Abstract

CASTANEDA SIFUENTES, Roxana  and  ALBAN CASTILLO, Joaquina. Cultural importance of the wild flora of the district of Pamparomás, Ancash, Perú. Ecol. apl. [online]. 2016, vol.15, n.2, pp.151-169. ISSN 1726-2216.  http://dx.doi.org/10.21704/rea.v15i2.755.

This ethnobotanical study was conducted in the district of Pamparomás. The objectives of the study were centered upon the task of recovering ancestral knowledge associated with wild flora and identifying those species of greatest cultural importance. The methodology applied to the research was based upon the conducting of informal and semi-structured interviews to 202 local informants. Data from the informal interviews were obtained by means of open questions during ethnobotanical walks. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with the help of certain visual aids (portable herbarium and photographic panels). In order to determine the importance of wild plants, the Cultural Importance Index (CI) proposed by Tardío and Pardo-de-Santayana (2008) was employed. A total of 237 useful species were reported, grouped into 189 genera and 68 families. The highest number of species was found to belong to the Asteraceae family, followed by the Poaceae and Fabaceae families. Also, the species were grouped into nine categories of use, with the medicinal category containing the highest number of species and registering the greatest reported usage. The plant species with the highest CI were Alnus acuminata (ramrash, alder), Iochroma umbellatum (rukii, San Pablo, puya, quebrolla) and Polylepis racemosa (quenua, quenual, quiñua). It was these species which were found to be most closely associated with the cultural heritage of the people of Pamparomás.

Keywords : Andes; traditional knowledge; wild flora; cultural importance; vascular plants.

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