Plantas medicinais amazônicas: levantamento e sistematização

Abstract

Numerous studies have addressed the medicinal use of plants in the Amazon region; however, the results are scattered. The objective was to gather the information collected about them, in order to facilitate access to data on those of current or potential economic importance. A survey of secondary data was carried out in specialized scientific literature, which was inserted into a database using Microsoft Excel software. Semi-structured interviews were made with the Natural and Homeopathic Pharmacies in the city of Belém. Later, the Herbaria João Murça Pires (MG) and IAN (EMBRAPA/Amazônia Oriental) were consulted for botanical and geographic information. Revision and confirmation of the scientific nomenclature was done in the MOBOT and IPNI databases. A total of 811 species were surveyed, distributed among 472 genera and 119 botanical families. Of the families that contributed the largest number of medicinal species, Fabaceae (49), Lauraceae (33), Apocynaceae (29), Lamiaceae (29), Asteraceae (27) stand out, Bignoniaceae (27), Euphorbiaceae (24), Caesalpiniaceae (23), Arecaceae (22), Piperaceae (22), Rubiaceae (20), Annonaceae (19), Clusiceae (18), Mimosaceae (18). Among the genera with the highest number of species are Pepper (15 sp); Inga and Ipomoea (8 sp each); Jacaranda, Ocímum and Ocotea (1 sp each); Annona, Cassía, Croton, Myrcía, Nectandra, Solanum, Theobroma and Xylopía (6 sp each); Aníba, Bauhínía, Caryocar, Copaífera, Hymenaea, Jatropha, Lecythís, Tabebuía (5 sp each). About 60 species, components of phytotherapic formulations (in simple or compound form), were catalogued in the 14 pharmacies visited, highlighting among them copaiba, andiroba, cat's claw, guaraná, jaborandi, marapuama, sucuúba, cipó pucá and anauerá, as coming from the Amazon region.