Uncaria tomentosa and Uncaria guianensis an agronomic history to be written/Uncaria tomentosa e Uncaria guianensis uma historia agronomica a ser escrita

The Uncaria tomentosa and Uncaria guianensis species, which are endemic plants in the Amazonian region, are highlighted as medicinal plants mainly because of their anti-inflammatory activity. The vegetal drug and various types of extracts have been commercialized by pharmaceutical industries and distributed in several countries, thus configuring the economic potential of both species. The objective of the present research was to collect agronomical data published in PubMed, SciELO, and Scopus databases and analyze the main subjects that were either investigated or not investigated to enable the production chain of these species. The conclusion is that U. guianensis has been less studied than U. tomentosa under all aspects evaluated. Both species have been exploited in an extractivistic way. However, no report was found on either sustainable management or conservation or domestication strategies or yet large scale production that can continuously attend the global demand of the pharmaceutic industry. Furthermore, the amount currently produced is insufficient to supply the program of the Ministry of Health, which intends to provide herbal drugs from Uncaria to all Brazilian cities. Keywords: Uncaria, cat's claw, medicinal plants, extractivism. As especies Uncaria tomentosa e Uncaria guianensis, plantas endemicas da Amazonia, destacam-se como plantas medicinais por apresentarem principalmente atividade anti-inflamatoria. A droga vegetal e diversos tipos de extratos sao comercializadas por industrias farmaceuticas distribuidas em varios paises, configurando o potencial economico de ambas as especies. O objetivo deste trabalho foi reunir dados agronomicos publicados nas bases de dados PubMed, SciELO e Scopus para analisar os principais temas que ja foram investigados ou que ainda precisam ser abordados para viabilizar a cadeia produtiva dessas especies. A conclusao e que U. guianensis e menos estudada do que U. tomentosa sob todos os aspectos avaliados. Ambas as especies sao exploradas de forma extrativista. Entretanto, nao foram encontrados relatos de manejo sustentavel, nem estrategias de conservacao ou domesticacao, ou ainda plantios em larga escala que possam atender de modo continuo a demanda mundial da industria farmaceutica. Alem disso, nao ha quantidade suficiente para abastecer o programa nacional do Ministerio da Saude, que pretende disponibilizar fitoterapicos produzidos a partir de Uncaria a todos os municipios brasileiros. Palavras-chave: Uncaria,