Plants Used in Folk Cosmetics and Hygiene in the Arribes Del Duero Natural Park (Western Spain)
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009-018 Arribes del Duero_Maquetación 1 19/12/12 09:27 Página 9 LAZAROA 33: 9-18. 2012 doi: 10.5209/rev_LAZA.2012.v33.40276 ISSN: 0210-9778 Plants used in folk cosmetics and hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (western Spain) José Antonio González, Mónica García-Barriuso, Rubén Ramírez-Rodríguez, Sonia Bernardos & Francisco Amich (*) Abstract: González, J.A., García-Barriuso, M., Ramírez-Rodríguez, R., Bernardos, S. & Amich, F. Plants used in folk cosmetics and hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (western Spain). Lazaroa 33: 9-18 (2012). In the present work we assess and document the ethnobotanical knowledge about cosmetic plants and plant species useful for personal and domestic hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (provinces of Salamanca and Zamora, Spain). Field work was conducted between 2005 and 2009 by means semi-structured interviews and participant observation as well as transect walks in wild herbal plant collection areas, with 80 informants (mean age 72) in 18 localities. The in- formants, in particular the elderly women, are familiar with 32 useful plants distributed in 18 botanical families and know how to use them in a variety of ways. The most frequently used plants were Thymus mastichina (L.) L. and Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp. Different plant parts are used, but the branches are exploited more frequently. The uses do- cumented are of great ecological value since the products obtained are less harmful to our health and the environment. Keywords: plant resources, hygiene and cosmetics, traditional knowledge, Spain. Resumen: González, J.A., García-Barriuso, M., Ramírez-Rodríguez, R., Bernardos, S. & Amich, F. Plantas usadas en la cosmética tradicional y la higiene en el Parque Natural de Arribes del Duero (occidente español). Lazaroa 33: 9-18 (2012). Se documenta y evalúa el conocimiento etnobotánico sobre plantas cosméticas y especies vegetales útiles en la higiene personal y doméstica en el territorio del Parque Natural de Arribes del Duero (Salamanca-Zamora, España). El trabajo de campo se ha llevado a cabo entre los años 2005 y 2009, mediante entrevistas semiestructuradas y observación directa de los participantes durante pequeñas salidas al campo en aquellas áreas de recolección de plantas silvestres, con 80 infor- mantes (media de edad 72 años) en 18 localidades. Los informantes, en especial las mujeres de avanzada edad, poseen co- nocimiento de 32 plantas útiles, distribuidas en 18 familias botánicas, y de cómo manipularlas para obtener los productos deseados. Las especies usadas más frecuentemente son Thymus mastichina (L.) L. y Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp. La totalidad de las diferentes partes de las plantas son empleadas; no obstante, las ramas lo son con mayor frecuencia. Los usos tradicionales documentados tienen un gran valor ecológico, pues los productos obtenidos son menos perjudiciales para nuestra salud y el medio ambiente. Palabras clave: recursos vegetales, higiene y cosmética, conocimiento tradicional, España. INTRODUCTION hands and hair lotions are made, and certain plants serve as raw materials for the elaboration Daily work in rural settings generates dirtiness of bleaching agents and soap for washing clothes. and people living in the rural environment are At present, traditional knowledge concerning aware of the need for personal and domestic home-made phytocosmetics is represented by hygiene, the cleanliness of other areas used by both the remnants of an orally transmitted folk them. Accordingly, they seek simple, close-by re- tradition and also by new forms of knowledge, sources, especially those from the surrounding sometimes coming from popular phytotherapeu- vegetation. Aromatic plants serve to freshen the tic books and the mass media (PIERONI & al., skin and clothes; simple creams for the face and 2004). The use of certain natural products in cos- * Duero-Douro Ethnobiological Resources Investigatión Group (GRIRED).University of Salamanca. E-37071 Salamanca, Spain. E-mail: [email protected] 9 LAZAROA 33: 9-18. 2012 009-018 Arribes del Duero_Maquetación 1 19/12/12 09:27 Página 10 José Antoio González & al. Plants used in folk cosmetics and hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park metic preparations is also based on their low to- natural, landscape and faunistic value, it was de- xicity and their active ingredients, responsible for clared a Natural Park in 2002, and is listed in the both the effect and the benefits (ABURJAI & NATS- Sites of Community Importance proposed by HEH, 2003). Spain to become integrated within the European As in other rural environments in the west of Natura 2000 network. It features a singular cli- the Iberian Peninsula (e.g. CARVALHO, 2010; TE- matology on the Iberian Peninsula: a mild annual JERINA, 2010; COBO & TIJERA, 2011), the tradi- mean temperature (11 ºC overall), the almost tional knowledge (TK) of the people inhabiting complete absence of frost events along the year, the territory of the Arribes del Duero Natural and a mean precipitation of about 700 mm/yr Park (Salamanca-Zamora, Spain) -henceforth (CALONGE-CANO 1990). From the geomorpholo- the "ARD"- can also be seen in the use of cer- gical point of view, the ARD forms an extensive tain plant species to generate products for clea- peneplain, whose most striking feature is the deep ning or aromatic use. Widely used in the recent valley of the River Duero and its network (known past by most of the population, currently such as "arribes"). The considerable extent of this Na- species are less employed or have simply been tural Park, together with its clear N-S orientation lost from the memories of a few people of ad- and the differences in altitude, explains why it has vanced age. a very high plant diversity, characterized by an To preserve this TK, in recent years Spain has abundance of typically Mediterranean species seen the introduction of norms regulating its na- (BERNARDOS & AMICH, 2000; NÚÑEZ & al., 2003; tural resources and their use. The 42/2007 bill, AMICH & al., 2004). Distant from industrial areas, providing for Spain's Natural Heritage and Bio- the territory is characterized by a strong demo- diversity (ANONYMOUS, 2007), is the lynchpin of graphic regression, which started half-way the creation of the Spanish Inventory of Natural through the last century, with losses of almost Heritage and Biodiversity, in turn regulated by 60% of the local population, a high ageing rate Royal Decree 556/2011 (ANONYMOUS, 2011), (almost 40% of people over 65), and a very low which specifies its content, structure and functio- population density (8.6 inhabitants/km2) (MORA- ning. LES & CABALLERO, 2003). The economy is mainly Following the aims and principles of this in- based on the primary sector, livestock-raising ventory, the aims of the present work were as fo- being preponderant over crop-growing (CALA- llows: (i) to document and analyze the knowledge BUIG, 2008). and traditional use of different plant species in the hygiene and cosmetic use of people from the ARD; (ii) to contribute to the dissemination of the METHODOLOGY results within the scientific community in order to open a door to research in other disciplines; The incidence and socio-economic context of and (iii) to contribute to the knowledge and con- the use of plants for personal or domestic hygiene servational possibilities of plant biodiversity, be- and cosmetics in general was studied as part of aring in mind that biological diversity is also an ethnobotanical survey carried out in the ARD. related to the use and applications of natural re- Key informants, mostly elderly, with a sound TK sources. of useful plants and who were born in the region and were long-time residents were interviewed. Information was obtained through 116 semi- STUDY AREA structured interviews of 80 people (44 men and 36 women; age range, 45-98 years; mean age, The territory of the ARD forms the adminis- 72). They were from 18 localities shown in Figure trative border between Spain and Portugal along 1: 6 in the province of Zamora (localities 1-6) and a stretch of some 120 km (40º50' - 41º35' N, 6º00' 12 in the province of Salamanca (localities 7-18). - 6º41' W; Figure 1). In light of its extraordinary Interviews were conducted from 2005 to 2009. LAZAROA 33: 9-18. 2012 10 009-018 Arribes del Duero_Maquetación 1 19/12/12 09:27 Página 11 José Antoio González & al. Plants used in folk cosmetics and hygiene in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park Figure 1. – Geographic location of the Arribes del Duero area and the villages where interviews were held. Province of Zamora: 1. Torregamones, 2. Badilla, 3. Fariza de Sayago, 4. Formariz, 5. Pinilla de Fermoselle, 6. Fermoselle. Province of Salamanca: 7. Almendra, 8. Trabanca, 9. Villarino de los Aires, 10. Pereña de la Ribera, 11. Masueco, 12. Aldeadávila de la Ribera, 13. Mieza, 14. Vilvestre, 15. Saucelle, 16. Hinojosa de Duero, 17. La Fregeneda, 18. San Felices de los Gallegos. The edge of the Arribes del Duero Natural Park is shaded. Open questions were asked about the use of mants (from i1 to iN) and divided by the total plants to gain insight into their past and present number of informants (N). Then, the previously use. calculated quotients for each use-category, from The ethnobotanical data collected were grou- u1 to uNC, are summed. ped in the following use-categories of plants based on folk perceptions: (1) personal hygiene, uNC iN URui (2) home-made cosmetics and perfumes, (3) do- CIS = ∑∑ /N mestic cleaning, (4) air-fresheners, and (5) as u=u1 i=i1 anti-moth agents. In the analysis of the ethnobotanical catalogue, Theoretically, this index varies between 0 as well as the number of informants (frequency and the total number of use-categories (NC), in of citation, FC) we used the cultural importance our case 5.