Knowledge of the ethnomedicinal plants used by Tobas and Mocovíes tribes in the Central-North of Argentina

STEGMAYER, M.I.; ÁLVAREZ, N.; DI LIBERTO, M.; DAURELIO, L.D.; DERITA. M.G.

Ethnobotany: Local Knowledge & Traditions

CRC Press/ Taylor and Francis Group

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2018; p. 187 - 213

Argentina is the Southernmost country in the world. Its geographical location offers a variety of climates and unique natural resources on the planet. The high plant biodiversity was exploited from ancestral times by the different indigenous tribes that inhabited and currently inhabit this territory. This chapter describes the phytogeographic regions where live two out of the 18 native towns that exist in Argentina: the Tobas and Mocovíes. In addition, the interaction of these settlers with the plants from a medicinal point of view, the mode of preparing their medicines and the religious beliefs related to them, are analyzed. A number of plants (156) belonging to different botanical families, their vernacular names, the parts used and their medicinal applications are described. Consequently, the most used plant families and the most frequent medicinal applications reported by these inhabitants are statistically analyzed. To considerably increase the value of the plant biodiversity of the region, providing elements for the use of plants and applied botany, is a task that must be carried out jointly through the approach of modern societies towards native peoples.