Ethnopteridology of the Guaranís of Misiones Province, Argentina

2011·6 MB·English

by  Héctor A Keller

Guarams
Ethnopteridology
of the of Misiones
Province, Argentina
Hector and Meza
A. Keller Esteban Torres
I.
UNNE-CONICET,
ituto de Botanica del Nordeste, C.C.: 209, 3400 Corrientes, Argenti
Ghillean Prance
T.
ices, University of Reading, Whiteknights,
[email protected]
e-mail:
Economic
have
botanists frequently concentrated on
ferns as the focus of
their studies, especially their medicinal properties and to a lesser extent their
use as foods (Copeland, 1942; Looser and Rodriguez, Molina
2004; et ah, 2009,
and
Ortega Diaz, 1993; Ruiz Lopez, 1805; Turner et al, 1992). Ethnobotanical
and
studies of ferns lycophytes have been carried out in various part of the
example
world, with
for in Bolivia the ethnopteridological study
of the
Chacobo (Boom,
1985), the comparative study of ferns and lycophytes used by
the Huaorani in Ecuador and the Tacana of Bolivia (Macia, and
2004), in
Nwosu
Nigeria in a study of various ethnic groups by Precusors of
(2002). this
type of study in Argentina are limited to the work of Hurrel and de Sota
la
who
(1996) studied the ethnobotany of ferns in a high altitude pasture in the
Province
of
Salta.
The
Province of Misiones the center of diversity of ferns and lycophytes of
is
Argentina (Ponce where
et al, 2002) there are 1,123,000 hectares of
subtropical, semideciduous Parana forest and Alto Parana Atlantic rainforest
and The
Di
(Placci Bitteti, 2005). catalogue of vascular plants of Argentina
cited 158 species of monilophytes and lycophytes the Province of Misiones
for
many
(Ponce, 1996), but there have been recent additions (Marquez
et al,
2006; Martinez, and de la Sota, 2005; Meza Torres et al, 2006, 2008, 2010,
Ponce, 2001; Tressens et al, 2008) bringing the total up to 180 species. This
shows
knowledge
the increasing about the botanical richness of the extreme
The
northeast of the country. diversity of ferns and lycophytes also high
is at
the local level. In a reserve of 5340 hectares (about 0.18% of the area of the
Province) 80 taxa of these groups were found which represents 43.23% of the
total fern flora of the Province (Tressens et al, 2008). This diversity of species
AMERICAN FERN VOLUME NUMBER
JOURNAL:
101
3 (2011)
in an area that can be studied in a few days means they
that are readily
who
available use by peoples depend on
for local the resources of the
flora for
their livelihood, especially the indigenous communities have
that lived in the
area thousands
for of years.
Misiones has about one hundred Guarani communities Mbya and Ava
of the
Up
Chiripa. to present day these groups have maintained much
of their
traditional life including aspects of cosmology, religion, methods of subsis-
swidden ways
tence, agriculture, of hunting and fishing and the gathering of
natural products from However,
the forest. the fragmentation of their original
them new
has
habitat obliged adopt various
to strategies for survival as well as
adapting customs of the surrounding global such engaging
society, as in
temporary employment and
the commercialization of various natural products
such ornamental and
as plants crafts, especially baskets. For the Guarani, the
native vegetation one of the most important sources
is of materials for their
way
and
traditional of prime
also of materials wider
life for selling to a
we
audience. paper
In this analyze the importance of ferns and lycophytes
to
the indigenous population
of Misiones, identifying the species, the Guarani
names, and
their uses significance.
Material and Methods
The
was
fieldwork
carried out during an ethnobotanical program
took
that
place between 2000 and 2008 in eleven Guarani villages in the Departments
Concepcion
of Eldorado Guarani San
Martin
Lib. Gral.
(1), (1], (4),
(1),
Montecarlo San Ignacio and San Pedro Eighty four members of
(1), (1)
(2).
Mbya
the clan and five members of the Ava Chiripa were interviewed
We
(informants). interviewed persons both and
of sexes of different ages
including both old people (more than and
sixty years of age) children
(less
than twelve years of age). During this time we used various ethnographic
methods
such as participant observations and structured and semi-structured
some
interviews. In cases herbarium vouchers were collected during walks
with informants and in other cases the herbarium material was shown
to
community members
ask them about names and
to uses of the plants. This
material deposited
is in the Institute Botanica del Nordeste, Corrientes,
Argentina (CTES) with
duplicates distributed to various other herbaria in
Argentina and other countries (ASU, BA, CANB, ESA, GH,
B, CESJ, LIL, LP,
MEXU, MO,
NY,
PC, work was
SI). Part of the ethnobotanical carried out in a
village that in the Guarani Muftiple-use Reserve and where Tressens
is
is et
(2008) carried out an exhaustive inventory and some
al. floristic so of the
herbarium vouchers from The
are that study. literature studied delimits the
and we
ferns lycophytes families in various ways and here have followed the
nomenclature of de Sota and Mickel and Smith
la et (1998) (2004) both of
al.
whom
presented and
their results at the generic species level without
assignment
to family.
KELLER ET AL.: ETHNOPTERIDOLOGY OF THE GUARANIS OF ARGENTINA
Results and
Discussion
A
total of 50 species were indicated as useful by the communities studied
(Table These belong and 28%
1]. to 32 genera represent of the fern flora of the
Province. Regarding
the categories of use 38 species (76%) were
(Fig.
1),
indicated as medicinal, 19 species (38%) are sold commercially ornamen-
as
or as physical supports growing and
tals for ferns orchids, 15 species (30%)
are
used in magic, mainly
as talismans, 4 species (8%) are ecological indicators,
3
species (6%) are used in and
crafts (necklaces), a single species (2%) used
as
is
The
food. use of tree ferns to make arrow points is mentioned in the literature
was
but not found be use
to in today.
Folk nomenclature.—The
general term Guarani amamhdi and
for ferns in
is
this includes those species in the class Polypodiopsida. They do not consider
known
tree ferns or those generically chachi
as (various ferns with entire
amamhdi. The
fronds) as Guarani plant names usually describe a morpholog-
ical or organoleptic character of the For example, amamhdi
plant. taka
branched
(bifurcate or
fern) refers to the fertile fronds that are several times
divided
of Doryopteris Because
nobilis. of sturdy structure Pteridium
its
arachnoideum amamhdi
called rata (= hard Pecluma
is fern). pectinatiformis
named amamhdi
is e'e [= sweet fern) because of the sweet
taste of fronds.
its
Other
species of genus such amamhdi
this as P. sicca are called piru (= dry
fern) because their leaves shrivel up in dry periods and then return normal
to
humid
once
conditions
return. It is interesting to note that the specific epithet
of this species "siccum' (= dry) also refers to this same quality. Other names
are associated with animals because some
of morphological For
similarity.
example, mhorevi po paw) name
(tapir the of Doryopteris whose
is nohilis
fronds look hke Names
sterile the footprint of a tapir 2A). can sometimes
(Fig.
be
associated with the habitat of animals, as in jakare ka'a [= caiman herb)
for
Thelypteris riograndensis, which, like caimans, lives beside water sources.
name
This
is similarly applied to various ferns by the Tupi-guarani of
Amazonia
(Balee, 1994).
Some
names
refer to other plants, for example species of Selaginella are
called koto (= moss) and
jaryi false Adiatopsis chlorophylla called kurunjy u
is
miri (small specimen of the kurunjy Some have
tree species bilingual
u).
names, Huperzia mandiocana which
as for pino
called
(epiphytic
is tyre'i
names
Other
pine). are derived from the Spanish as the case Adiantum
for
is
called kurantrijo (derived from Adiantum
culantrillo: capillus-veneris
L.,
widely
distributed Europe) from Quichua
in or the language karagudra
as in
(calaguala) that refers to the genera Asplenium halansae and
L. [A. A.
Campyloneuron and
hrasiliense], Niphidium. names
Finally, various
refer to
such memby
their use, as Pleopeltis pleopeltifolia being called
ja (giver of
which women
children) taken by
increase
is to their
fertility.
Medjcj'nes.—Medicinal
plants are generally used by the Guarani in the fresh
on
state preferably the day they are collected. The storing of medicines
is
confined
to plants located far from the village or of short duration. The most
method
frequent of use is in decoctions of macerated plant material in water
at

AMERICAN FERN VOLUME NUMBER
JOURNAL:
101
3 (2011)
NAME
GUARANf PARTS USED VOUCHERS
(owner
(Veil) of goo(
a
Menstrual anale Tender fronds Keller Be-
- - Er
muscosa
Spring
Selaginella
PresDLellinger
Whole
plan
-
Sm.
(L.)
room common mix
temperature. medicinal mate
is also to the material in
It
water
(the infusion of leaves of Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil. in the
Many
on
Aquifoliaceae) taken used
a daily basis. species are to treat infections
of the reproductive system and this use accounts of the most uses reported
KELLER ET ETHNOPTERIDOLOGY OF THE GUARANIS OF ARGENTINA
AL.:
here (46%). This agrees with the findings of an ethnobotanical study of the
Amambay
Guaranf communities
of Pai'i tavytera in Department of Paraguay
(Basualdo and Soria, 2002) where of the three species cited two were used to
treat female fertility. Other medicinal use categories that stand out
are:
treatment of infections of the respiratory (18%), digestive (16%), circulatory
and
(12%) nervous systems
(12%).
Many
plants used by the Guaranf Misiones have from
of their origins the
Women
who
doctrine of signatures want have
(Keller, 2007). to a large family
eat ferns of the genera Pleopeltis and Pecluma that are characterized by their
prolific production of small fronds. Tapirs [Tapirus terrestris] sleep on their
backs with their hooves pressed against their chests and the Guaranf maintain
way
that in this they cure heart problems. For reason they
this attribute heart-
healing properties to Doryopteris nobilis [mhorevi po or tapir hooves) whose
sterile fronds resemble the tracks of this animal.
—
The
Commercialization. sale of ornamental plants the second most
is
important use of ferns and their allies in the communities studied. Ornamental
wooden
species are sold as single plants or on frames or supports, and others
are used to add to groups of epiphytic orchids, which they in stands beside
sell
highways One
the (Fig. 2B). of the most sought after species from the roadside
common
stands Huperzia mandioccana, which not The
is is a plant.
commercial
use of this species could threaten the future of natural
its
The
populations. stems of the tree fern Dicksonia sellowiana, a rare species in
and
the region, are cut sectioned This widely
for sale (Fig. 2C). a substrate
is
used by
nurseries as a support for orchids and other epiphytes. The bases of
other ferns with a robust stem such as Alsophylla setosa are also sometimes
used same
in the way.
—
Magic. Most of the plants used for magic by the Guaranf have names
associated with animals and they are usually aromatic plants. They term them
vy'aja (givers of happiness) or iru pora (good friends) to their personal charms.
They
frequently carry fragments of leaves and other plant materials pouches
in
in order to have good results form various events especially in their
The
declarations of love. most used ferns in this category are species of the
genus Anemia Sw. whose fronds aromatic and used
are are in various
members
procedures Sometimes
to attract of the opposite sex. they use these
AMERICAN FERN VOLUME NUMBER
JOURNAL:
101
3 (2011)