El cultivo urbano de plantas medicinales, su comercialización y uso fitoterapéuticos en la ciudad de Río Cuarto, provincia de Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

Latin America possesses rich native flora that endures together with a wide range of exotic species, mostly European, brought during the colonization period and successive immigration waves. During the last thirteen years the Portuguese Tropical Research Institute has been collecting information about the plant species used to mitigate chronic diseases and mild health problems, as a cultural legacy of several ethnic groups. In the austral summer of 2011 a joint Portuguese-Argentinean team researched the city of Río Cuarto, Cordoba province, in Argentina. The sample totaled one hundred semi-structured interviews that aimed three focus groups: the first group was eighty urban gardeners, the second one seventeen formal and informal medicinal herb traders, and the last three traditional healers and plant therapists. The survey gathered one hundred and twenty species, forty six per cent of which were Native American. Results show that the botanic families and species consumed and traded are extremely diverse as is their geographic origin. Health is a basic human right and at present, due to the ongoing economic crisis, an increasing number of urbanites look for alternatives to a shrinking healthcare system.