Survey of Medicinal Plants Used by Local Peoples of Costa Rica

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Survey of Medicinal Plants Used by Local Peoples
of Costa Rica

• Allison Hopkins
• Mentors Dr. Muralee Nair and Marvin Weil

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Importance of Ethnobotanical Research

• Natural products in pharmaceuticals
• Alternative therapy use
• Mother Nature
• Global species diversity
• Indigenous groups
• Primary source of medicine

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Mission Statement

• Gather information on medicinal plant use in the
  Atlantic Coastal Region of Costa Rica
• Compile the information into a well organized
  document
• Make that document accessible to the peoples of
  the Atlantic Coastal Region and the MSU and EARTH
  College Communities

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Location of Study
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History of Indigenous People

• Conquest 200,000 indigenous people
• Now only 1 of Costa Ricas 3 million people are
  of
• indigenous heritage
• 94 of Costa Ricans are classified as mestizo
• What Happened to the Indigenous People?
• Many died in war against the Spanish
• Some fled to Talamanca and now live there in
  seclusion
• Many perished from small pox

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EARTH College

• 4 Year Agricultural College
• Built on an old banana plantation
• 400 Students from all over Latin America
• Faculty from all over the world

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Locating People with Medicinal Plant Knowledge

• Professors
• Community outreach
• Knowledge of local people

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Transportation

• EARTH Colleges campus transportation system
• Community outreach transportation

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Jorge Arce

• Professor of Horticulture at EARTH College
• Knows plant species of the area
• His research
• Medicinal plant garden

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Olga Alvarado Avila

• Practices Homeopathy
• Education
• Collects plants

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Ana Quiroz Obando

• Practices Homeopathy
• Education
• Collects plants from wild and cultivates
• Income supplement

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The Interviews

• Meeting the person with medicinal plant knowledge
• Find medicinal plant
• Ask the interviewee prepared survey questions
• Receive language assistance from a student at
  EARTH
• Take a photograph of the plant
• Continue on to the next plant

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The Survey
Common Name Achote, Annatto Type of plant Shrub
Growing conditions of plant Achote grows best
with average amounts of water and lots of sun.
The fruit can be harvested in January and
August. Part of plant used medicinally Young
Leaves Sickness Combated Hair Loss Preparation
of Plant Pick 20 leaves, blend them with 1 glass
of water and apply to hair. Leave on for 30
minutes and then wash hair with lukewarm water.
Repeat 2 times a week for 1 month.
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Photos
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Filling in the Gaps

• Dr. Jorge Arce
• Databases
• Books and Journals

• Compiling the Data
• Choosing format for the manual
• Translate the information from Spanish to English
• Insert the pictures
• Write an introduction explaining the research
• Edit the manual

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Future Research

• Complete a more detailed taxonomical evaluation
  of the plants
• Interview more people in the area of study
• Broaden the geographic area of study
• Do more extensive literature searches on the
  plants found
• Collect plant material perform phytochemical
  analysis in order to determine active compounds

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Acknowledgments

• Dr. Jorge Arce, Dr. Pedro Bidegaray, Dr.
  Muralee Nair, Dr. Marvin Weil, Maria Spaans
  Janssen, Olga Alvardo Avila, Ana Quiroz Obando,
  Melba Creed Angel, Eveling Garcia, Arturo Calle,
  Jorge Valdvia Zelaya