Prospecting of Cratylia argentea (Desv.) Kuntze in the states of Maranhão and Goiás

Abstract

Cratylia argentea is a native bush of the Cerrado, of multiple use. It is a species with potential
to be used in family production units. In this context, this prospecting work, in 2016, aimed to
identify and collect its accesses in the states of Maranhão and Goiás. The collection sites (19
accessions in 13 municipalities) were determined through the INCT / Virtual Flora Herbarium
records. In the Quilombola Kalunga community, native legumes of shrub size were registered
on the forest edges, within the forests and in the traditional systems of corn and rice production.
According to the community report of the Terra Ronca State Park, the flowering, the
branches, the pods and the fallen leaves are food for the cattle in the dry season. Its frequent
presence at the roadside, where most of the seed collections occurred, reaffirms one of the
main characteristics of the species: rusticity. The conservation of C. argentea in its natural
environment can be extended as long as there is the convergence of traditional knowledge
with the academic, creating strategies that consider the knowledge and practices of traditional
communities and the ecology of the species