Background:

There is little research about the circular migration effect on Mexican traditional botanical knowledge, particularly in the Huasteca Potosina.

Questions:

1) Are the species recognition and the mentions of their uses different between active migrants, previously migrants and non-migrants? 2) Is the cultural importance of plants different between the groups mentioned?

Study site and period:

Community of Tamán and its neighborhoods, Tamazunchale, San Luis Potosí. 2017-2018.

Methods:

A catalogue of 41 species was shown to 16 active migrants, 25 previously migrants and 32 non-migrants. It was asked if they knew the plants and their uses; two cultural indices were built. The recognition and use mentions and the indexes between groups were compared.

Results:

Species recognition and use mentions did not show significant statistical differences between migratory categories. Gender, the interaction migratory category*gender, and the covariates age and level education, did not influence the model. Indices of cultural importance (ICC) and relative importance (IIR) not showed differences. The major IIC (8.53) was presented by Cedrela odorata in the non-migrant group and for the IIR it was awarded to Bryophyllum sp. (2.00) in the group of previously migrants.

Conclusions:

Circular migration does not affect neither plants recognition or the mention of uses between groups; gender does not influence the distribution of these variables either. There is a distance of specialized knowledge of migrants regarding non-migrants.

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