Medicinal and aromatic Lamiaceae commercialized in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, Argentina

Abstract

This study, framed in urban ethnobotany, presents 21 species of Lamiaceae whose products are marketed as medicinal and aromatic (condiments and flavorings) in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, Argentina. Two hundred outlets of the general commercial circuit (health food stores) and five supermarkets of the restricted commercial circuit of the Chinese immigrant segment were surveyed. Samples of products of the different species were acquired in the outlets. Four hundred and ten persons were interviewed about uses assigned to each species. To define these uses, other sources of information were also utilized, including mass media. In addition, a review of the academic studies on the biological activity and evaluated effects of the surveyed species was done in order to link them with the locally assigned uses. The majority of the species surveyed (87.5%) are “visible”: they are sold in the general commercial circuit, which evidences the high level of local botanical knowledge about Lamiaceae. Likewise, the presence of plants and plant products increases the local biocultural diversity, that is, both the diversity of species (biological dimension) and their associated knowledge (cultural dimension).