Medicinal plants resources in the Cerrado of Mato Grosso State, Brazil: A review

Abstract

The Cerrado flora has an enormous richness, but only 1,5% of its area is protected by law. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of the resources it offers which are under heavy risks of extinction, like the medicinal species. Thus, the present study is a review of the information on medicinal species of Mato Grosso, Brazil, aiming to establish a regional data base and consequently start a discussion at national level. A review of the medicinal flora has shown a total of 509 species, belonging to 297 genera and 96 families. The families with the greatest number of species were Asteraceae and Fabaceae (with 7% of the species) and the genera were Hyptis and Tabebuia (eight species). The species with the greatest number of citations were Stryphnodendron adstringens (Mart.) Coville and Anemopaegma arvense (Vell.) Stelf. The preponderance was of arboreal species (31%). The reported values greatly overcome the previous estimates and, considering the areas which have not been covered by regional research in Mato Grosso, it is believed that the present results could be much amplified in the near future.