Medicinal plants of the Tének from San Francisco, Chontla, Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

Medicinal plants constitute one of the most important resources of traditional Mexican medicine. The state of Veracruz has a great floristic and cultural wealth that has allowed the development of herbal knowledge. Although there are several studies that record the medicinal use of plants, there are still geographical areas and native cultures with little or no information. This is the case of the Tenek or Huasteca region located northeast of the State. For this reason, the present study investigated the herbal knowledge of the Tenek community of San Francisco, Municipality of Chontla, Veracruz. A total of 97 species of medicinal plants that make up the floristic list were registered, which are included in 53 families and 84 genera. Eight new records of medicinal species were found for Veracruz. The cultural significance of seven species was determined using the fidelity index (FL) that includes the priority range (ROP) and relative popularity (RPL), and the use value index for the parts of the plants used was calculated. The results of this research document and demonstrate the floristic and cultural richness in relation to the knowledge, use and management of medicinal plants in the Tenek indigenous community of San Francisco, Chontla, Veracruz.