This paper has as a main goal to study the species commercialized in both conventional and open-air markets in Rio de Janeiro. It is reported the concurrency of the type of use (medical and/or religious) together with the collection procedure of these plants, arising from cultivation and/or extraction from the Atlantic Rain Forest and/or from wastelands. Four open-air markets and four conventional markets were visited for this study, while the field collection in the Serra do Mendanha was accompanied by an informant. Data collection was obtained through participant observation and semi structured interviews. Most of the species are used for therapeutical purpose (70.1%), observing that there is a certain balance between plants colletcted (40.4%) and cultivated (52.8%), and the remaining (6.7%), including both. Regarding the plants used for religious purpose it was observed that explotation from nature (64.3%) ovelaps cultivation (32.1%), with only 3.6% yields from both cases. Most of the collects occurs within conservation areas of the Atlantic Rain Forest (83.3%). This result reflects the popular belief that these species need to be extracted from its native area. The vulnerability of these species may well be related to this practice.
extrativism; Atlantic Rain Forest; ethnobotany; Rio de Janeiro
