[Research in ethnobotany and the return of systematized knowledge to the community: a complex issue].

How should information gathered in ethnobotanical research be returned to the social environment where it was generated? What should be taken to the community? These questions motivated the accompaniment of two ethnobotanical studies and their respective proposals for how to return to the community the knowledge associated to plants, systematized by the scientist. It is common for research data to be returned to a community by means of manuals, information booklets, illustrated lists of plants, lectures and courses. Nevertheless, other forms have been prepared that characterize an exchange of knowledge among the scientist and the community, with mutual gains.