PHARMACOLOGY AND PHARMACOGNOSY AS SOURCES FOR VALIDATION AND CONTRAST IN ETHNOBOTANY

Abstract

The utilization of plants for their medicinal properties is as ancient as human existence. Phytotherapy is still today of great importance all over the world. The use of plants as remedies is a common practice in some regions of Spain. This use is based either on strictly inherited knowledge or on information acquired on a secondary basis. Small samples of autochthonous, wild, cultivated or even allochthonous species are purchased with medicinal purposes. At a local level this knowledge is exclusively referred to the curative properties (pharmacology). This can be observed in some traditional names. The part of the plant and the doses utilized are of great importance and this mainly appears on the prescriptions and compounds of traditional use. Surveys on ethnomedicine must be complemented with phytochemical studies in laboratory, in order to verify the pharmacological properties traditionally attributed to plants. Interdisciplinary working teams are required.