Ethnobotanical study of medicinal species in mountain communities of the municipality of El Salvador, Guantánamo

Abstract

An ethnobotanical study was carried out, in order to identify knowledge about the traditional use of medicinal spices of the flora, by the inhabitants of eight mountain communities from El Salvador municipality, Guantánamo province. For it, a non-probabilistic intentional sample was considered, made up of a total of 80 inhabitants (10 per community) to whom the surveys were applied. From the data obtained from each informant, the general use value index for each species was determined. As a result, a total of 140 species were identified, grouped into 61 botanical families and with 56 therapeutic properties or categories attributed according to popular tradition, finding the largest number of species represented in popular traditional use by the Fabaceae and Asteraceae families, followed by the families Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae and Rutaceae. The family tradition was the predominant way of acquiring knowledge about the medicinal use of the species. Likewise, individuals in the age group 46-60 years prevailed in the medicinal use of the flora, followed by those in the group 31-45 years.