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Homegarden Variation andMedicinal Plant Sharing
among theQ’eqchi’ Maya ofGuatemala
AMANDAM.THIEL1,AND
MARSHAB.QUINLAN1
1Department ofAnthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
*Corresponding author; e-mail: mquinlan@wsu.edu
Q’eqchi’ Maya villagers in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, grow informal homegardens alongside field–
based horticultural subsistence activities. Villagers cultivate 200 + homegarden plants that serve
many functions including provisioning food and medicine. Semi–structured “plant walk” interviews
with 31 informants and follow–up interviews with nine villagers informed on the presence of cul-
tivated medicinal plants and residents’ knowledge of plant names and uses. This research analyzes
garden ethnobotanical data ethnographically to understand factors differentiating local herbal rem-
edy availability and use. Hypotheses test medicinal plant presence in dooryard gardens in relation
to socio–demographic and acculturation variables. Results show a high degree of intra–village
sharing and variation in medicinal plant cultivation. Significant predictors of medicinal plants in
homegardens are (1) distance from the main road (p = 0.012) and (2) presence of paid work within
the home (p = 0.002) as opposed to paid work outside the home (wage labor). Home medicinal plant
cultivation reflects Maya cultural esteem for collectivism (sharing) and site–specific ecological fit.
By cultivating a variety of medicinal plants and sharing with kin and neighbors, villagers treat local
illnesses in ecologically and culturally advantageous ways.
Los maya q’eqchi’ de una aldea de Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, cultivan y manejan huertos familiares
informales (con más de 200 plantas) junto con actividades agrícolas de subsistencia. Las entrevistas
semiestructuradas—con 31 informantes en base a “caminatas botánicas” en los huertos, más nueve
sin caminatas—reportaron la presencia de plantas medicinales cultivadas y el conocimiento sobre
los nombres locales y usos específicos de las plantas. Este estudio analiza los datos etnobotánicos de
los huertos para entender los factores que diferencian la disponibilidad y el uso de plantas medici-
nales locales. Se pone a prueba la hipótesis de que la presencia de plantas medicinales en huertos
familiares se correlacionará con variables sociodemográficas y de aculturación. Los resultados
indican un alto grado de intercambio de plantas medicinales dentro de la aldea y mucha variación
en el cultivo de las mismas. Los predictores significativos de plantas medicinales en los huertos
familiares son (1) la distancia del huerto familiar a la carretera principal (p = 0.012) y (2) la pres-
encia de trabajo remunerado dentro del hogar (p = 0.002) en lugar de trabajo remunerado fuera del
hogar (trabajo asalariado). En general, el cultivo casero de plantas medicinales refleja conceptos
culturales mayas de colectivismo (el intercambio) y adecuaciones ecológicas específicas al sitio.
Al cultivar una gran variedad de plantas medicinales y al compartirlas con vecinos y familiares, los
aldeanos contribuyen a sus necesidades de salud de maneras ecológica y culturalmente adecuadas.
Economic Botany, XX(X), 2021, pp. 1–18
© 2022, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.
Received: 6 July 2021; accepted: 11 November
2021; published online ___________
Supplementary Information The online version contains
supplementary material available at https:// doi. org/ 10.
1007/ s12231- 021- 09537-0.
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
Keywords: Ethnopharmacology, Ethnobotany, Folk medicine, Homegarden, Mesoamerica
local resources (e.g., homegarden medicinals)
that they value as pharmacologically active
may influence public health in Guatemala and
abroad (Caceres 1996; Michel etal. 2007).
Understanding the context of Maya cultivation
and medicinal plant uses is necessary for cul-
tural revitalization and successful integration
of diverse healthcare models as Western bio-
medicine expands (Adams and Hawkins 2007;
Caceres 1996) and local fears of ethnobotanical
erosion increase (Cosminsky 2016).
Plant cultivation and ethnobotanical pat-
terns vary across southern Mexico and Central
America (Barrett 1995; Hopkins and Stepp
2012; Lope–Alzina 2017). Variables affect-
ing medicinal ethnobotanical patterns include
demographic characteristics, which scholars
have featured in ethnographic research among
various communities. For example, ethnobo-
tanical knowledge/practice relate to gender,
age, and status (Browner 1991; Garro 1986;
Lozada etal. 2006; Voeks and Leony 2004),
with women and elders often preserving medi-
cal or ethnobotanical knowledge better than their
counterparts. With little exception (see Wynd-
ham 2010), education impacts ethnobotanical
knowledge negatively (Heckler 2002; Srithi
etal. 2009; Zent 2001), especially in combina-
tion with commercial occupations (Furusawa
2009; Quinlan and Quinlan 2007). Proximity to
urban centers likewise diminishes ethnobotani-
cal knowledge (Nolan 1998; Ososki etal. 2007;
Reyes–Garcia etal. 2013), although conversely,
it may increase valuation of traditional plant
uses (Wayland 2004) and cultural identity, even
across long–distance migrations (Medeiros etal.
2012). Ethnobotanical and ethnomedical knowl-
edge vary widely, showing patterns of intracul-
tural diversity as likely as consensus (Barrett
1995; Garro 1986; Hopkins and Stepp 2012;
Quinlan and Quinlan 2007). Understanding
patterns of ethnobotanical knowledge variation
and sharing, “humanity’s most widespread and
ancient form of knowledge” (Reyes–Garcia etal.
2007:199)—including the contexts of knowledge
situation and application, informs its preserva-
tion and revitalization.
Introduction
Mayan homegardens, like most home or
door–yard gardens, are multifunctional reposi-
tories of biocultural resources and heritage
(Brownrigg 1985; Eyzaguirre and Linares 2004;
Kumar and Nair 2006; Mariaca Méndez 2012).
With disproportionate poverty and scanty local
infrastructure, including a lack of rural modern
medical services (Cosminsky 2016; CIA—World
Factbook 2016), homegardening medicinal
plants is crucial and botanical remedies are often
the first line of defense in treating common ill-
nesses (Adams and Hawkins 2007; Weller etal.
1997). Here, we contend that by cultivating a
large variety of medicinal plants and by sharing
with neighbors, family, and friends, Guatemalan
Q’eqchi’ Maya villagers of Santa Lucía contrib-
ute to their home healthcare needs in ecologi-
cally and culturally responsive ways. We further
argue that homegarden medicinal plant cultiva-
tion reflects Maya cultural values of reciprocity
and sharing and site–specific ecological fit.
Cultural and environmental changes from
sociopolitical marginalization and globaliza-
tion affect rural Guatemalans’ ethnobotany and
natural resource use patterns. The 1980s politi-
cal–military regime’s genocide and devaluation
of indigenous cultural identity and practices
(Comerford 1996) escalated Guatemala’s trend
toward Ladino–ization (loss of indigenous lan-
guages and lifeways) (Wilkinson 2004; Wilson
1995) that likely impacts healthcare today. Vil-
lagers report feeling a general loss of medical
ethnobotanical knowledge—a concern echoed
elsewhere in the region (Barrett 1995; Cosmin-
sky 2016). Biomedicine’s growing dominance
further diminishes traditional healthcare (Cos-
minsky 2016). Yet, financial hardship, inac-
cessibility, and dissonance in cultural accept-
ability limit rural Guatemalans’ biomedical
options, even as nationwide biomedicine use
ascends (Adams and Hawkins 2007; Cosminsky
2016). Home remedies remain the first treat-
ment choice in healthcare practice (pers. obs.;
Weller etal. 1997). How rural, indigenous Gua-
temalans care for their health with accessible
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
Hypotheses
This research explores possible predictors of
Q’eqchi’ variability in homegarden medicinal
plant cultivation. We predict that homegarden
contents reflect the inhabitants’ needs, abilities,
values, and considerations. Plants with impor-
tant cultural roles (i.e., subsistence, healthcare)
should be more common in homegardens than
those without socio–economic functions (Mari-
aca Méndez 2012; Phillips and Gentry 1993).
We expect residents’ ages, life–stages, genders,
educations, and acculturation levels to predict
homegarden contents.
HypotHeses on tHe effects of socio–
DemograpHics anD acculturation
We test demographic variables for associations
with medicinal plant presence in homegardens.
Variables are age, members in household, gen-
erations in household, education level, presence
of nearby extended family, religion, ethnicity, lot
size, gender ratio, distance from the road, occu-
pation, and material acculturation (two compos-
ite variables of electronics and other household
goods). We selected variables to compare pat-
terns here with findings among communities in
similar and different geographical regions, per
Reyes–Garcia etal. (2007), who called for com-
parative studies of ethnobotanical knowledge.
We consider education, religion, and lot size
as independent variables, recognizing that they
also reflect acculturation—e.g., more education
requires more time away from home; evangeli-
cal church membership indicates acculturation,
as Catholicism has been traditional for centu-
ries, while evangelism is relatively new to Gua-
temala (Althoff 2014); and lot size may reflect
economic acculturation.
Hypothesis #1—Number of Household
Members Will Correlate with the Number of
Homegarden Medicinal Plant Species
The higher the number of residents, the
greater the need for a wide array of medicinal
plants to treat conditions particular to individu-
als. Village household size varies between two
and ten, averaging seven people. We expect that
the more people in residence, the greater the
household’s need for a range of medicinal plant
species.
Hypothesis #2— Homegardens for Older
Individuals’ Families Will Contain More
Medicinal Plants Than Homegardens with
Younger Individuals In Residence
With increased age and life experience, older
villagers have had more opportunities to accu-
mulate both knowledge and access to greater
species diversity for home cultivation, especially
the remedies they use for a range of life–stage
medicinal applications (Finerman and Sackett
2003; Garro 1986). While Santa Lucía is mod-
ernizing in some respects, we predict that older
villagers retain garden species that reflect cul-
tural traditions, including medicinal plant use,
more than do families with younger generations
in residence.
Hypothesis #3—Household Members’ Age
Range (Number of Generations) Will Correlate
with the Number of Homegarden Medicinal
Plants
A family with young children may contain
homegarden plants with common pediatric
uses, and households with older residents may
report plants for geriatric conditions (Finerman
and Sackett 2003). Thus, the larger the house-
hold members’ age range, the higher the need
for a broad array of medicinal plants to treat
age–related illnesses.
Hypothesis #4—Women Will Report More
Medicinal Plants Than Will Men
Evidence from cross–cultural homegarden
literature cites sexual divisions in homegarden
care, management, and use (Kumar and Nair
2006; Mariaca Méndez 2012). We predict that
women and men will emphasize different botani-
cal use categories according to their respective
gender–based roles in labor and social behavior
(Wilson 1995; Zarger 2002). We predict that
women report more medicinal plants as they are
often the primary providers of home medicine
and take pride in identifying with this role (Fin-
erman and Sackett 2003; Voeks 2007; Wilson
1995). We predict Santa Lucía men will report
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
more tree species, per observations of men
carrying heavy loads of tree products such as
firewood or palm thatching. This pattern would
support Quinlan etal.’s (2016) findings that
Dominican boys learn tree care more thoroughly,
and sooner than girls, and Zarger’s (2002) find-
ings regarding the sexual division of labor in
Belizean Q’eqchi’ communities.
Hypothesis #5—Furthermost Homegardens
from the Main Road (the Franja Transversal
del Norte or FTN) Will Have More Medicinal
Plants
The main road (see Study Site) is a mostly
paved strip, and the roadside and adjacent com-
munity features (churchyard, soccer field, com-
munity building, health clinic) are clear of most
vegetation. We posit that the clearing effect will
continue into villagers’ lots. And residents living
closer to the road have easier access to village
shops and the merchandise that arrives via the
main road, which is called Franja Transversal del
Norte (FTN). They may thus rely on purchased
goods more often than residents living further
from the road, the latter of whom may rely more
on home–grown plant resources.
Hypothesis #6—Homegardeners’ Education
Level Will Relate Inversely to the Number of
Medicinal Plants
The more years a villager spends in formal
education, the more time they spend acquiring
knowledge nonspecific to the village’s natural
surroundings (García 2006; Heckler 2002).
Santa Lucía’s school ends after middle school.
To attend high school, a student must commute
to a neighboring village. For specialized train-
ing programs and college, students must travel
even further. The travel for continued education,
plus accruing annual tuition, may detract from
investing time and resources at home, including
homegarden learning and maintenance.
Hypothesis #7—Villagers with a Commercial
Occupation Outside the Home Will Have Fewer
Medicinal Plants in Their Homegarden
All villagers grow subsistence crops on plots
of land outside the village. Some villagers also
work in nearby schools, assist with health clinic
activities, or own small shops in which they sell
basic household items or foods, candy, and soda.
As with education, commercial occupations
require time and energy spent away from home
and away from investment in homegardens.
Hypothesis #8—Consumerism Will Relate
Inversely to the Number of Medicinal Plants
We calculate consumerism as an aggregate
score based on possession of purchased material
goods: electricity, electronics (i.e., refrigerator,
stereo, computer, but not nearly ubiquitous cell
phones), metal roofs (compared to thatch), and
motorcycles. Villagers can only purchase these
items outside the village, requiring the financial
ability and interest to participate in a broader
economy. Villagers with higher consumerism
levels may trade traditional practices for new,
commercial ones, including leaving behind
medicinal plant cultivation in exchange for the
purchase of commercial medicines.
Cultural andPhysical Setting
Q’eQcHi’
Q’eqchi’ horticulturalists engage in local com-
merce and cultivate maize subsistence (milpas)
and dooryard gardens (Grandia 2012; Maass
2005). They express their unique worldview and
cultural values through subsistence and conser-
vation activities (Maass 2005). For example, the
Q’eqchi’ value their relationship with the tzuul
taq’a, or earth deity, and employ acts of reci-
procity to ensure abundant harvests and personal
wellbeing (Maass 2005; Wilson 1995). They
uphold their values for mutual aid, sharing, and
reciprocity by loaning each other corn, beans,
coffee, and other items when needed (Centro
Ak’ Kutan 2007).
Similar to gender–roles across the Maya area
(Anderson 2005; Mariaca Méndez 2012; Wilk
1991; Wilson 1995), Santa Lucía men predomi-
nantly do agricultural and other work outside the
home, while women largely perform domestic
tasks (e.g., food preparation, childcare, homegar-
den cultivation). We noticed that Santa Lucía
men monitor homegarden activities and related
decisions but are often not available to discuss
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
these issues because of their daily schedule of
production commitments outside the home.
stuDy site
We conducted this research in Santa Lucía
Lachua—a lowland village in Alta Verapaz,
Guatemala—during two field trips in 2016 and
2018. The region has a rainy and dry season,
yet rainfall is abundant year–round (2,000 to
3,000mm annually). The average temperature
in the rainy season—the time of this research—
is 25–30°C and reaches 38°C in the dry sea-
son. The limestone soil supports predominantly
evergreen tropical rainforest (McKillop 2004)
containing many different native palms, orchids,
and bromeliads (Standley and Steyermark 1945).
Santa Lucía residents recount that Q’eqchi’
Maya families founded the village in 1980
after fleeing conflict elsewhere and “search-
ing for land” during Guatemala’s 36–year civil
war (pers. obs.; Skidmore and Smith 1992).
Today, Santa Lucía is home to 700 people in
100 households. The village is mostly flat with
palm–thatched, wooden plank homes in a rec-
tangular grid—a typical layout in post–war
Guatemala (Wilson 1995). A handful of homes
have corrugated aluminum roofs and cement
block foundations. Most households have a well
on or near their lot but no running water. About
three–quarters of village households have elec-
tricity. The village falls within neighboring Lake
Lachua National Park’s “area of influence” and
sometimes receives visiting researchers, biolo-
gists, and conservation officials (Maass 2005).
Santa Lucía straddles a paved, two–lane road,
the Franja Transversal del Norte (FTN), built
across Guatemala’s north in 1970 to promote agri-
cultural and petroleum extraction (Solano 2012).
While a relatively minor road by U.S. standards,
its local impact is like that of a highway. Speedy
traffic of trucks and buses carrying oil, crops, and
passengers is standard along the FTN.
Santa Lucíans ride crowded minibuses along
the FTN to visit nearby communities (for second-
ary school, larger stores, family, or medical ser-
vices). Within Santa Lucía, residents walk the grid
of dirt lanes to other homes and shops, and take
narrow foot–trails to their subsistence gardens.
Many younger men ride bicycles around Santa
Lucía and to neighboring villages. Nearly 40% of
households have motor bikes, which they use like
the bicycles.
Surrounding the residential village is a rolling
patchwork of milpas, traditional maize–promi-
nent slash–and–burn gardens. In addition to sub-
sistence plantings, villagers sometimes cultivate
small garden sections for sale (e.g., cardamom,
various fruits).
Santa Lucía has a two–room health center
where a traveling nurse provides a half–day of
immunizations or other services twice monthly.
The nearest hospital is 19km (11.8 mi), a drive
of 30–40min (almost always on a small bus,
as residents do not own automobiles). Women
generally travel to the hospital to give birth, as
midwifery practice has all but disappeared in the
village, a growing yet complicated phenomenon
across Guatemala (Cosminsky 2016). Although
studying lay medicines, our sample included one
of Santa Lucía’s three curanderos (folk healers).
Villagers report varying levels of faith in curan-
deros’ services.
Homegardens in Santa Lucía are the rectangular
parcels of land upon which villagers live. Full lots
measure 30m by 60m, though some are smaller
from being divided. Various Spanish terms (e.g.,
huerto, huerto familiar, traspatio, solar) are typi-
cal in regional homegarden literature (Anderson
1996; Mariaca Méndez 2012), but in Santa Lucía,
these terms only refer to raised beds for specific
vegetables or culinary herbs. The local compre-
hensive term for households’ beds plus their yards
where residents pick cultivated and wild herbs,
shrub and tree products, and raise domestic ani-
mals is lote or “lot.” There is no corresponding
Q’eqchi’ term in this community, but Belizean
Q’eqchi’ use “chi rix li k’abl,” meaning “around
the house” (Zarger, pers. comm., January 2017).
In this study, homegarden is synonymous with lot.
Almost all Santa Lucía villagers identify as
Q’eqchi’ Maya. A few residents have other Maya
ethnicities (Kaqchikel, Pokomchi, Mam), and
fewer identify as Ladino (Mestizo). Q’eqchi’ is
the predominant language, even among the few
non–Q’eqchi’.
Methods
Thiel conducted field research for this project
in two periods. The initial research, during six
weeks between June and August 2016, explored
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
homegarden content and diversity. She con-
ducted follow–up research during three weeks of
June 2018 to explore ethnomedicine, the nature
and extent of homegarden plant sharing, and to
collect botanical vouchers.
These data come from a lengthy permis-
sion–seeking process, participant–observation,
informal/unstructured interviews, semi–struc-
tured key–informant interviews, plant–walk
interviews, voucher specimen and identification,
and multiple regression analysis. Altogether, we
include data from 40 individuals’ interviews (11
men and 29 women between the ages of 20 and
70), with statistical analysis on a sample of 31.
informeD consent
Washington State University’s Institutional
Review Board approved this research prior to
conducting fieldwork. We followed the Code
of Ethics of both the International Society
of Ethnobiology (2006) and the Society for
Latin American Ethnobiology (SOLAE 2015).
We also followed local Q’eqchi’ customs and
obtained permission for our research from the
village’s governing council (Consejo Comuni-
tario de Desarollo), a process which Medinaceli
(2018) discusses further. We obtained free, prior,
and informed consent for each interview.
participant observation anD informal
interviewing
Per anthropological tradition, our initial and
ongoing methods included participant–observa-
tion (Bernard 2006) to achieve contextual under-
standing of Q’eqchi’ life ways. We continued
participant–observation through the duration of
two field seasons (about nine weeks total in the
village). Opportunities for participant–observa-
tion in ethnobotanical activities and conversa-
tions abound in this subsistence gardening com-
munity and provide a likely outlet for informal,
conversational interviewing; for example, while
visiting with residents Thiel asked about their
gardens. She asked about planting procedures
and certain plants’ names and uses. She helped
villagers with ethnobotanical chores like garden
work as well as peeling and other food process-
ing. As Thiel learned more about local plants
and medicine through general discussions, she
began to focus informal questions to prepare
questions for ethnomedical interviews (details
below).
plant walk anD semi–structureD
interviews
Forty–one adult Santa Lucía residents (11 men
and 30 women) participated in this research. Of
the 41 interviews, we omitted one interview
from analysis for reliability concerns, as the per-
son (man) was not answering independently. We
conducted two types of interviews: plant walks
to discuss homegarden plants and related details,
and ethnomedical interviews to probe villagers’
ethnobiological remedies for local illnesses. We
conducted 31 of the 40 total interviews in Span-
ish; the remaining nine were in Q’eqchi’ with
a local translator’s assistance. The skewed sex
ratio of our sample is due to availability. Most
Santa Lucían men spend daylight hours working
in their fields or wage labor, while women work
in or near the home and are hence far more avail-
able for interviews.
Thirty–one villagers who reside in 26
homegarden–households participated in plant
walk interviews (Martin 2004; Michel etal.
2007; Quinlan etal. 2016) to identify homegar-
den species. We selected household participants
for plant walks via stratified convenience sam-
pling (Bernard 2006) according to the distance
and direction (north or south) of the lot from the
main road that runs east to west, as well as by
whether homegarden residents were willing to
participate. The sampled homegardens represent
26% of Santa Lucía’s 100 village homegardens.
Plant walks lasted between a half hour and two
hours, depending on the size and complexity
of the garden and the interest level of the inter-
viewee. Plant walks involved walking through-
out an informant’s lot, the informant or Thiel
pointing to a plant, and the informant identifying
it with its local Spanish, Q’eqchi’, and any other
name for each plant. For each plant identified
via the plant walk, we asked of its local uses and
probed for details regarding specific situations
for use, parts, amounts, and preparations. We
also obtained demographic information, GPS
coordinates, pace–estimates of distance from
the lot to the main road, and plant–sourcing for
plants mentioned but not present.
The remaining nine participants contrib-
uted to semi–structured interviews about local
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
illnesses, related treatments, and plant–sourc-
ing. These interviews lasted between 20 and
90 min, depending on the interviewee’s
responses, depth of knowledge, and interest
level.
Data analysis
Principally, we analyzed our homegarden
interview data using multiple regression.
Specifically, we used a Poisson, or log–lin-
ear model to examine the best predictors of
the presence of medicinal plants because the
total dependent variable count is relatively
low. Log–linear models are apt for analyzing
nominal/ordinal level data, such as ours. We
bootstrapped the model to increase confidence
in the p–values. All data were analyzed using
the software STATA 13.1 (Glantz and Slinker
2001; Rose and Sullivan 1993).
Additionally, we analyzed interviews for
reference to medicinal plant knowledge and
use, especially in regard to variation, sourc-
ing, and sharing of medicinal plants. We
report on these qualitative findings to provide
context and comparison with our quantitative
analyses.
botanical voucHers
During the 2018 research, key informants
(plant walk interviewees who were especially
knowledgeable and interested) helped us find
botanical voucher specimens of the 100 most
common species mentioned in interviews. We
collected specimens on–site, noting growing
conditions, growth habit, and ethnobotanical
uses. We deposited vouchers in the University
of San Carlos herbarium in Guatemala City. The
herbarium director, Lic. Mario Véliz, assisted in
voucher identification. The National Council for
Protected Areas of Guatemala granted permis-
sion for voucher collection.
Results
general finDings
Table1 summarizes our sample and data.
During plant walks, informants mentioned
209 useful ethnospecies, or locally distinguished
plants (see Berlin 1973 or Hunn 1975). Of those
209 plants, informants reported 67 (32%) as hav-
ing medicinal uses (what we herein call medici-
nal plants), sometimes in addition to culinary or
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of tHe HomegarDen sample (n = 31 inDiviDuals in 26 HouseHolDs)
Variable Mean Median Minimum Maximum SD
Ni Medicinal plants per garden 4.0 3 0 12 3.5
Ni Illnesses treated per garden 4.07 3 0 11 3.3
Meters from garden to road 210.96 88.2 0 742.5 254
Age 35.2 32.5 20 70 12.6
Schooling 4.2 3 0 4 1.5
Consumer goods 2.4 2 0 5 1.6
Generations per household 2.4 2 1 4 .85
Members per household 5.3 5 1 14 2.6
Proportion 1 0
Household sex ratio .69♀, .19♂,.12 = ♀ bias (18) ♂ bias (5) ♀ = ♂ (3)
Household ethnicity .73: .23: .04 Q’eqchi’ (19) Other Maya (6) Ladino (1)
Wages from outside home .73 Yes (19) No (7)
At–home job .538 Yes (14) No (12)
Household screens .12: .42: .46 PC + TV (3) PC or TV (11) Neither (12)
Lot size .846 Full lot (22) Partial lot (4)
Religion .462 Catholic (12) Evangelical (14)
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
other uses (details on the overlap of these cat-
egories below). A full list of ethnospecies and
corresponding Latin names, where determined,
appears in Electronic Supplementary Material
(ESM) 1. Table2 contains the 11 most fre-
quently identified medicinal plants (plants with
at least one medicinal use), which we discuss in
detail elsewhere (Thiel and Quinlan 2020).
Santa Lucía villagers use plants for various
and overlapping purposes. For example, they
consume Citrus aurantium L., Citrus latifolia
Tan., Psidium guajava L., Persea americana
Mill., and Mangifera indica L. fruits, and also
use various parts of these plants for medicine
(Thiel and Quinlan 2020). Villagers in 20
homegardens mention using avocado (Persea
americana) as a food, but in four homegar-
dens, villagers also report using it medicinally.
Villagers in 16 homegardens report Hibiscus
rosa–sinensis L. as an ornamental and as a fence
delimiting the boundary between lots. However,
three homegarden residents also mention it as a
medicinal plant. On the other hand, Santa Lucía
villagers use some plants exclusively as medi-
cine: Ruta chalepensis L., Opuntia cochinellifera
(L.) Mill, Moringa oleifera Lam., and Cymbopo-
gon winterianus Jowitt ex Bor.
preDictors of meDicinal plants in
HomegarDens
To test hypotheses regarding predictors (see
Table1) of medicinal plant cultivation in Santa
Lucía homegardens, we used a bootstrapped
Poisson model in STATA 13.1 to analyze several
demographic and acculturation variables. We
used multiple regression on two to three vari-
ables (listed in Table1) at a time to parse out the
relationship among independent variables and
the dependent variable. We performed explora-
tory analyses on two potential predictors (reli-
gion, ethnicity), which showed no significant
effects; thus, we omitted them from discussion.
Table3 summarizes significant predictors. We
then report on the results for each hypothesis.
The variables that proved significant in pre-
dicting the presence (or recognition) of medici-
nal plants in the bootstrapped model are the
following: (1) work performed within the home
and (2) distance from the road (see Table3). In
the original Poisson model, household members’
age range is statistically significant in isolation
but cannot be reliably added as a variable to the
model due to small sample size and bivariate
correlation between the number of household
members and age range (see ESM 2 for bivari-
ate correlations). We elaborate on this variable
further in the Discussion.
Hypothesis #1—Number of Household
Members Will Correlate with the Number of
Medicinal Plants
Data do not support this hypothesis, as the
p–value is not statistically significant. Larger
households do not have larger gardens.
Hypothesis #2— Homegardens for Older
Individuals’ Families Will Contain More
Medicinal Plants Than Homegardens with
Younger Individuals In Residence
Data do not support hypothesis 2, as there
is no statistical correlation between household
members’ age and the number of medicinal
plants. Juana, the oldest informant (70years
old), mentioned just one medicinal plant. The
two families with adults in their late 20s to mid
30s reported most medicinal plants in their
homegardens.
Hypothesis #3—The Household Members’ Age
Range (Number of Generations) Will Correlate
with the Number of Medicinal Plants
The household members’ age range—meas-
ured in the number of generations from one
to four (under 18, 18–39, 40–55, older than
55years)—does not correlate with the number
of medicinal plants in the bootstrapped model.
It does, however, correlate with the number of
medicinal plants in the original Poisson model,
but not in ways we expected. The two homegar-
dens in which informants reported most medici-
nal plants (> 10 species) are home to families
with two generations and, overall, the two–gen-
eration families are those that report the most
medicinal plants. Four–generation families—
while expected to have the most medicinal
plants due to a need for diverse medicinal treat-
ments according to their residents’ multiple life
stages—have fewer medicinal plants than both
two– and three–generation homes.
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
Table 2. tHe 11 most freQuently mentioneD meDicinal plants anD tHeir uses, listeD accorDing to number of mentions as meDicinal
Latin name and
family
Spanish name Q’eqchi’ name English name Growth habit Plant part used
medicinally
Illnesses treated
locally
Number of
homegardens in
which reported
as medicinal
Number of
homegardens in
which present
Voucher ID
Citrus x
aurantium L.,
Rutaceae
naranja chiin bitter orange tree leaves headache,
stomachache,
intestinal
cramps, high
blood pres-
sure, vomit-
ing, diarrhea,
cough, fever
7 14 AT087/
81,314
Ruta cha-
lepensis L.,
Rutaceae
ruda ruda rue herb aerial parts mal ojo,
vomiting,
weepiness,
for children’s
complaints
5 5 AT105/81606
Citrus latifolia
Yu. Tanaka,
Rutacaeae
limón/
limón persa
lamunx/
lamux q’en
Persian lime tree leaves fever, sore
throat, cough,
heart prob-
lems
4 8 AT017/79009
Mangifera
indica L.,
Anacardi-
aceae
mango mank mango tree leaves, bark fever, kid-
ney pain,
unknown
4 13 AT013/ 78,924
Persea ameri-
cana Mill.,
Lauraceae
aguacate oh/ó avocado tree leaves, bark, pit diarrhea,
ulcers, skin
problems,
mal ojo, body
pain, stom-
achache
4 20 AT001/78992
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
Table 2. (continued)
Latin name and
family
Spanish name Q’eqchi’ name English name Growth habit Plant part used
medicinally
Illnesses treated
locally
Number of
homegardens in
which reported
as medicinal
Number of
homegardens in
which present
Voucher ID
Psidium
guajava L.,
Myrtaceae
guayaba pata guava tree leaves, bark bites, stom-
achache,
amoebas
3 9 AT025/79053
Opuntia coch-
inellifera
(L.) Mill,
Cactaceae
nopal persham prickly pear shrub leaves gastritis, dia-
betes
3 3 AT030/80924
Neurolaena
lobata (L.)
R.Br. ex
Cass, Aster-
aceae
tres punta k’a mank — herb leaves mal ojo, fever,
headache,
stomachache,
diabetes,
gastritis
3 4 AT109/81406
Moringa oleif-
era Lam.,
Moringaceae
moringa — moringa tree leaves “for 300 ill-
nesses”, dia-
betes, nerves,
gastritis,
kidney infec-
tion, cancer
3 3 AT060/81194
Hibiscus rosa–
sinensis L.,
Malvaceae
clavel clavel/
uutz’uuj
hibiscus shrub flowers, leaves,
leaf buds
gastritis, ulcer,
rashes, fever,
swelling
3 16 AT104/ 81,436
Cymbopogon
winterianus
Jowitt ex Bor,
Poaceae
té de limón — lemon–grass herb aerial parts cough, fever 3 3 AT044/80934
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
Hypothesis #4—Women Will Report More
Medicinal Plants Than Will Men
Confirmation of this hypothesis is tentative.
A low sample size of informants in plant walks
(males [n = 8], women [n = 23]) prohibits statis-
tical analysis of this variable, so we rely on a
qualitative assessment based on lists of plants
mentioned. Women reported 49 medicinal plant
species and men reported 35. Both men and
women listed 18 plants in common, men listed
17 plants that women did not mention, and
women listed 32 plants that men did not men-
tion. Clearly, there is some divergence in the
number of plants each sex mentioned. Overall,
women tended to list more medicinal uses for
fruit trees, and men listed more medicinal uses
for other, non–fruiting tree species, although
women reported more medicinal species overall.
However, this result remains speculative, given
sample size limitations.
Hypothesis #5—Furthermost Homegardens
from the Main Road (the Franja Transversal
del Norte or FTN) Will Have More Medicinal
Plants
Distance from the main road is a significant
predictor of the presence of medicinal plants,
but not in the expected, linear fashion. In Fig.1,
distance assumes a loosely quadratic fit with the
number of medicinal plants so that homegardens
in the 300–600 step range (approximately half-
way to the village outskirts) from the FTN have
the greatest number of medicinal plants. The
number declines with increased distance.
Hypothesis #6—Homegardeners’ Education
Level Will Relate Inversely to the Number of
Medicinal Plants
Education level has no statistically significant
correlation with the number of medicinal plants
reported in Santa Lucía homegardens. However,
there may not be enough range to show a pat-
tern in medicinal plants listed based on education
level, especially because of the female–skewed
sample (which would show little variability since
women typically do not surpass primary school).
Hypothesis #7—Villagers with a Commercial
Occupation Outside the Home Will Have Fewer
Medicinal Plants in Their Homegarden
While villagers with a commercial occupation
outside of the home do not have fewer medicinal
Table 3. bootstrappeD poisson moDel sHowing effects
of significant preDictors on number of meDicinal
plants
Dependent variable: medicinal plants listed. Adjusted
Pseudo R2 = 0.2665, N = 26
Variable Coefficients Standard error P–value
(Constant) –0.1768537 0.5651936 0.754
Distance 0.0012773 0.005076 0.012
Work within the
home
0.8785233 0.2782722 0.002
Fig. 1. The relationship between
distance from the main road and
the number of medicinal plants.
(Note: there are two points at
(x = 0, y = 1).)
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
plants in their homegardens, a reciprocal rela-
tionship holds. The six homegardens with the
highest number of medicinal plants are all home
to at least one household member who works
for money within the home. This work includes
running a maize grinder, owning a small shop,
cheesemaking, selling fruit from one’s trees,
making and selling tortillas or tamales, and
curandero (healing) services. Work within
the home significantly predicts the number of
medicinal plants.
Hypothesis #8—Consumerism Will Relate
Inversely to the Number of Medicinal Plants
As with education, consumerism (i.e., hav-
ing electricity, a metal roof, a TV, a computer,
or a motorcycle) has no statistically significant
correlation with the number of medicinal plants
reported in Santa Lucía homegardens.
variation anD sHaring
Villagers identified 209 ethnospecies in
homegardens; 67 of which they use medicinally.
There was a large range in informants’ men-
tion of medicinal plants: three or more inform-
ants (10%) mentioned only 11 species (5.3%)
as medicinal. On the other hand, two inform-
ants mentioned 56 species as medicinal. There
appears to be significant variation in the cultiva-
tion of homegarden medicinal plants.
In addition to growing medicinal plants per-
sonally, villagers source medicinal plants from
others’ gardens. Seven villagers mention using
plants they grow in combination with plants that
grow in others’ lots. For example, Juan (we use
pseudonyms for all informants) identified Citrus
latifolia leaves, which he grows in his lot, as use-
ful for treating children’s frío (chills, or a humor-
ally cold condition). He uses these in combina-
tion with Mangifera indica, Psidium guajava,
Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) HBK, and Bixa orel-
lana L. leaves, four cultivated plants that he does
not grow in his lot. Similarly, Marisol uses Citrus
aurantium leaves from her garden as a treatment
for high blood pressure, adding equal amounts of
Coffea arabica L. and Citrus x paradisi Macfad
leaves, two plants she does not grow.
In ethnomedical interviews, Martina and
Juana, two unrelated informants, both reported
asking their neighbors for Cymbopogon winte-
rianus because they did not grow it themselves;
Martina said she could pay for the plant or
trade something for it, whereas Juana said her
neighbor would gift it if needed. Two additional
informants specifically mentioned that neigh-
bors, friends, or family would share medicinal
plants with them, either freely, by trade, or with
cash. They emphasized the importance of shar-
ing, regardless of financial or other returns, even
if they also accepted small reciprocal favors.
Discussion
inDicators of HomegarDen meDicinal
plants
Statistical analyses show that two variables—
working at home, and homegarden’s distance from
the main road—significantly affect the number of
medicinal plant species that Santa Lucía Q’eqchi’
grow at home. Together, these two variables
explain 26.65% of the variance in medicinal plant
cultivation, which, in social science, indicates a
“very promising” to “accurate” predictive model
(Quinlan and Quinlan 2007:178). These variables
make intuitive sense as we explain below.
First, the presence of a family member with
at–home commercial work significantly pre-
dicts homegardening more medicinal plants.
Residents earning money from home—by oper-
ating a maize grinder; harvesting fruit for sale;
or making and selling tortillas, popsicles, or
beverages—spend considerable time and energy
near their homegardens. They can maintain their
homegardens during down–times, potentially
cultivating more species than if they were spend-
ing more time elsewhere working for wages or
with kin. Furthermore, residents with at–home
work potentially have extra income to invest in
their gardens. Or gardening more plant species
may reflect the self–motivation and resource-
fulness that leads some to earn at home. Quin-
lan and Quinlan found a comparable result in
Dominica that relates “bush” medical expertise
to personality traits such as being “careful and
exacting” and “leaders in their community”
(2007:184). Home entrepreneurship and home
medicinal plant cultivation may go hand in hand.
Second, distance from the road significantly
predicts homegarden’s medicinal abundance.
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
The Franja Transversal del Norte road transects
the village center. Public resources—three small
shops, two churches, a (usually unstaffed) health
clinic, soccer pitch, community building, and an
elementary school sit along the road on cleared
lots with little vegetation. Whether by road con-
struction, increased lot age, foot traffic, road pol-
lution, or an aesthetic preference for open space,
the business and house lots adjacent to the road
remain bare, without local lush, jungle–like veg-
etation. Vegetation density increases the further
one travels from the road.
Interestingly, homegarden medicinal plant
content has a quadratic relationship with dis-
tance from the main road rather a linear one.
The relative absence of vegetation on lots by
the main road is apparent at first glance. Gar-
dens’ remedy richness in the middle–distance
range likely reflects village ecology rather than
plants relating to distance from the road, per se.
Within this range (300–700 paces) are several
lots with natural water from springs, creeks, or
ponds. Even in this tropical village, where rain
occurs daily throughout much of the year, local
flora is more abundant in areas featuring water
(residents do not water plants). Thus, medicinal
plant species cultivation reflects a site–specific
ecological fit: where water is more abundant, so
too are plants, medicinal or otherwise. Addition-
ally, three of the six homegardens with the most
medicinal plants and the most household mem-
bers are also lots with the most natural water.
Future research should explore the potentially
confounding effect of household size on medici-
nal plant cultivation, as we discuss below.
One variable we tested—the number of
household members using the homegarden—
was significant in the Poisson model but not
in the bootstrapped one. Our small sample size
or correlation with other variables likely affect
this result. The odds of pathogen exposure or
someone being sick or injured increases with
household size, which would imply increasing
household variety or quantity of homegarden
medicinals. We suggest further research and a
larger sample to clarify this variable’s potential
role in predicting Santa Lucía’s medicinal plants.
Lastly, these data yield equivocal findings
about gendered plant use differences in Santa
Lucía. Yet, there is tentative support to assert
gendered ethnobotanical domains (Mariaca
Méndez 2012; Quinlan etal. 2016; Voeks 2007;
Wayland 2001), though not always in predict-
able ways (Browner 1991; Pfeiffer and Butz
2005). Santa Lucía women identify more plants
as medicinal and more uses for fruit trees than
do men—presumably, they maintain these plants
in homegardens. Men identify more non–fruit-
ing tree species than women, reflecting local
labor division in which men gather firewood
and construction materials and women prepare
food. Furthermore, women’s medicinal plant
reports tend to show consensus, while men have
more unique mentions of medicinal plants, like
Browner’s (1991) findings in an indigenous
community in Mexico. The study’s small,
female–skewing sample limits conclusions on
this topic, but tentative observations warrant
further research.
variation
Quantitative analysis reveals that village eco-
logical characteristics account for some vari-
ation in homegardens’ presence of medicinal
plants. Looking at Fig.1, there is a clear trend
toward more homegarden medicinals growing
in the wettest central–distance range between
the road and Santa Lucia’s outer edges. There-
fore, the more variable a community’s ecologi-
cal characteristics, the more variety we expect
to see in homegarden plants (medicinal or not).
We expect variation to be the norm throughout
Mesoamerica, as it is an exceptionally biocul-
turally diverse region (Azurdia and Leiva 2004;
Maffi 2005; Montagnini 2006). Indeed, Santa
Lucia’s residents offered more unique mentions
of medicinal plant species than consensual ones,
a pattern of variation that scholars echo through-
out the region (Barrett 1995; Hopkins and Stepp
2012; Quinlan and Quinlan 2007).
Other studies have found high variation in
the distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge.
In the nearby Yucatan peninsula, Hopkins and
Stepp find a shared knowledge base, with up
to 40–50% idiosyncratic knowledge, such that
“a few plant names were shared by many peo-
ple and numerous plant names are reported by
a few people” (2012:253). Among 40 inter-
viewed individuals, 84% of the remedies were
only listed once. Barrett (1995:409) found Nica-
raguan medicinal plant knowledge to be “dis-
persed widely, although unevenly” across ethnic,
ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL
socioeconomic, geographic, and occupational
lines. Of Barrett’s 162 plant remedy reports,
23 species comprised 75% of treatments. Quin-
lan and Quinlan similarly find a highly uneven
distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge in
Dominica, concluding that “such a range of
knowledge may itself be traditional” (2007:183).
Contrasting with other ethnobotanical domains,
intracultural variation appears normal in studies
of medical ethnobotany knowledge.
Santa Lucía is not a typical Q’eqchi’ village
in some respects, which may increase homegar-
dens’ medicinal plants variation. While Santa
Lucia’s ethnicity is predominantly Q’eqchi’
Maya, there are a few village Ladinos and a few
with Kaqchikel, Pokomchi, and Mam Maya eth-
nicity. This slight cultural diversity may intro-
duce different cultivation practices and floristic
diversity, as Barrett (1995) found for an ethni-
cally diverse region in Nicaragua. Ethnobotani-
cal variation is further predictable with the vil-
lage’s semi–recent 1980 founding, as consensus
appears to develop over time (Stepp 2016).
Our homegarden medicinal plants survey
methods probe not for total ethnobotanical
knowledge but for known cultivated, at–hand
rainy–season resources. Had we resampled
homegardens during the dry season or at a dif-
ferent point in time, we might have found addi-
tional homegarden medicinals and perhaps an
increased variety from natural vegetation succes-
sion or other ecological or phenological factors
(Anderson 1996; Stepp 2016). We nevertheless
find high homegarden plant variability. Review-
ing four decades of Yucatec Maya homegarden
literature, Lope–Alzina (2017) concludes that
variation—in garden composition, structure,
and function—is the principal characteristic of
homegardens and a major reason for their mul-
tifunctionality. Homegarden plant counts are
highly variable, ranging from 28 to 347 species
per Yucatec community (Lope–Alzina 2017).
In X–Mejia, Campeche, villagers grow 73% of
their medicinal herbs in homegardens (Cahu-
ich–Campos etal. 2014) and medicinal plants
form the greatest proportion of homegarden spe-
cies’ uses (26.8%) (González Jácome 2015).
With additional methods—such as freelisting
local remedies—while this also probes active
above total knowledge (Quinlan and Quinlan
2007:184)—we would expect to see more medic-
inal knowledge and variation thereof. Informants
usually list cultivates growing in their homegar-
dens and common wild plants or weeds growing
close to home, as cross–culturally people often
use the latter medicinally (Stepp and Moerman
2001). Accordingly, the curandero (healer) we
interviewed had a distinct set of homegarden
plants, including numerous plants he reported
transplanting from uncultivated stands.
sHaring
During homegarden plant walk interviews, vil-
lagers listed herbal–remedy concoction ingredi-
ents that they do not grow, but which they source
from community, family or friends. Q’eqchi’s
extensive medicinal plant sharing means no
household need grow every medicinal plant it
may want; mirroring Finerman and Sackett’s
(2003) account of Andean Saraguro medicinal
plant sharing, especially among female family
members and close friends.
Practices of seeking and giving medicinal
ingredients promote garden variation and an
ethos of sharing, which varies across cultures
(Herzog 2020). Q’eqchi’ sharing ethics particu-
larly contrast with individualistic cultures with
full market economies that prioritize exchange
over sharing. While scholars characterize Latin
America as leaning “collectivist” (Triandis
2001), Maya cultures exemplify collectiv-
ism (Redfield 1941:357; Wilson 1995:250) by
integrating members “from birth onward into
strong, cohesive in–groups, often extended
families” (Hofstede 1983; Hofstede and McCrae
2004:63). Maya, kinship connection “structures
life and overwhelmingly dominates in matters
of economic support and mutual aid” (Ander-
son 2005:160). Collective group units are para-
mount, and value relationships and cooperation
over self–focused behavior (Oyserman and Lee
2008; Triandis 2001), as we find in Santa Lucía.
Villagers grow medicinal plants for home health-
care and to share with family and friends accord-
ing to Q’eqchi’ philosophies of reciprocity and
collective, communal well–being (Centro Ak’
Kutan 2007; Hatse and De Ceuster 2004; Wilk
1991; Wilson 1995). The collectivist nature of
Maya cultures likely operates upon a spectrum
from remaining intact in isolated, homogenous
communities to more individualistic in hetero-
geneous urban areas (Wilson 1995).
20 2 1 ] THIEL AND QUINLAN: Q’EQCHI’ GARDEN MEDICINALS
Although rural and remote, the FTN road’s
immediate proximity and Santa Lucia’s market
economy influence may contribute to commu-
nity heterogeneity and incipient individualism.
That villagers sometimes charge for medici-
nal plants complicates conclusions on sharing
and collectivism, but could show collectiv-
ist out–group behaviors or villagers’ increas-
ing familiarity with commercial goods and
cash–based economy. On the other hand, as its
subsistence horticulture indicates, Santa Lucia’s
economy is not fully market–oriented. Its remote
location, a national resurgence in Maya identity
and pride, and social cohesion generated by its
founders’ refugee history and endurance through
its “high degree of social cohesion, trust, and
mutual aid” (Wilson 1995:245) may preserve
collectivist tendencies.
Conclusions on this matter remain speculative
and we suggest future exploration of the roles of
collectivism and reciprocity on medicinal plant
variation and sharing in Santa Lucía and other
newer, refugee–founded communities. We know
little about the influence of collectivism/individ-
ualism, reciprocity, and social networks on eth-
nobiological practices, but this vein of research
could yield important insights into culture, cog-
nition, and appropriate initiatives toward biodi-
versity conservation and cultural revitalization
of salient knowledge.
Conclusion
People’s first healthcare choice are often
home remedies from medicinal plants (Weller
etal. 1997), a pattern that especially holds
in rural, impoverished areas with few other
medical options (Quinlan 2004; Vandebroek
2013), such as the community of Santa Lucía
herein. By cultivating various medicinal plants,
Santa Lucíans fill personal and community
home–treatment needs in ecologically and cul-
turally optimal contexts. Medicinal plant culti-
vation is distributed along two axes: the particu-
lar ecological characteristics of the homegarden
surroundings and in–home entrepreneurial
activities of the villagers. Villagers share the
medicinal plants they grow with family and
friends. Intracommunity sharing appears to be
essential to the variation in medicinal plant cul-
tivation in Santa Lucia’s homegardens. Further
research into how social networks’ medicinal
resource sharing influences ethnobotanical
knowledge and practice would inform deeper
understanding of cultural knowledge distri-
bution, botanical resource conservation, and
appropriate healthcare models in indigenous
communities in Guatemala and beyond.
Acknowledgements
Grants for this research were granted from the Society
of Economic Botany, the Society of Ethnobiology, and
the Garden Club of America/Missouri Botanical Gar-
den (to Thiel). Thiel wishes to thank Lic. J. Morales for
facilitating connections in the field and Dr. A. Medinaceli
for support in and out of the field. Bantiox (thank you)
to Santa Lucía residents for generously sharing their
knowledge, time, and good humor; especially the Tox
family and don Ricardo Yaat. In fond memory of don
Ramiro Tox Cao, who worked tirelessly for the wellbe-
ing of his community, and Rebeca Sun, whose kindness
was contagious.
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