Plantas medicinales empleadas en el núcleo familiar para tratar enfermedades relacionadas al COVID-19, en el cantón Salinas, Ecuador

Abstract

Abstract: The medicinal plants used to treat diseases related to COVID-19 of the population of the Salinas canton are reported. The traditional knowledge of the family nucleus was evaluated by means of an analytical methodology, with a cross-sectional approach, involving 383 people. A semi-structured interview was used as a data collection instrument to identify the sociocultural characteristics of the informants, species used, forms of use, preparation, and administration. The results obtained were analyzed using ethnobotanical and statistical indices: Friedman Index (FL), Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), TRAMIL Meaningful Use Level (UST) and ANOVA. The majority of people who use medicinal plants are women, with secondary education, married; they use 59 species, the most cited are: Eucalyptus globulus Labill, Mentha piperita L., Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert and Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr. Leaves, is the morphological structure most commonly used to treat respiratory system affections and other COVID-19 related diseases. There was no consensus among the interviewed population, which shows that the socio-cultural characteristics of the informants do not present significant values for any of the evaluated relationships.