Estudio comparativo de la etnobotánica regional de los usos de la flora de la provincia de Chimborazo con regiones símiles de Colombia, Perú y Bolivia.

Abstract

This research aimed to elaborate a comparative study of the regional ethnobotany Flora uses in the Andean part of Chimborazo province with similar regions of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, which was carried out through the use of secondary sources. The research was carried out in three stages: in the first stage, inventories flora from the cantons and the province were searched, except for Cumandá and Pallatanga for being located in the subtropics, in addition an investigation of the ethnobotanical uses of the flora in the Andean part of the province Chimborazo, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, with which an inventory was created with the identified species, later a matrix of the ethnobotanical comparison uses was made, in the second stage, a statistical comparison of the ethnobotanical uses was made by categories of uses: In the second stage, a statistical comparison was made of the ethnobotanical uses by categories of uses: by species, family and order, for which comparison tables were made, also tables and graphs were made of the families, orders, types of plants, categories of uses and parts of plants used in the Andean part of the Chimborazo province, in the third stage with the data obtained, ethnobotanical cards were made with projection of use and tourist application. The data obtained were as follows: 162 species, distributed in 55 families, 30 orders of which 43.8% are herbaceous plants, the most used part of the plant are the leaves, the ethnobotanical medicinal use represents 28.6%, within this use infusions and plasters are the most used to treat or cure diseases. To sum up, this study provided a clear and objective comparison of the flora and ethnobotanical uses of the species studied, recommending that institutions should have updated inventories of flora and become involved in tourism and the environment.