Ethnobotany in the Santa Bárbara community, Ascurra, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this article was realize a research about plants used by medicine at Santa Bárbara a rural community, nearby the Serra do Itajaí National Park, Atlantic Forest area, Ascurra city, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Fourty-two inhabitants were interviewed, one adult by family. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, with 17 opened and closed questions, about social-economic and ethnobotanic informations. Species cited were collected, identified and deposited at the Herbário FURB, Universidade Regional de Blumenau. Were catalogued 98 species, mainly cultivated and herbaceous, distributed in 47 families, predominantly Asteraceae and Lamiaceae. The leaf is the most common part of the plant used in medicinal preparations (68,2 %), through by tea, decoction or infusion (78,7%). The illness treated frequently are about digestive (21,7%) and respiratory system (13,1%). The diversity indices from this survey were compared to others conducted in Brazilian Tropical Forest. The specie with the greatest number of citations was Plectranthus barbatus Andrews (boldo), associated with the highest number of use agreement (CUP = 100% e CUPc = 93%).