PRELIMINARY ETHNOBOTANICAL SURVEY OF KURUPUKARI - AN AMERINDIAN SETTLEMENT OF CENTRAL GUYANA

A preliminary assessment of the utilization of plant species was under taken within an Amerindian community at Kurupukari, Guyana. A total of 120 plant species of 46 plant families, covering 246 different plant uses were identified. Plant uses were divided into six utilization cat egories; 64 species for medicinal, 53 for technological, 43 edible, 20 for timber, 14 for construction and two species was with miscellaneou s uses. Of the 120 plant species, one species was recorded with five d ifferent use categories, two with four and 13 with three. A further 23 species were identified as having multiple uses. Of the 20 commercial timber species, five species were also shown to exhibit some form of non-timber product use, emphasising the under-utilization of species e xtraction. The dual extraction of both timber and non-timber resources form the same tree as a more effective sustainable utilization of ava ilable forest resources is also discussed.