Therapeutic traditional practices: usage and knowledge of cerrado plants in the state of Pernambuco (Northeastern Brazil)

This work aims to record the therapeutical practices of the community Catole utilizing local diversity of medicinal plants verifying the versatility of the species, consensus usage and knowledge of the informants. Were recorded 46 native species for medicinal purposes, belonging to 42 genres and 26 families, highlighting Fabaceae. Ten specimens exhibited great versatility of use, however Ximennia americana L. and Croton heliotropiifolius Kunth showed the highest values of IR (2.0 and 1.65). The Therapeutic uses were grouped in 15 categories of bodily systems, with higher factor consensus among informants in: Infectious and parasitic diseases (1.0), disorder of the respiratory system (0.82) and Endocrine, nutrition and of metabolism (0.81). Due to the diversity of native species registered, it can be concluded that the preservation of these areas is of great importance for biodiversity conservation site and the informants involved have a vast knowledge of the vegetation contributing to the knowledge of potentially useful plants of the cerrado.