Healing plants in the traditional medicine of the Ngäbe-Buglé ethnic group: a preliminary ethnobotanical study

It is an ethnobotanical research that deals with the rescue of the traditional knowledge of the Ngäbe-Buglé ethnic group and the use of native medicinal plants in the community of Santa Marta, district of Jirondai, corregimiento of Tu gwai, Ñokribo region, Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. Ngäbe- Buglé knowledge about the healing properties of plants is being lost within the environment of the different communities of the indigenous ethnic group. The objective of this study is to begin to record, validate and accredit the traditional use of indigenous medicinal plants by the Ngäbe-Buglé culture and to create an ethnobotanical database for the community. With the quantitative ethnobotanical index of Informe de Uso, the importance of 17 plant species used in Ngäbe-Buglé traditional medicine was described. The ethnobotanical evidence will be used for further studies to identify active ingredients for medicines.