CULTURAL TRANSMISSION OF ETHNOBOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE IN A RURAL COMMUNITY OF NORTHWESTERN PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA

MARIANA LOZADA; ANA LADIO; MARIANA WEIGANDT

ECONOMIC BOTANY

The New York Botanical Garden Press

Lugar: New York; Año: 2006 vol. 60 p. 374 - 385

0013-0001

In the present study we analyzed medicinal and edible plant utilization inCuyin Manzano, a small rural population located near the Andean forests of Argentina. Wealso studied where and when plant knowledge was learned, who the principal transmitterswere, and how people were taught. The participants were interviewed individually and at random, by means of a semi-structured questionnaire. Interviews were carried out in 16 familiesin order to examine the present use of wild plants. The inhabitants of Cuyin Manzano cited 87plants: 63 medicinal and 24 edible species. They mentioned on average 31 + 10 species perperson. Similar patterns of plant use were found in young and old people alike, irrespective ofgender. Learning about useful plants took place at an early age as a result of family tradition.This local knowledge is acquired and taught "by doing," and is mostly transmitted verticallythrough family dissemination. Wild plant learning implies the acquisition of plants´ physicaland functional features as well as their environmental characteristics.