Abstract

TRUJILLO-C., WILLIAM  and  CORREA-MUNERA, MARCO. Plants used by a Coreguaje indigenous community in the Colombian Amazon. Caldasia [online]. 2010, vol.32, n.1, pp.1-20. ISSN 0366-5232.

We investigated the plants used by a Coreguaje indigenous community located in the upper Caquetá, colombian Amazon. With the participation of ten native informants, we surveyed the plant species in the following usable spaces within the Gorgonia reservation: secondary forest, stubble fields, chagras, home gardens and pastures. We recorded the common names and use of plants grouped in thirteen use categories. From the Use Value (UV) (using the methodology of totalized uses) and Preference Value (PV), we identified the species of the greatest importance to the community and tested for differences in PV of medicinal plants between two informants. We present ethnobotanical information for 171 species (137 genera in 62 families); 72 species are used as medicinal, 38 in construction and 33 as food, thus representing the three most important use categories. UV depends on plant abundance in the secondary forest (r = 0.388, p = 0.001, n = 65). About 72% of the 90 arboreal species (DBH = 10 cm) found in 0.2 ha of secondary forest are used in at least one of the use categories, mainly as building material, lumber and food. The secondary forest was the most valuable used space with 76 useful plants. Siparuna decipiens, Socratea exorrhiza, Wittmackanthus stanleyanus and Vismia sp. were the plant species with the highest use value (UV = 3), whereas Rauvolfia leptophylla had the highest PV. Given that the latter species is rarely found in the colombian Amazon and is currently experiencing habitat loss in the study area, we suggest its inclusion in ex-situ plans of conservation. There was not a significant difference (p>0.05) in the preference value of medicinal plants between the two informants surveyed, suggesting a common ethnomedical knowledge system.

Keywords : Coreguaje; Caquetá; ethnobotanic; use value.

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