Abstract

CASTRO, M. et al. Plants used for handicrafts in coastal communities of Venezuela. Polibotánica [online]. 2018, n.46, pp.305-325. ISSN 1405-2768.  https://doi.org/10.18387/polibotanica.46.20.

Plants used in handicrafts were studied in two communities of Aragua coastal (Chuao y Cumboto) in Venezuela. Semi-structured interview was applied to 20% of population and plants mentioned by the informants were collected and identified. Various ethnobotanical indices were calculated. We identified 42 taxa used for handicrafts, which belonged to 25 angiosperm families; Leguminosae was the most abundant. The majority of the species used for handicrafts were native and collected in natural areas and the plant structure most used for made these was the stem. We recognized six use subcategories and informants indicated that numerous taxa were used for making traditional toys; the species with highest relative importance are Crescentia cujete and Guadua angustifolia. We found a high similarity between the taxa used for both communities for made handicrafts. The values of the consensus index for sub-categories of use were high (above 0.7) indicating that informants agreed on the species of plants used for handicrafts. There is not a direct relationship between traditional knowledge of plants use for handicrafts and the age and sex, and most people know little taxa, which seems indicate that this knowledge is dispersed in both communities.

Keywords : handicrafts plants; quantitative ethnobotany; Venezuelan coast.

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