XVI International Botanical Congess

Non-cultivated medicinal plants are increasingly demanded in Mexico. Besides traditional phytotherapy, new naturistic sources of request have appeared. As a complementary survival procedure, peasant groups gather medicinal species. In this socioecological process, plants and people share a threatening horizon, while scarce phytotechnical studies have been made. Such a complex situation demands an operative tie between diverse rationalities, involving propagation research in situ and ex situ, organizational activities with gatherers groups, and the linking with traders and processors. Some case experiences are discussed, in order to identifie major technical and political facts that affect the potential of both, gatherers and plants.