Giuseppe Polini

Useful and edible plants of Paraguay Giuseppe Polini

The use of plants forms an integral part of the culture of Paraguay. The knowledge of our ancestors about the use of plants and animals, how to extract honey, which fruit to eat, the nutritional and medicinal value of the plants handed down through generations. Currently however much of this information is being lost, due to the influence of the new cultures and are focused in groups of people, as healers, shamans or generally the chiefs of the communities that keeps this knowledge alive through time. From here the importance of this material, since it realizes the valorization of knowledge and traditional experiences of an indigenous community of the region of the central Chaco of Paraguay. The objective is to present this traditional knowledge and to preserve it over time. It is a question of creating awareness and sensitivity towards these indigenous groups that live in this region of the Chaco. In this book are illustrates the useful plants grouped according to their use: food, for hunting, for fishing, for water, for dyes and those for tools. Within each group the species are placed in alphabetical order of family again in alphabetical order of gender and inside each gender in alphabetical order of species. Under the technical profile, each plant is presented with its scientific name, botanic family to which it belongs, common name in the Énext language with which it is known in the community and in so- me cases other common names in Guarani or Spanish, the detail of the ecological distribution, botanical description, phonology. and for each of the species it cites the specimen collected which is preserved in the herbarium of the Chemistry Faculty in Asunción (Paraguay). Moreover, accompanying the descriptions, are photos of the species in its habitat and water-color drawings that represent artistically the details of the species. For some plants their mythical narration is transcribed, which is represented by a very realistic drawing in watercolors.