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Urban homegardens of Mirassol D'Oeste-MT, Brazil: an ethnobotany stady

A home garden is a small track of ground next to or surrounding a house where its residents can cultivate a diversity of plants, whose function is aesthetic, leisure, food, medicinal among others. The aim of this work was to study the floristic composition of urban homegardens in the city of Mirassol D'Oeste, state of Mato Grosso, coordinate 15º45'30"S and 58º16'36"W. For colleting data we interviewed 29 residents using structured and semi-structured interviews; and, simultaneously collected botanical species which we analysed at the Mato Grosso State University Botanical Laboratory, in Cáceres. We made statistical analyses using absolute frequency and relative frequency to quantify and specify the botanical species found in the gardens. We registered a total of 397 ethnobotanical species and grouped 275 taxa in 79 botanical families. The highest numbers among them were 23 species of Solanaceae, 17 Asteraceae, 14 Lamiaceae , 12 Rosaceae and 9 species of Verbenaceae. Food and ornamental attributes represented 35 % of the species and medicinal 29% . Some species had up to four potentialities. From the known plant universe used locally, native species corresponded to 8%. This percentage was considered low when compared to that of the population living in the Pantanal and cerrado areas. This population demonstrated an interface between agricultural tradition and the characteristics of urban-industrial society living in common spaces: the homegardens.

Floristic composition; ethnobotany; urban homegardens


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