Medicinal plants in a cocoa plantation in Guápiles, Costa Rica

Medicinal plants in a cocoa plantation in Guápiles, Costa Rica

Authors

  • Agustín Contreras Arias
  • Christoph Campregher

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v2i2.159

Keywords:

Medicinal plants, plant diversity, ethnobotany, biocultural diversity, cacao plantation, Guápiles.

Abstract

Costa Rica has a rich medicinal flora of several hundred species. These plants grow in several types of areas, some of which are cultivated. We document the diversity of species in and around a plantation of organic cocoa in Guácimo, Limón, Costa Rica. The plantation produces organic cacao which is exported to Europe. The local population -which lives and works on the plantation- collects a total of 61 medicinal plant species in their home gardens, cocoa plantations, border areas between plantations and roads, and riparian forests inside and near the plantation. None of these plants were found in all four areas. Gardens had the highest diversity. This confirms the importance of gardens and poli-cultivated fields for the conservation of agro-biodiversity and biocultural diversity. Furthermore, we documented 10 species with other important uses, of which one is in danger of extinction. The local population does not have specific knowledge on the preparation and effects of many medicinal plants in their areas: education is needed in this area.

References

Ammour, T., R. Ocampo & G. Robles. 1996. Caracterización de los sectores asociados la producción, comercialización y transformación de plantas medicinales en Costa Rica. Memorias del X Congreso Nacional Agronómico.

Barrantes, R. 2008. Investigación: Un Camino al Conocimiento, un enfoque cualitativo y cuantitativo. EUNED. San José, Costa Rica.

Brown, D. 1995. Encyclopedia of herbs and their uses. Dorling Kindersley. Londres, Gran Bretaña.

Carlson, J. & L. Maffi. 2004. Ethnobotany and Conservation of Biocultural Diversity. Advances in Economic Botany. The New York Botanical Garden. Nueva York, E.E.U.U.

Fernandes, E. & P. Nair. 1986. An evaluation of the structure and function of tropical homegardens. Agricultural Systems 21: 279–310.

Fernández, P. 2007. Plantas medicinales: saberes ancestrales de la medicina autóctona. Fundación Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica. San José, Costa Rica.

Kappelle, M., G. Avertin, M. Juárez & N. Zamora. 2000. Useful Plants Within a Campesino Community in a Costa Rican Montane Cloud Forest. Mountain Research and Develo¬pment 20: 162–171.

León, J. 2000. Botánica de los cultivos tropicales. Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura. 3a edición. Editorial Agroamérica. San José, Costa Rica.

Maffi, L. 2005. Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity. Annual Review of Anthropology 34: 599-618

Martin, G. 1995. Ethnobotany: a methods manual. People and plants conservation manuals. Chapman & Hall. Londres, Gran Britana.

Ocampo, R. 1997. Estado de Avance en la Agroindustria de Plantas Medicinales en Costa Rica. Agronomía Costarricense 21: 103-109.

Padoch, C. & W. De Jong. 1991. The house gardens of Santa Rosa: Diversity and variability in an Amazonian agricultural system. Economic Botany 45: 166–75.

Trujillo-Córdova, L., E. Somarriba-Chávez & C. Harvey. 2003. Plantas útiles en las fincas cacaoteras de indígenas Bribrí y Cabécar de Talamanca, Costa Rica. Agroforestería en las Américas. 10: 36-41.

Vogl, C., B. Vogl-Lukasser & R. Puri. 2004. Tools and methods for the ethnobotanical study of gardens. Field Methods 16: 285–306.

Zaldivar, M., O. Rocha, E. Castro & R. Barrantes. 2002. Species diversity of edible plants grown in homegardens of Chibchan Amerindians from Costa Rica. Human Ecology 30: 301-316.

Published

2010-12-01

How to Cite

Contreras Arias, A., & Campregher, C. (2010). Medicinal plants in a cocoa plantation in Guápiles, Costa Rica. UNED Research Journal, 2(2), 231–237. https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v2i2.159

Issue

Section

Articles
Loading...