Abstract

PEREZ, Darío  and  MATIZ-GUERRA, Laura Catalina. Use of plants by farming communities in rural areas of Bogotá D.C., Colombia. Caldasia [online]. 2017, vol.39, n.1, pp.68-78. ISSN 0366-5232.  https://doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v39n1.59932.

Colombian farmers possess valuable ethnobotanical knowledge that forms part of their identity andbiocultural heritage and is at risk of disappearing as a result of changesin land use, internal migrations and market dynamics. This study documents the uses of plants by farming communities living in rural areas of Bogotá, D.C. Qualitative research methods includinginterviews andethnobotanical walks were applied during visits to the use areas of 18 key informants who provided information about 231 species of useful plants associated with 320 common names. These species correspond to 86 botanical families and 191 genera. The families Asteraceae (11%) and Lamiaceae (6%) were the ones with the highest percentage of species. Twelve use categories were determined, with medicinal uses predominating (39%). Relative value categorization indicates that varieties of "Cubio" (Tropaeolum tuberosum) are defined as very important, while "Encenillo" (Weinmannia tomentosa) from surrounding wooded areas, had the greatest number of uses reported (five). Among the useful species reported, 58% are sown in home gardens, while 42% are wild species. Thus, in the rural areas of Bogota home gardens, together with the adjacent wild vegetation play a fundamental role in subsistence and maintenance of the local agrobiodiversity, suggesting the importance of the valuation and integration of farmers' knowledge in management plans and biodiversity conservation inhigh-Andean ecosystems.

Keywords : Local agrobiodiversity; ethnobotany; home gardens; biocultural landscape.

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