Elsevier

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Volume 109, Issue 2, 19 January 2007, Pages 338-347
Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Brazilian plants with possible action on the central nervous system—A study of historical sources from the 16th to 19th century

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2006.08.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Brazil is a country rich in biodiversity, endemism, and cultural diversity, inhabited by different types of population. European expeditions and the migratory processes that began in the 16th century greatly contributed both to cultural diversity and to Brazilian popular therapeutics, and produced the first records on medicinal plants in Brazil. This study comprises a bibliographical survey of historic books found in Sao Paulo libraries (16th through 19th centuries) on medicinal plants exerting effects on the central nervous system (CNS). Thirty-four plants native to Brazil were selected from the reading of the books. Of these 34 plants, 13 were also recorded in ethnopharmacological studies among modern Brazilian communities and 16 have been studied phytochemically. Only eight have been the object of pharmacological studies, six of these, recently, with a request for a patent. Results showed that most of the species recorded in this study have been reported as medicinal for centuries, but have never been the object of pharmacological investigation down to the present time. Such results provide ideas for a selection of these species as potentially bioactive to be included in future pharmacological studies.

Introduction

Brazil is a country rich in diversity and endemism, with a territory that includes five main biomas: the Amazon rain forest, the Cerrado brushlands, the Mata Atlântica rain forest, the Pantanal wetlands, and the Caatinga semi-arid desert. Brazil is also rich in cultural diversity and is inhabited by several types of traditional communities and ethnic groups such as Indigenous ethnic groups, Quilombola communities, and other traditional populations (Caboclo/river dwellers, Caiçara fishermen, the Jangadeiro raftsmen, babaçu gatherers, and rubber tappers), the latter being the result of miscegenation between native Indian, European, and African elements. Descendants of Europeans and Asians settled in Brazil during colonization and migratory processes begun at the start of the 16th century. This miscegenation enhanced the culture and rituals of some Brazilian communities and ethnic groups, enriching them from the ethnobotanical point of view.

Little was known about Brazil at the time of the discoveries. The first Jesuits, scientists, explorers, and settlers to arrive in Brazil (such as Padre Anchieta, Guilherme Piso and Von Martius) reported on all the characteristics they could observe (Kury, 2001); these writings are today regarded as the first ethnobotanical records on Brazilian medicinal plants and their uses by different populations.

In time, this knowledge took different paths—in part passed on from one person to another as people moved on (migration, journeys, etc.) to be later re-transmitted, diffused and broadly utilized by several populations in all parts of the country. However, another part of the knowledge was not passed on: its use became less and less frequent over the course of time and, not having been awarded the attention it deserved by the population and scientific community, was wholly forgotten. Only a few written records survived in books from the past centuries. Some studies outside Brazil have focused at the history of plant use from an ethnopharmacological perspective (Fabre, 2003, Heinrich and Teoh, 2004, Kufer et al., 2005, Heinrich et al., 2006).

The main objective of this study is, from a bibliographical survey of historic Brazilian literature, to recover therapeutic uses of plants native to Brazil, going back over centuries, and, concomitantly, to search for phytochemical and pharmacological investigations. The data obtained in this study may serve as a basis to select the species to be investigated in future pharmacological and phytochemical studies.

Therefore, the aim of the present study matches the recent concept for ethnopharmacology, which is an “Interdisciplinary study of the physiological actions of plant, animal and other substances used in indigenous medicines of past and present cultures” (International Society of Ethnopharmacology, 2005).

Section snippets

Methodology

The investigation focused on historic books on popular use of medicinal plants found in Sao Paulo institutions. Included were: the University of Sao Paulo libraries, the Botanical Institute of the State of Sao Paulo, the Padre Anchieta Museum, and private collections owned by researchers José Ribeiro do Valle and Elisaldo Luís de Araújo Carlini, with over 40 years of their academic life devoted to the study of medicinal plants. The search yielded six books of great interest to the project,

Results

Only a few books were found on the subject of medicinal plants in the institutions researched, written in former centuries and in good enough condition for reading. Books in a poor state of conservation were not included in this study, due to difficulties in interpreting data. The books on medicinal plants of greatest relevance belonged to private collections or museum libraries. All books utilized in this research are new editions, published in the 20th century, of original books.

The six books

Discussion

This study presents data that allows us to verify not only ethnopharmacological data but also social and cultural aspects of Brazilian cultures of the past century, in compliance with a recent ethnopharmacological concept as a transdisciplinary exploration that spans the biological and social sciences (Etkin and Elisabetsky, 2005).

Some limitations must be considered in spite of the careful survey. For instance, use of a scientific name as a key word in databases will not bring results if the

Conclusion

This study shows the importance and ethnopharmacological potential of bibliographical surveys of historic texts in providing a record of plants with possible bioactive properties, often forgotten over the course of time. The species of greatest importance are those which have not been the object of pharmacological investigation in spite of their historic uses reported.

Acknowledgements

Our grateful acknowledgements to FAPESP for financial support, to Dr. E.A. Carlini for all his support and guidance, to Dr. Amélia Vera Guimarães de Sousa for her support, and to Dr. Zuleika Ribeiro do Valle, for kindly lending us the books used in this study.

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