Home gardens (HG) constitute an important biocultural reservoir of flora that integrates traditional ethnobotanical knowledge, plant diversity, and local management strategies. The objective of this study has been to record the floristic composition based on botanical origin, growth habits, ethnobotanical uses, and cultivation methods of HGs in five communities of northern Campeche, Mexico. Furthermore, temporal changes in floristic diversity in the same locations were compared and identified with a previous nine-year study. The data were collected between 2023 and 2024 through personal interviews and photographs of HG plants. Species that were overlapping, absent, or recently incorporated were identified through changes in scientific nomenclature and taxonomic classification. Exploratory and descriptive analyses were conducted using chord diagrams; the relationships between species and their presence in different communities were explored using biological interaction networks; in addition, a phylogenetic hypothesis based on Megatree methods was constructed to represent the botanical elements of HGs. A total of 498 species were recorded in the studied communities, corresponding to 308 cultivated species, 179 native species (nine endemic), and 11 naturalized species. Regarding growth habits, 226 herbs were identified, followed by shrubs (130 species) and trees (102 species); in ethnobotanical uses, 371 ornamental species were recorded, followed by medicinal (171 species) and edible (91 species) species. The findings confirm that HG are dynamic and adaptive systems, where biological diversity reflects social, economic, and cultural transformations.
Castillo-Rodríguez et al. (Thu,) studied this question.