Medicinal Plants Classification Biosynthesis and ... - Index of

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Gustavo J. Martínez, Mara Sato and Marta Ojeda
PREVENTIVE
CULTURAL SYNDROMES
ENDOCRINOLOGY, METABOLISM AND IMMUNITY
PARASITOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
NEUROLOGY AND PSYCHE
OPHTALMOLOGY, OTOLARYNGOLOGY AND STOMATOLOGY
UROLOGY, NEPHROLOGY AND ANDROLOGY
GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS
TRAUMATOLOGY AND MUSCULOSKEL. AND INFLAMMATORY DIS.
CARDIOVASCULAR AND HEMATOLOGY
PNEUMONOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DIS.
DERMATOLOGY
GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Figure 6. Number of species and uses for each category of medicinal applications.
N° Species
Considering the consensus between informers regarding the medicinal applications in
different health specialties, Table 2 shows that the greatest flow of joint information and the
most defined criteria belongs to gastrointestinal (Fic= 0.54), skin (=0.42), respiratory and
infectious (Fic=0.42) diseases. On the contrary, the lowest values of consensus belong to the
species used for the treatment of endocrine-metabolic diseases (Fic=0.23) and cultural
syndromes (Fic=0.19): the first case shows a more random selection of species, while the
second reflects an exclusive cultural knowledge restricted to only a few individuals.
Legislation and Control
Throughout this review we have seen how the efficiency, and hence therapeutic value, of
a plant for the peasant culture is interpreted not only from a pharmacological aspect but also
from a symbolical point of view, as in the case of species attributed special powers.
Therefore, from a strictly pragmatic and practical point of view, knowing the criteria a
community uses to select its plants for treating diseases and ethnobotanical medical studies is
a good basis on which to orient the search for new useful substances, an aspect with
important ethical questionability regarding the usufruct of traditional knowledge (Arenas,
1996).
Many studies describe the chemical composition and active substances of some of the
native and introduced plant species we have mentioned. Some of the botanical collaborations
mentioned in the introduction review the phytochemical aspects, such as the work of Barboza
et al. (2006) and the compilations made by Alonso (1998, 2004) and Alonso &
Desmarchelier (2006). The specific articles of some research groups on the native plants of
Córdoba are also important references, especially certain local studies of international
relevance (Agnese & Cabrera, 1996; Cabrera & Juliani, 1981; Guglielmone et al., 2005;
Juliani et al., 2002; Ortega, 2002; Ortega et al., 2004, 2006; Zygadlo & Guzman, 1991, 1993;
Zygadlo et al., 1994, 1996; Bongiovanni et al., 2006, 2008; Soria et al., 2008; Zunino et al.,
2003, and others). There are also important online databases, for example NAPRALERT
N° Uses