Medicinal plants and phytotherapy in traditional medicine of Paruro Province, Cusco department, Peru

Medicinal plants constitute a very important resource in Peru both in culture and health-care systems, and a deep knowledge about the curative properties of plants has been developed, namely in rural areas. An ethnobotanical investigation was carried out in Paruro Province, Peru, with the aim to producing a census of medicinal plants utilized in traditional medical practices. Collection of information was performed in the field, by interwievig 118 traditional healers and collecting data on therapuetical uses of plant. The use of two hundred fifty five plants belonging to 73 families is reported. For each species the following data are provided: latin binomial, vernacular name(s), medicinal uses and preparation of the remedy. Data reported confirms the fundamental importance of medicinal plants in care-health systems and the deep knowledge about the curative properties of vegetal species in the studied area, which may potentially constitute a source of new pharmaceuticals.