Departamento de Botânica, Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, s/n, São Cristóvão, 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2012 Aug 1;142(3):762-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2012.05.058. Epub 2012 Jun 7.
Like many traditional medical systems found at Latin America, the very existence of a Brazilian traditional medical system is debated. Despite the absence of written material and organized knowledge, there is little doubt that Brazilians from all regions and all social classes recognize and access an estimated 4000 plant species with alleged therapeutic purposes as well as medicinal practices ranging from bone setting to spiritual healing. This "Brazilian folk medicine" is usually described as a rich mixture of African, European, and Indigenous medical traditions.
This study questions this view, and argues it is both simplistic and Eurocentric.
By scrutinizing the origins of the medical uses of Zingiberis officinale, Curcuma longa, Ruta officinalis, Cephaelis ipecacuanha, Pilocarpus pinnatifolius, and curare (Chondrodendron, Abuta and Curarea), we illustrate the intense circulation of materials during imperial times. We further discuss how these practices articulated with local medical knowledge, and exemplify some of the ways by which knowledge was produced, transformed, incorporated, and resignified over time.
Though not a systematic or comprehensive analysis of Brazilian folk medicine development, these selected examples show that, in opposition to usual simplistic descriptions, complex and convoluted manners of medicinal plant development occurred over time to compound both the Brazilian and European pharmaceutical armamentarium.
与拉丁美洲许多传统医学体系一样，巴西传统医学体系的存在也存在争议。尽管没有书面材料和有组织的知识，但毫无疑问，来自巴西各地和各个社会阶层的人们都认可并使用了大约 4000 种据称具有治疗作用的植物物种，以及从接骨到精神治疗等各种医疗实践。这种“巴西民间医学”通常被描述为非洲、欧洲和土著医学传统的丰富混合体。
本研究对这种观点提出质疑，并认为它既过于简单化，又带有欧洲中心主义色彩。
通过仔细研究姜黄、莪术、芸香、吐根、pilocarpus pinnatifolius 和箭毒（Chondrodendron、Abuta 和 Curarea）的药用起源，我们说明了在帝国时期物质的强烈循环。我们进一步讨论了这些实践是如何与当地医学知识相联系的，并举例说明了知识是如何随着时间的推移而产生、转化、融入和重新定义的。
尽管这些例子不是对巴西民间医学发展的系统或全面分析，但它们表明，与通常过于简单的描述相反，药用植物的发展方式是复杂而曲折的，随着时间的推移，既丰富了巴西的，也丰富了欧洲的药物学武器库。
