AN ETHNOBOTANICAL APPROACH TO THE INFORMAL COMMERCIALIZATION OF NATIVE CACTI IN NATIONAL ROUTES 9 AND 34 IN SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO PROVINCE, ARGENTINA

Background and aims: National routes 9 and 34 cross Santiago del Estero, and on its shoulders there are stalls selling cacti. With the aim of registering and identifying the diversity of commercialized species, considering whether they suffer some degree of threat according to the IUCN, describing the forms of access to them in the extraction environments and characterizing the informal spaces of commercialization, the study of this activity was approached from an ethnobotanical perspective. M&M: Open interviews were conducted with residents of both sexes between the ages of 20 and 60 at 25 posts on RN9 and 14 posts on RN34.The number of species, local names, uses, and form and place of collection were recorded at each stall, considering a stable stall to be one with at least 10 individuals for sale. Results & Conclusions: 19 taxa are traded, 13 wild and 6 cultivated, all categorized as "Least Concern" by IUCN. The collection technique consists of searching for specimens around the houses. The stalls are mostly staffed by women between the ages of 20 and 50 and children between the ages of 10 and 15. Cactus sellers have a Local Knowledge System that allows them to flexibly use plants available in their immediate environment, to which they assign a new value. Considering the IUCN category of all traded species, the activity would not put diversity at risk. This trade could represent a sustainable economic activity for residents of arid zones.