Ethnobotany of Anoda cristata (L.) Schl. (Malvaceae) in Central Mexico: Uses, management and population differentiation in the community of Santiago Mamalhuazuca, Ozumba, State of Mexico

Abstract

Anoda cristata is a common weed used for food and medicine in central Mexico where it grows among field crops during the rainy seasons. People prefer robust, tender plants from the agricultural fields because these "develop better". Hence, the plants are tolerated within the conventional agricultural activities and benefit indirectly from the improvements in the agrohabitat. People do not select individuals with specific morphological characteristics but rather they select for plants at the level of the habitat. This step may precede that of direct management of individual plants. It is possible that these differences in the level of interaction between humans and plants (i.e., within the ruderal and agrestal habitats) may promote morphological and genetic differences over time.