Native plant species with economic value from Minas Gerais and Goiás: data recovered by the French Naturalist Auguste de Saint-Hilaire

Resumo

SUMMARY

Given the increasing anthropic threats faced by natural ecosystems all around the world, this work holds a huge role, by recovering primary information of the Brazilian biodiversity. In this study we show data collected at a time when the native vegetation in Brazil was still preserved, and the use of plants was primarily made from species of our flora. Those areas were visited by European naturalists in the 19th century, including the French A. Saint-Hilaire, who described the use of numerous native species. The economic actual use of some species cited by him in XIX century is discussed.

Keywords: Biodiversity, traditional uses, Auguste de Saint-Hilaire, Minas Gerais, Goiás