MEDICINAL-PLANTS IN A LOWLAND MIXED INDIAN COMMUNITY (OAXACA, MEXICO) - MANAGEMENT OF IMPORTANT RESOURCES

One important goal of ethnobotanical research is the understanding the relative importance of medicinal plants for a society and of indigenous (native) perceptions of plants and plant products. Such studies are potentially an important basis for any applied project, e.g. in programmes to conserve the biodiversity of a region. Based on an ethnobotanical study in a Lowland Mixe Indian Community (Oaxaca, Mexico), we discuss the strategies of medicinal plant utilization and the indigenous classification of these plants as shown by the frequency of plants in the different ecological zones surrounding a Mixe house. The different life forms and plant parts selected by the Mixe for medicinal uses are also discussed. The Mixe pharmaco-botanical system is very pragmatic in its conceptualization of medicinal plants and opens these resources to utilization. At the same time it is very complex in its understanding of the environment. It alters the distribution of plants and brings plants as close to the house as possible and thus allows best use.