Uso de recursos vegetais pelo povo indígena Jenipapo-Kanindé em Aquiraz, Ceará, Nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

In the last decades, several ethnobiological researches have been developed on the use of biological resources by the peoples of different regions and ethnicities. Among the various approaches, one of the most developed fields is ethnobotany. The valuation of the empirical knowledge of the diverse human societies becomes a necessary tool for the planning of actions that can contribute to the sustainability of the natural resources, managed in different ecosystems by such populations. The present work aimed to perform a survey of the plants used, and their categories of use, with the Jenipapo-Kanindé Indians, in the village of Lagoa Encantada in Aquiraz, Ceará. It was also aimed to carry out a survey of the medicinal plants used by this ethnic group. Data were collected through direct observation, semi-structured interviews with 76 people, selected by the snowball technique, recognized by the community as owners of notorious knowledge about the plants. 245 plant ethnonyms were reported by Jenipapo-Kanindé. Of the species cited by the interviewees, those with the highest number of citations were listed, being identified 72 species belonging to 42 botanical families, distributed in 63 genera. The calculation of the Use value of the mentioned species among the categories of food, fuel, forage, insecticide, timber, medicinal, veterinary, mystical and utensils was carried out. From the medical category, the relative importance index (IR) was also calculated. In the calculation of Use value, cajueiro (Anacardium occidentale L.), jucá (Libidibia ferrea (Mart. Ex Tul.) L.P.Queiroz), mangueira (Mangifera indica L.), milho (Zea mays L.) and catingueira (Poincianella pyramidalis (Tul.) L.P.Queiroz) stood out as the species with the highest Use values. On the analyzed categories, jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril L.) was the most versatile species, being cited in seven categories; followed by jucá (Libidibia ferrea), cajueiro (Anacardium occidentale) and coco (Cocos nucifera L.), mentioned in five categories each. Regarding the medicinal category, a total of 55 species is used in traditional medicine by the Jenipapo-Kanindé Indians for the treatment of different diseases. The most cited species were mastruz (Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants), malvarisco (Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng.) and almeixa (Ximenia americana L.). The families with the highest indication were Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Myrtaceae. The plant species that presented the greatest versatility regarding medicinal use (Relative Importance - IR) were jucá (Libidibia ferrea) (IR = 1.75), colônia (Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B.L. Burtt & R.M. Sm.) (IR= 1,68) and cidreira (Melissa officinalis L.) (IR = 1.63). Data from the present study indicate that the Jenipapo-Kanindé Indians have a rich knowledge of local flora. The results show that it is extremely important to record the traditional knowledge of indigenous populations,revealing that the retrieval of this lore can be a source of knowledge about the use of plants by these populations. In addition, it may serve as a support for strategies for conservation of the studied area and the management of plants that may be under pressure from overuse.