceae. Most of them were indicated to treat cough and stomach problems. The results indicate that in the area there is knowledge of native and exotic medicinal plants, and the species mentioned by Saint-Hilaire are still remembered.