FLORA ÚTIL DEL MUNICIPIO DE ASTACINGA, VERACRUZ, MÉXICO

Abstract

The municipality of Astacinga, located in the
west-central portion of the state of Veracruz,
occupies part of the Sierra of Zongolica. Cultural elements from ancestral times prevail in
this area, such as the Nahuatl language, customs, and knowledge of plant resources. These
factors and the lack of botanical studies motivated this effort to record information on the
uses of the local flora. Reports from informants
and collections of botanical specimens were
obtained during a year and a half.
An inventory of 154 species was obtained, distributed among 17 categories of use. The most
important category consisted of the medicinal
plants with 88 records, followed by 28 ornamental, 23 edible, 19 ceremonial, 15 fuel, 7 forage, 7 living fences and 6 timber; the rest of
the species were listed in other categories. In
general the various plants are gathered or
grown for self-consumption, with the exception of the timber and fuel species that are sold
outside of the municipality. There is little management of species except in a very few cases
of medicinal plants