To what extent are medicinal plants shared between country home gardens and urban ones? A case study from Misiones, Argentina

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study area.

Table 1. Medicinal plants and their uses in the home gardens of three study areas: rural, semirural and urban.

Study area	Rural area	Semirural area	Urban area
Richness	77	78	56
Mean	13	13	5
Minimum per home garden	5	5	1
Maximum per home garden	38	35	19
Number of medicinal uses cited	147	148	91
Number of body system treated	14	17	15

Table 2. Composition analysis, number of shared and exclusive species from each environment and similarity index between them (%).

	Shared between all	Rural	Rural/semirural	Semirural	Semirural/Urban	Urban	Rural/Urban
Native (49)	18	10	25	8	24	0	18
Introduced  (56)	19	8	32	3	23	7	21
Similarity  index  (Simpson)			74		84		70

Table 3. The most important species in the three areas, according to three indices: RI, RFC and CI.

				Most versatile spp. (RI)			Most cited spp. (RFC × 100)			Culturally most important sp. (CI)
Species, botanical family	Vernacular name	Status	# Total citations	R	SR	U	R	SR	U	R	SR	U
Allium cepa L., Amaryllidaceae	Cebolla	I	4	67.5	nr	nr	26	nr	nr	46.7	nr	nr
Allium sativum L., Amaryllidaceae	Ajo	I	7	67.5	22.5	nr	26	15	nr	46.7	18.75	nr
Aloe arborescens Mill., Xanthorrhoeaceae	Aloe hoja Fina	I	10	45	32.5	58	20	5	14	32.5	18.7	36
Aloe maculata All., Xanthorrhoeaceae	Aloe hoja ancha	I	29	22.5	67.5	100	40	50	31	31.2	58.7	65.5
Allophylusedulis (A. St.-Hil., A. Juss. & Cambess.) Radlk, Sapindaceae (VF46, MK22)	Cocú	N	25	65	55	29	46	55	17	55.5	55	23
Alternanthera brasiliana (L.) Kuntze, Amaranthaceae (VF43, MK170)	Penicilina	N	12	22.5	45	58	20	30	7	21.2	37.5	32.5
Artemisia absinthium L., Asteraceae (MK140)	Ajenjo	I	25	52.5	90	54	66	45	14	59.2	67.5	34
Bauhinia forficata Link, Fabaceae (MK120)	Pata de buey	N	5	22.5	22.5	58	6	10	4	14.2	16.2	31
Citrus x limon (L.) Osbeck, Rutaceae	Limón	I	14	100	55	58	40	30	4	70	42.5	31
Citrus x sinensis (L.) Osbeck, Rutaceae (MK159)	Naranja	I	14	87.5	67.5	29	46	20	7	66.7	43.7	18
Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf, Poaceae (LC09)	Cedrón	I	13	32.5	77.5	87.5	46	20	4	39.2	48.7	45.7
Lepidium didymum L., Brassicaceae (VF41, MK04)	Mintruz	N	4	22.5	67.5	29	6	10	2	14.2	38.7	15.5
Matricaria chamomilla L., Asteraceae (MK08)	Manzanilla	I	15	87.5	100	70.5	53	10	12	70.2	55	41.2
Maytenus ilicifolia Mart. ex. Reissek, Celastraceae (MK01, VF29)	Cangorosa	N	10	45	45	58	6	30	7	25.5	37.5	32.5
Mentha spicata L., Lamiaceae (MK124, MK157)	Menta	I	18	100	87.5	100	46	25	14	73	56.2	57
Origanum vulgare L., Lamiaceae (MK123)	Orégano	I	8	22.5	67.5	58	20	10	7	21.2	38.7	32.5
Piper mikanianum (Kunth) Steud., Piperaceae (VF35, MK158)	Pariparoba	N	5	nr	45	70.5	nr	10	7	nr	27.5	38.7
Plantago spp., Plantaginaceae	llantén	N	3	nr	90	58	nr	10	2	nr	50	30
Sida cordifolia L., Malvaceae (MK82)	Malva blanca	N	11	67.5	55	29	33	25	2	50.2	40	15.5
Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Zingiberaceae	Jengibre	I	4	nr	22.5	87.5	nr	10	4	nr	16.2	45.7
Total studied home gardens 76

I: introduced; N: native; R: rural; SR: semirural; U: urban; nr: not reported. In each column the highest scores are highlighted in bold.

Figure 2. Percentage of medicinal uses for different body systems in each study area.

Figure 3. Number of medicinal plants used for different ailments in three study areas.