Medicinal and ritualistic plants of the Kaiowá of Tekoha Taquara as a contribution to the demarcation of ancestral land, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract Our research is with the indigenous Kaiowá, of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic trunk. Though the land the Kaiowá live on in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) underwent demarcation as an indigenous territory in 2010, named Tekoha Taquara, a document was issued by a Justice, suspending its validity. The Kaiowá therefore live vulnerably, occupying land that is not in their legal right. Kaiowá leaders challenged us to use their intricate knowledge of local flora as evidence for land rights. To highlight the specificity of their plant knowledge, our study operates on three assumptions: equal resources are available to indigenous and non-indigenous people and are valued distinctly; the Kaiowá have exclusive knowledge; traditional plants occur in the region. Guided tours were conducted with seven experts. Herbarium species, plant names in Guarani and Portuguese, uses and parts used were documented. The medicinal species from literature and from herbaria databases were compiled. Informant Consensus Factor (FIC) regarding uses was compared across articles and with Kaiowá knowledge. 659 medicinal species for MS were compiled. Of these, 61.8% are used exclusively in Taquara. The 90 registered species in our study make up the largest list among articles with indigenous people in MS. FIC demonstrated low similarity. Plant mixtures used by the Kaiowá is rarely mentioned in literature on medicinal plants. The Kaiowá cite species that no longer exist in the area. This supports that the specificity of Kaiowá knowledge, tying it to their land. Our results support the recognition of their ancestral land.