The use of medicinal plants by rural populations of the Pastaza province in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Uso de plantas medicinais por populações rurais da província de Pastaza, na Amazônia equatoriana

ABSTRACT

Mera, Santa Clara and Pastaza municipalities are located in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. The objective of the study was to identify plant species used in traditional medicine by small farmers of these localities, and to classify these plants according to locality, farmer ethnicity and purposes of use. It was also investigated whether the use of medicinal plants differs between the ethnic groups. Data were collected by applying a questionnaire and personal interview with 213 farmers belonging to two ethnicities (Kichwa and mestizo), and to different municipalities (Mera, Santa Clara and Pastaza). Generated data were analyzed using contingency tables and frequency and the most representative species were determined by proportion analysis comparison. A total of 34 families and 52 species of medicinal plants were identified. The most used species was Ilex guayusa which was cited 48 times. Santa Clara municipality and Kichwa farmers used the highest number of species. These species belonged to the Lamiaceae and Solanacease family, and the plants were used for treating stomach pain, cold and inflammations. There were significant differences (Chi square test p < 0.05) between localities and ethnicities (Kichwa and mestizo). There were differences in the use of medicinal plant species among members of the Kichwa ethnicity and mestizo farmers, depending on locality, being Ilex guayusa the most used species.

Keywords:
ethnic group; Kichwa; Mera; Santa Clara

RESUMO

A pesquisa foi desenvolvida em três municípios da Província de Pastaza, (Mera, Santa Clara e Pastaza), na Amazônia equatoriana. O objetivo do estudo foi identificar espécies vegetais utilizadas na medicina tradicional pelos agricultores nestas localidades e classificar as espécies segundo a localidade, etnia do produtor e as aflições nas que eram utilizadas. Alem disso, na pesquisa analisaram-se as diferença de uso das plantas entre as etnias Kichwa e Mestiça. A metodologia do trabalho consistiu na aplicação de questionários e entrevistas pessoais com 213 agricultores das diferentes etnias. Utilizaram-se as tabelas de contingência por freqüência de uso com os dados gerados, para determinar as espécies mais representativas e em cada grupo realizou-se comparação por análise de proporções. Os principais resultados mostraram a existência de 52 espécies de plantas medicinais pertencente a 34 famílias. A espécie mais utilizada foi Ilex guayusa com 48 registros. Os produtores Kichwa do município Santa Clara registraram o maior número de espécies pertencente às famílias Lamiaceae e Solanacease e as plantas foram utilizadas para tratamento de dor de estômago, gripe e inflamações. A prova de "chi quadrado" mostrou diferenças (p < 0,05) entre os municípios e as etnias. Conclui-se que existe diferença no uso de plantas medicinais entre as localidades e os grupos étnicos estudados. A espécie Ilex guayusa foi a planta medicinal mais usada pelos agricultores independentemente da localidade e a etnia.

Palavras-chave:
etnia; Kichwa; Mera; Santa Clara

INTRODUCTION

Ethnobotany studies the relationship between people and plants (Sánchez et al. 2007). A high percentage of the world population use medicinal plants for primary health care, and this increases the consumption of raw materials in medicinal plants (Kandari et al. 2012). Their use is an alternative for developing countries, mainly in poor areas (Cadena et al. 2013). The knowledge of the use of medicinal plants in different locations is a part of the reaffirmation of the identity of these peoples (Arenas and Del Cairo 2009).

In ethnobotanical studies, the species used in medicine and food are among those with high number of reports (Castellanos 2011). Likewise, the studies on the knowledge of medicinal plants, based on ethnic groups, are limited, especially those focused on mestizo populations, compared to those focusing on indigenous groups. Therefore, recent studies focus on the relationship between socio-cultural and socio-economical factors in order to acquire the traditional knowledge (Beltrán et al. 2014), where the ethnography analyzes the costumes of each population, which are related to the use of medicinal plants (Van Maanen 2011).

In Ecuador, 408 studies related to ethnobotanic areas have been registered. The Amazonian region shows 107 studies, mainly in fields like general ethnobotany, and medicinal and edible plants (Ríos et al. 2007).The highest number of species used in Ecuador are mainly from two families (Asteraceae and Fabaceae) and the principal uses are treatment of infections, wounds, injuries, stomach disorders (De la Torre et al.2008). Pastaza province, located at the Ecuadorian Amazon region, is home for the Achuar, Andowa, Huaorani, Kichwa, Shiwiar, Shuar and Zápara ethnic groups (Gobierno Autónomo Descentralizado Provincial de Pastaza 2011). In addition, there is a mestizo population in high percentage coming from other provinces. This fact generates the need to register the species used as medicinal plants according to the localities and ethnic groups within each of them. The objective of this research was to identify the plant species used as traditional medicine by farmers in Pastaza, Mera and Santa Clara localities in the Pastaza Province, Ecuador, establishing its use according to the localities, ethnicity and use purposes of the plants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Location

This research was developed in Ecuadorian Amazonia, at Mera, Pastaza and Santa Clara localities, Pastaza province, in Ecuador. Table 1 shows the edapho-climatic characteristics of these localities. The characteristics of the dominant ecosystem in the area are evergreen forest coastal mountain, rainy bio-climate, humid and hyperhumid ombrotype, inferior thermal tropical, foothill macro-relief, non flooded hill plateau relief (Ministerio del Ambiente de Ecuador 2012).

Table 1
Soil and climatic characteristics of the study area

• 1(Abril 2013)
• 2(Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología 2011)
• 3(Gobierno Autónomo descentralizado de la provincia de Pastaza 2014)
• 4(United States, Department of Agriculture 2010)
• 5(Jiménez 1982).

A sample of 30% of the farmers from Madre Tierra village (Mera locality), Tarqui, Veracruz, Diez de Agosto and Fátima villages (Pastaza locality) and San José and Santa Clara villages (Santa Clara locality) was used in the study. These farmers were chosen at random, and semi-structured interviews were conducted (Castellanos 2011), with the use of a questionnaire (Kandari et al. 2012) based on Mott (1979), to identify the ethnicity of the farmer and the plants used in traditional medicine. This questionnaire included the name of the person, date, village, areas within the village, farm area, academic level and ethnicity of the farmer. According to the socio-economical information, the survey included years of work, economic activity, incomes, farm production and area per crop. The variables considered in the use of plants were species, part of the plant, and its use purposes. The survey also included characteristics of location, elevation, land use, vegetation, rainfall, and topography.

The survey was supervised by experts in the fields of botany and agronomy from the Amazon State University, located in Pastaza locality, which was applied to 40 farmers for its validation. As a result of this stage, the survey was redesigned to improve it understanding and, later it was applied to 213 farmers, which were distributed as follows:

In Mera locality, 58 surveys were conducted at the village of Madre Tierra (Campo Alegre, La Isla, Itayacu, Encañada, Madre Tierra, Nueva Vida, Puerto Santana, and La Y).

In Pastaza locality, 70 surveys were conducted at the villages of Tarqui (Huagrayacu, Putuimi, Rio Chico, and Vía a Madre Tierra), Veracruz (Calvario, Las Palmas, Santa Marianita, Bobonaza and Veracruz), Diez de Agosto (Jatun Pacha, San Carlos, San Francisco, and vía a Díez de Agosto) and Fátima (El Rosal, Fátima, Las Américas, Libertad and Murialdo).

In Santa Clara locality, 85 surveys were conducted at the village of San Jose (Cajabamba 1, Cajabamba 2 and Mariscal Sucre), and Santa Clara (20 de abril, Jatun Atahualpa, Pueblo Unido, Rey del Oriente, San Cristóbal, San Francisco de Llandia, San Francisco Punin, San Juan de Piatua, San Pedro and Santa Clara). Figure 1 shows the location of these places.

Figure 1
Locations of the localities included in this study. This figure is in color in the electronic version.

Producers from each locality have the following distribution per ethnics: 76% mestizo and 24% Kichwa in Pastaza, 40% mestizo and 60% Kichwa in Mera, and 47% mestizo and 53% Kichwa in Santa Clara. The 69% of the population works in agricultural and livestock activities, and they mostly have primary or secondary level of education. Mestizo producers dedicate their work to single crops (monoculture), mainly sugar cane, and Kichwa producers plant their crops in small fields "chacras", where they cultivated diverse species.

In the surveyed farmers, the planted species were photographed, and when necessary samples of the plant material were collected to confirm identification. These samples were taken to the herbarium of the Amazon State University for identification by the authors of this paper by using, descriptions and photographs found in the specialized literature (Burnieo 2006; Gentry 1996). Later, their nomenclatures were searched in the website of Missouri Botanical Garden (TROPICOS 2015). Data were analyzed using the program INFOSTAT (Di Rienzo et al. 2014). The analysis of contingency tables was performed for frequency of use report per species versus locality, and for frequency of use species versus producer ethnicity. The analysis showed significant differences in Chi square coefficient. An analysis of proportions was performed by using the proportion module of Excel, in order to determine the species that showed statistical differences in their use reports. This research was developed in accordance with legal regulations of Ecuador.

RESULTS

A total of 52 plant species belonging to 34 botanical families were identified in the area. Solanaceae and Lamiaceae families showed the highest number of species. In the study area, there were only mestizo and Kichwa farmers, they are the only inhabitants of the northwestern area of Pastaza province, at the mentioned localities. Other ethnic groups settle in southern and southeastern areas of this province. Table 2 shows the species reported per botanical family and their frequency of use, as reported per each locality and per Kichwa/mestizo producer. It also shows that Santa Clara locality and Kichwa ethnic group used the highest number of species. There is also a description of the part of the plant used from each species, and its intended use, which demonstrates that the most used part of the plant are the leaves, mainly for treating stomachaches and colds, as well as an analgesic. Table 2 also shows the report from other researches related to the identified species.

Table 2
Species showing statistical differences in the proportions analysis according to locality and producer ethnicity against frequency of use by the population (percentage)

Results from contingency tables, showed significant results (Pearson´s and MV- G2 chi square value), for the frequency of use vs. locality and for the frequency of use vs. producer ethnicity (Table 3). Ilex guayusa Loes, Psidium guajava L., Banisteriopsis caapi (Spruce ex Griseb.) C.V. Morton and Mansoa alliacea (Lam.) A.H. Gentry were the most frequently reported species, as showing in Table 4.

Table 3
Analysis of contingency. Frequency of use of medicinal plants versus locality and frequency of use of medicinal plants versus producer ethnicity (Kichwa/mestizo).

Table 4
Species that showed statistical differences in the proportions analysis for uses, and considering the components of locality and ethnicity.

DISCUSSION

The presence of localities with different edaphoclimatic characteristics and ethnicity generates a variability in the use of plant species for traditional medicine, being locality and ethnics two characteristics that interact with each other, which is demonstrated through the differences reported.

The amount of reported species is inferior to that reported in other studies, where the Kichwa community of San José de Payamino (Orellana province), reported 63 species (Doyle et al. 2014), and Saraguro and Shuar communities (Loja and Zamora Chinchipe provinces) reported 275 species 68 different therapeutic uses (Tene et al. 2007), and a higher number of species reported by Kichwa producers, with 49 species, (Lewis and Lewis 1995).

Overall species are used for 26 types of ailments. Species were mainly used for the treatments of stomach pain 16 spp. (31%), cold 7 spp. (13%), infections 6 spp. (12%), diarrhea and healing 4 spp. (8%) and inflammations 8 spp. (15%). This amount is inferior to that obtained by Marles et al. (1986) that, in studies performed in the Ecuadorian Amazon, (Napo province) with Kichwa population, identified a total of 138 species that are used with 80 therapeutic purposes. Different from that we found, Marles et al. (1986), reported that the most treated ailments with plant species were, parasitic infections and fever with 64 spp. (53%), uses for pain relief, 32 spp. (27%), female infertility treatment 30 spp. (25%), and anti-venoms 12 spp. (10%).

For ailment treating, the parts of the plants most used were leaves (30 species, 58%), stem 21 spp. (40%), fruit 5 spp. (10%) and flowers 4 spp. (8%). In the community of Saraguro (Loja province) it was reported a high use of branches and the entire plant in traditional medicine (Armijos et al. 2014).

Mestizo and Kichwa producers differ in the use of medicinal plants. Mestizo producers show higher use of the most commonly known species, and cultivate many of them. From these species, 11 of them show only one use report by farmers. Kichwa producers use mainly uncultivated species, found in their natural environment. This was confirmed after finding 16 species with only one use report. This is corroborated by the analysis of contingency tables and agrees with Turner et al. (2011), who states that the use of species in different ecosystems show differences, depending of life forms and their climatic characteristics.

Regarding botanical families, Lamiaceae and Solanaceae have the highest number of species reported in medicinal use, which agrees with Alberthasedade et al. (2010).

In Ecuador, Ríos et al. (2007) reported species used in medicine, including Artocarpus altilis, Brosimum utile, Brunfelsia chiricaspi, Carica papaya, Citrus × lemon, Columnea nariniana, Cordia nodosa, Costus sp., Croton lechleri. Cymbopogon citratus, Cyperus luzulae, Erythroxylum sp., Fimbristylis littoralis, Grias neuberthii, Guadua angustifolia,, Heisteria acuminatta, Ilex guayusa, Inga edulis var. edulis, Jacaranda glabra, Mansoa alliacea, Maranta amazonica, Maytenus krukovii, Melissa officinalis, Mentha sp., Nicotiana tabacum, Ocimum basilicum, Plantago major, Potalia amara, Psidium guajava, Sambucus nigra,, Scoparia dulcis, Smilax sp., Stachytarpheta cayennensis, Tabernaemontana sanano, Verbena officinalis, and Witheringia solanacea.

The comparison with studies from other countries shows similar characteristics regarding the purposes of uses of the species identified in this research for medicinal purposes. This indicates that these plants are used elsewhere, and have a wide distribution. Only Floscopa peruviana is not reported in human medicine by other authors. In addition, the purpose of the most frequent uses were the treatment of stomach pains, healing and colds, as well as anti-inflammatory and analgesic. This shows a more preventive culture of healing medicine in the surveyed producers, which is also observed in the other studies. This clearly indicates the existence of indigenous knowledge among the different ethnic groups living in different localities of different regions. It is quite common the percentage of species that are specifically used in an area, which does not indicate that the distribution of these will restrict to a single sector, but the knowledge developed on its use.

CONCLUSIONS

The variability of species used in traditional medicine is influenced by factors of locality and producer ethnicity. Solanaceae and Lamiaceae families report the highest number of species and Ilex guayusa is the most representative species as inferred from the number of reports and the statistical analysis. Species were mainly used for treating stomachaches and colds, and as analgesics. Most of the identified species are present in other studies conducted around the World.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to the producers who provided their knowledge, to the Universidad Estatal Amazónica for financing this research, and to those responsible for the herbarium from the Universidad Estatal Amazónica, located in the Centro de Investigaciones, Posgrado y Conservación Amazónica, at Arrosemena Tola locality. Special thanks to the Editor for reviewing the English of the manuscript.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Oct-Dec 2016

History

• Received
  12 Feb 2016
• Accepted
  23 May 2016