Main medicinal herbs used in the Quilombos of Camburi and Caçandoca, Ubatuba - SP Thiago Teiji Machado, Karolina Marie Dória

Abstract

The practice of growing plants is something cultural that has been perpetuated since the dawn of humanity, dating back to approximately 3,000 BC, with the aim of discovering their medicinal potential. The objective of this work was to identify and catalog the main medicinal herbs used in two quilombola communities, namely: quilombo do Camburi and quilombo da Caçandoca, both located in Ubatuba-SP. From the cataloguing, the main diseases that lead to the use of herbs were identified, through a bibliographical survey. In the Camburi community, 15 species of medicinal plants were observed, and in Caçandoca 25 species, distributed in 10 and 15 botanical families, respectively. The medicinal potential of each cataloged plant was highlighted. Shannon Wiener's similarity index (H'), Pielou's equitability index (e) and Simpson's index (D) were, respectively, H = 0.19 and =0.016 and D = 0.51 for the Camburi quilombo and of H = 0.15 and = 0.12 and D = 0.03 for the Caçandoca quilombo. There was low similarity between the studied communities (Camburi and Caçandoca), Sørensen's similarity quotient was 0.19.