ETHNOBOTANY IN TRADITIONAL EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

Resumo

Knowledge about the use of medicinal plants is a way of recording customs and empirical management in traditional communities. The present study is a contribution to the ethnobotanical study of the medicinal plants used in the Parish of Penha Garcia, in Portugal. The corpus of the work is composed of 65 individuals between the ages of 51 and 102 years. We apply semi-structured interviews, direct observation, oral history, tour-guided and photographic record. About 105 plants were identified, with emphasis on the Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae families. The plants are mainly used in the form of tea, to treat diseases such as urinary infections, skin diseases, wounds, constipation, menstrual pains and personal protection, mainly. The community presents a wide knowledge and use of plants in the practice of traditional European medicine.

Keywords: Ethnomedicine, mediterranean plants, empirical knowledge.