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Abstract

Brazilian medicinal plants used by the Dr. João Ferreyra da Rosa according to his “Treatise on Pestilence in Pernambuco” at the end of the 17th century. João Ferreyra da Rosa’s “Treatise on Pestilence
in Pernambuco”, published in 1694 was the fi rst document on yellow fever, its symptoms and treatment, and it described the phytomedicines used at the time. Rosa described a hundred medicinal plants used to treat the epidemic; most of them came already prepared from Europe, since the majority of Portuguese physicians rejected the indigenous therapeutic knowledge. However, later, due to the lenght and adverse conditions of maritime trevel, leading to losses in the effectiveness of the active ingredients of such phytotherapeutic products, doctors were obliged to employ native medicinal plants in their treatments. The Brazilian medicinal plants used in the treatment of the fi rst epidemic of yellow fever in Brazil (17th century) had been brought up to date from the taxonomic point of view, and were comparable with those used in popular medicine today. As part of the phytotherapeutic treatment of yellow fever at the end of the 17th century, Rose made use of the
following medicinal plants: copaíba, macela, maracujá-mirim, red aroeira, angélico and almécega.