Abstract

CASTRO GUZMAN, S.; CANO ASSELEIH, L. M.  and  SANCHEZ SANCHEZ, O.. Medicinal plants of the Tének from San Francisco, Chontla, Veracruz, México. Polibotánica [online]. 2021, n.52, pp.213-239.  Epub Oct 18, 2021. ISSN 1405-2768.  https://doi.org/10.18387/polibotanica.52.14.

The Veracruz State has a great floristic and cultural wealth that has allowed the development of herbal knowledge. Nowadays there are a lot of studies that record the medicinal use of the plants. Nevertheless, there are insufficient or even null information about some segregated geographic areas and even of some native cultures of the region. That is the scenario of the Huasteca and Tének regions, located at the northeast of the State. Even with his vast knowledge and traditions about herbology and as practicing herbalists, there has been no approach to them in this area. The main goal of this research is to contribute to the understanding of the Tének culture through the documentation of his herbal traditional practices on the San Francisco community (at the Chontla Municipality). We documented the use of most required medicinal species by the population, trough open and semi structured interviews to the three most prestigious and recognized Traditional Herbalist (TH). With the support of this TH we collected and identify botanical specimens on the field. Of the six species that all the three TH mentioned, we collected the 10% of the knowledge of the population about them (we did it establishing ranges of ages). Also, we determined the cultural significance due to a fidelity index (FI), which includes the priority range (PR) and the relative popularity (RP). What´s more, the value index for the use of morphologic structures of the used plants was calculated. A total of 97 medicinal species (in which 53 families and 84 genders are included) were documented. It was found about 8 new botanical records on the Medicinal Flora of the State of Veracruz. We can conclude that the research document and probe the importance and knowledge generated through the management and use of the medicinal plants in the Tének community of San Francisco Chontla, Veracruz.

Keywords : Tének; traditional medicine; vegetable resources; fidelity index; use value index.

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