Revisão de literatura sobre plantas medicinais com enfoque em Lafoensia pacari

Abstract

The use of plants for medicinal purposes is a common practice since the beginning of civilization. Most of these plants are used according to popular knowledge and there is a lack of scientific knowledge of their properties. For this reason, numerous scientific studies have been carried out in order to validate popular information about the use of medicinal plants. The objective of the present work was to present and discuss the literary findings on the use of plants in folk medicine, focusing on the medicinal uses of L. pacari, through studies published in the public domain. The method used was bibliographic research, using the SCIELO and Google Scholar digital databases to select articles of interest for the research, between the years 2000 and 2020. The keywords used for the research were "Medicinal plants", “Dedaleiro”, “Lafoensia pacari” and “Phytotherapy”. Exclusion criteria were studies that did not meet the research objectives. Information about the medicinal uses of plants in Brazil, as a more accessible and alternative form of treatment, has been growing considerably, the studies carried out and actions described in folk medicine for L. pacari, showed that this species presents itself as a strong resource with pharmacological applications diverse as antimicrobial, activity in the central nervous system, anti-inflammatory action, antioxidant, larvicidal activity. Showing how important it is to carry out studies on the various applications of plants in medicine, increasing the arsenal of information and ensuring the safety in their use by humanity.