title: Patterns in medicinal plant knowledge and use in a Maroon village in Suriname.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditional medicine plays an important role in the primary health care practices of Maroons living in the interior of Suriname. Large numbers of medicinal plants are employed to maintain general health and cure illnesses. Little is known, however, on how knowledge of herbal medicine varies within the community and whether plant use remains important when modern health care becomes available.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To document the diversity in medicinal plant knowledge and use in a remote Saramaccan Maroon community and to assess the importance of medicinal plants vis a vis locally available modern healthcare. We hypothesized that ailments which could be treated by the village health center would be less salient in herbal medicine reports.
  
  
  METHODS
  During three months fieldwork in the Saramaccan village of Pikin Slee, ethnobotanical data were collected by means of participant observations, voucher collections and 27 semi-structured interviews and informal discussions with 20 respondents. To test whether knowledge of medicinal plant species was kept within families, we performed a Detrended Correspondence Analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 110 medicinal plant species were recorded, with 302 health use reports and 72 uses, mostly related to general health concerns (42%), diseases of the digestive system (10%), musculoskeletal system and fever (each 7%). Bathing was the most important mode of application. Most health use reports related to cure (58%) and health promotion (39%), while disease prevention played a minor role. Traditional medicine not only treated cultural illnesses, but also health concerns that could be treated with locally available modern medicines. Knowledge of medicinal plant species is not strictly kept within families, but also shared with friends. Certain recipes and applications, however, may be specific family knowledge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medicinal plants play a very important role in the daily lives of the Pikin Slee villagers. Plant use reflects actual health concerns, but as modern medicines are available for most of these concerns, the use of herbal medicines seems to be a deep rooted cultural preference, especially when concerned with cultural illnesses and health promotion. Locally provided healthcare could be enriched if traditional knowledge, illness concepts, and medicinal plant uses could fit into a larger, community-oriented framework.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: c.i.e.a.vantklooster@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van't Klooster
authors.affiliation: Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: tinde.vanandel@naturalis.nl.
authors.forename: Tinde
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Andel
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands; Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15718, 1001 NE, The Netherlands; The Children's Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: r.reis@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Ria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D030881:Disclosure; D019448:Ethnobotany; D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D013532:Suriname; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Maroons; Medicinal plants; Saramaccan; Suriname; Traditional knowledge; Traditional medicines