PLANTS WITH USE VALUE FOR THE YAQUI ETHNIC GROUP IN SONORA, MEXICO

Abstract

The useful plant species play a decisive role of support and subsidy, in the livelihoods of the inhabitants of rural communities. In the case of the Yaqui ethnic group, the ethnobotanical heritage they have is an identity and referential element whose traits have been transmitted generationally, giving them internal cohesion through common signs, in addition to contributing to preserve the culinary, medicinal and ceremonial culture. The objective of this research is to identify native and introduced plants with use value in the Yaqui community of Vicam Town, Guaymas, Mexico. The research was carried out under a participatory action research approach and protocols used in ethnobotanical studies. Sixty semi-structured surveys with open-ended questions and some questions of one answer were applied. 42 plants with different uses are identified: fuel, medicinal, food, forage, construction, ceremonial or religious, ornamental and living fences. The plants that they recognize as useful are used in different ways, and depending on the species, it is the morphological part taken advantage of. It was found that according to the species the leaves, the flower, the fruit, the stem, the root and the seed are used. The foregoing exemplifies that the Yaqui ethnic group is able to take advantage of their ancestral knowledge for the use of the plants present in the region.

Keywords

• ethnobotany
• food safety
• medicinal plants
• semi-desert
• ethnoagronomy