Confluence of ethnomedical experiences and use of medicinal plants of practitioners native to Translasierra Valley (San Javier Department), Córdoba, Argentina.

Abstract

: Confluence of ethnomedical experiences and use of medicinal plants of practitioners native to Translasierra Valley (San Javier Department), Córdoba, Argentina. The valley named as Valle de Traslasierra extends over the western mountainside of the Sierras de Los Comechingones hills. Its characteristic distance from large cities changed qualitatively due to major migration flows. This study aims at characterizing the ethnomedicine and natural pharmacopoeia in the region. We followed qualitative and quantitative methods representative of the ethnobotanical approach. We evidenced a vast and varied therapeutics exerted by native practitioners with a total of 676 medicinal uses corresponding to 231 taxa and 84 botanical families. An analysis of frequency of uses and taxa was also carried out through descriptive statistics. The families with higher number of cited taxa and medicinal use are Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae and Verbenaceae. The most commonly found applications were those related to gastrointestinal disorders, followed by those related to pneumology and cardiology. From the taxa with the largest number of applications, 60% comprise introduced species and 40% consist of wild native species. Finally, the narratives show that native practitioners, while keeping alive practices based on popular medical knowledge, they have incorporated various therapeutic practices and representations, especially from alternative medicine, thus forming a vast natural pharmacopoeia with multiple meanings, typical of multicultural contexts.