Diversity and use of plants in homegardens in Nossa Senhora Aparecida district in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, State, Brazil

Homegardens have been removed from housing, altering people's quality of life. In Cuiaba, in addition to the destruction of the old houses that had extensive homegardens, a significant part of the new houses do not have spaces for plants. The aim of this study was to survey the plant species kept in the homegardens of the Nossa Senhora Aparecida neighborhood in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso. 15 homegardens were selected by the snowball technique, the maintainers were interviewed and guided tours were held with them to collect and identify the species. Most of the interviewees were female and the plants were obtained from relatives and neighbors. More than 60% of the species are exotic, but there are plants obtained in the Cerrado such as bocaiuva (Acrocomia aculeata), mama-cadela (Brosimum gaudichaudii), assa-peixe (Vernonia polyanthes) and imbauba (Cecropia pachystachya). The homegardens of the Nossa Senhora Aparecida neighborhood have great plant diversity, represented by 125 species belonging to 58 botanical families. The most frequent families were Lamiaceae, Asteraceae and Euphorbiaceae, with emphasis on the species Annona squamosa L., Carica papaya L., Malpighia glabra L. and Mangifera indica L., all of which contribute to food security. The medicinal use of most species indicates the importance of encouraging the maintenance of diversity in homegardens.