Practitioners and Researchers Seek to Preserve Medicinal Plants in Yucatan TYT Newsroom
go to original September 22, 2016

CICY researcher and project manager, Rafael Duran Garcia (Rotativo)

Specialists of the Center for Scientific Research of Yucatan (CICY) along with doctors of traditional Mayan communities developed a plan to install orchards featuring the main varieties of plants that are considered medicinal for their study and conservation.

The researcher and project manager, Rafael Duran Garcia, said in an interview with Notimex, the project has been operating for several years now, under the name of “Mayab medicinal gardens network” (“Red de jardines medicinales del Mayab”).

“The idea of these gardens is that medicinal plants which are still a fundamental element in the life of the Maya indigenous communities and could provide solutions to many problems and challenges in the health sector, are preserved and studied,” Durán García said .

He went on: “Since the idea of the gardens was generated, it was clear that without the participation of the people, without the involvement of traditional herbalist doctors, the conservation of medicinal flora would be impossible.”

These gardens allow documentation of plants’ properties that traditional doctors use everyday to address health issues in Yucatán’s rural communities, which species are used, how they are used, what kind of conditions they serve and how to prepare them.

“At the same time, protocols of plant’s  propagation are being studied in these gardens, as well as the different processes to multiply preparation materials, and how to keep them available for traditional indigenous doctors to use anytime,” said Duran Garcia.

Read the rest at The Yucatan Times

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