Perspectives on Medicinal Plants in Public Markets across the Amazon: A Review

摘要

Perspectives on Medicinal Plants in Public Markets across the Amazon: A Review. Vendors in markets and street fairs in tropical urban centers play an important role in structuring the exploitation and distribution of non-timber forest products, including many medicinal plant species. This literature review seeks to estimate and compare the species richness of medicinal plants in urban markets across northern South America, focusing on the Amazon region. Information was systematized from scientific articles and research papers emerging from work carried out in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guiana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Given the variation in botanical naming conventions, results were standardized using the APG III system. A total of 16 studies were reviewed, most of these coming from Brazil (5), Venezuela (3), Colombia (2), and Peru (2). Overall 844 species were identified, varying between 16 and 251 species per study, with a median of 91 (+/- 63). The highest diversity of medicinal plant species was found in Suriname (251) and Venezuela (164). Among the 133 families identified, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, and Lamiaceae had the highest number of species overall. The most common plant parts encountered were leaves (324), followed by bark (162), whole plants (130), aerial parts (88), roots (80), fruit (76), and seeds (63). Ethnobotanical studies in urban centers are important for understanding the exploitation of botanical resources in different Amazonian ecosystems, highlighting the use of different species in regional pharmacopeias and pointing towards factors that could influence the conservation of medicinal plants.