Ethnobotany of Mexican and northern Central American cycads (Zamiaceae).

ABSTRACT:

Background

This study documents cycad-human relationships in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras over the last 6000 years. The impetus was acute need for a better understanding of previously undocumented uses of cycads in this region, and the need to improve cycad conservation strategies using ethnobotanical data. We hypothesized that cycads are significant dietary items with no long-term neurological effects, are important to religious practice, and contribute to cultural identity and sense of place, but that traditional knowledge and uses are rapidly eroding. Guiding questions focused on nomenclature, food and toxicity, relationships to palms and maize, land management issues, roles in religious ceremony, and medicinal uses, among others, and contributions of the

SUBMITTER: Bonta M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6339304 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature