Plantas medicinales utilizadas para enfermedades del sistema digestivo en Tetela del Volcán, Estado de Morelos, México / Medicinal plants used for diseases of the digestive system in Tetela del Volcan, State of Morelos, Mexico

The medicinal plants has been used since Prehispanic times by Mexican people to treat digestive diseases. Nowadays their use is a common practice in the poor communities. This work describes the traditional use of medicinal plants to cure these type of ailment in the community of Tetela del Volcán. Guided collect of botanical material and a total of 92 semi-structured interviews to 58 people were carried out. A total of 78 species, 70 genus and 36 families were registered. The families Asteracea and Lamiaceae predominanted culturally. Most of the species were cultivated and branches were preferably utilized. Of the total of 24 diseases, stomach pain and diarrhea were the most important. The species Matricaria chamomilla L., Mentha x piperita L., Artemisia absinthium L. y Psidium guajava L had the highest modified Friedman Fidelity Indexes. This biocultural heritage contributes to health, thus to the well-bearing of inhabitants of Tetela del Volcán.

Los mexicanos han utilizado las plantas medicinales para las enfermedades del sistema digestivo desde la época prehispánica, actualmente son particularmente empleadas en las comunidades pobres. Se describe el uso de las plantas medicinales para curar dicho tipo de padecimientos en la comunidad de Tetela del Volcán. Se realizaron colectas guiadas de material botánico y 92 entrevistas semi- estructuradas a 59 informantes. Se registraron 78 especies pertenecientes a 70 géneros y 36 familias. Las familias Asteracea y Lamiaceae dominan culturalmente. La mayoría de las especies son cultivadas y se usan preferentemente las ramas. De 24 enfermedades, el dolor de estómago y la diarrea fueron las más importantes. Las especies Matricaria chamomilla L., Mentha x piperita L., Artemisia absinthium L. y Psidium guajava L. tuvieron los mayores Índices de Fidelidad de Friedman modificados. Este patrimonio biocultural contribuye en la salud y, por lo tanto, al bienestar de los habitantes de Tetela del Volcán.

Traditional and formal ecological knowledge to assess harvesting and conservation of a Mexican Tropical Dry Forest.

This research integrates Traditional and Formal Ecological Knowledge (TEK / FEK) of a Tropical Dry Forest in central Mexico, in order to assess harvesting and conservation of the non-timber forest species. We were interested in: knowing the structure and diversity of the forest community; identifying which are the tree resources of common interest to the users through participatory workshops. A further interest was to identify those resources which are important to local people in terms of preservation; explaining the relationship of the species with some environmental factors; and visualizing which management practices endanger or facilitate the conservation of species. Studied areas were defined and labelled on a map drawn by local informants, where they indicated those plant species of common interest for preservation. Ethnobotanical techniques were used to reveal the TEK and assess harvesting and conservation of the species. With the FEK through community and population ecology, we detected the importance of five environmental factors, obtained various ecological indicators of the vegetation, and studied the population structure of the relevant species. The FEK was analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistics. As a result, low density and small basal area of trees were registered. Species richness and diversity index were similar to other natural protected areas in Mexico. Tree species harvested shown an asymmetric distribution of diameters. Harvesting, elevation, and accessibility were the most influential factors on tree density. FEK demonstrated that TEK is helpful for the assessment of forest harvesting. Ecological analysis complemented the local knowledge detecting that Lysiloma tergemina is a species non-identified for the people as interesting, although we discover that it is a threatened species by over-harvesting. Haematoxylum brasiletto was identified as important for conservation due to its scarcity and medicinal use. Our results advanced on how the traditional harvesting of tree community has contributed to preserve diversity, when comparing with protected areas. Discrepancies between both kinds of knowledge should be reconciled for contributing to the preservation of priority resources by the local society.