Utilização de plantas medicinais na área urbana de Rosário do Sul, RS, Brasil

Abstract

Plants with medicinal properties are consumed by human populations for thousands of years and the knowledge about its healing powers has been observed, reported and transmitted through generations. This study consists of a survey of ethnobotany with data collection about consumption, mode of use and for medicinal purposes the species are used by the population of the city of Rosário do Sul, RS. Structured interviews with three different groups of this population were questioned: drugstores and pharmacies from the city, medicinal species sellers and the population. The fourth step was literature review, which enabled data comparison to the scientific literature existent. There were 61 species and 36 botanical families registered, which Asteraceae and Lamiacea being the most cited. The major consumers were women, adults, from 30 to 60 years of age. Despite the shortage of available data about plant uses and its indications, most empirical knowledge cited by the population of Rosário do Sul, RS, have scientific basis and they are been used correctly.