Ethnobotany of the weed vegetation of Chol farmers in the Candelaria region of Campeche, Mexico

Chol Maya, immigrants from other parts of Campeche and Chiapas, live in several settlements in the Candelaria, Campeche, region. As part of a study comparing pasture and maize field vegetation of these farmers, we documented the proportions of useful plants in these two vegetation types, and the knowledge of the farmers. We sampled the vegetation in 12 pairs (maize/pasture) of study plots in 4 settlements. The 13 owners of these plots and 1 key informant in each village were interviewed - all men over 30, and Chol speakers, except for one Mennonite. We found no significant differences in proportions of useful plants between vegetation types. Knowledge of plants was distributed relatively evenly, with no or weak relationships to education, age, origin, and rurality of the farmer or to plant life form or showy plant traits. The strongest relationship was between the number of total species/Chol names and uses known.