Uso de plantas medicinais pelos Indios Yanomami do Brasil. 0 presente trabalho apresenta os resultados obtidos atraves do primeiro estudo detalhado a respeito do uso de plantas medicinais por um grupo de (ndios Yanomami. Ao contrdrio do que se acreditava anteriormente, estes fndios possuem uma farmacopeia consideravel, na qual incluem-se, pelo menos, 113 especies de plantas e fungos. As mudanVas ocorridas no uso e no conhecimento das plantas medicinais sao discutidas no contexto das influencias que os Yanomami vem sofrendo atraves do contato com o mundo exterior, tanto no passado como no presente.
Although this paper is primarily a discussion of the medicinal plants used by a group of Yanomami Indians, and those plants have been collected and identified using rigorous ethnobotanical procedures, only those medicinal species whose properties are widely used and which are already well documented have been mentioned by name. This is a deliberate attempt to combine protection of the intellectual property rights of those people with scientific reporting. It is hoped that it will help to emphasize the urgent need for a satisfactory and equitable solution to an issue which ethnobiologists ought not to be able to ignore.
THE YANOMAMI
The data discussed in this paper were collected during two visits by the authors to the Yanomami village of Watorikitheri in July-August 1993 and July-August 1994. The principal aim of the visits was to gather information for inclusion in a bilingual health manual, for use by medical personnel working within the Yanomami territory. The long-term objective was to provide a base of information for future use by health workers in the re-establishment of traditional health practices (where appropriate), and in the control of the dependence on introduced allopathic medicine which has become established amongst the majority of the tribe. The Yanomami Indians have, since 1950, been the subject of a great deal of (primarily anthropological) research. Their use of plants has been discussed, occasionally in some detail, in the general anthropological literature (e.g., Fuentes 1980; Lizot 1984: Ch. IV), but also by specific ethnobotanical studies (e.g., Anderson 1978; Prance 1972, 1984). Discussion of Yanomami curing techniques has, rightly, been focussed mainly upon their shamanic practices, and their associated use of hallucinogenic plants (Virola spp. [Myristicaceae] and Anadenanthera peregrina (L.) Speg. [Leguminosae] etc.) has been documented in detail (e.g., Biocca 1979a; Brewer-Carias and Steyermark 1976; Chagnon, Le Quesne, and Cook 1970, 1971; Prance 1970; Schultes and Holmstedt 1968; Seitz 1967).
This is indisputably the most evident and the most Economic Botany 50(1) pp. 10-25. 1996 ? 1996 by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458 U.S.A. 1996] MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS
11 important aspect of their traditional healing practices, perhaps as a result of which the Yanomami have almost invariably been reported as using virtually no medicinal plants in the conventional sense of the term (e.g., Chagnon 1968: 52). A short paper by Biocca (1979b) appears to be the only published work dealing specifically with Yanomami plant medicine, and although he mentioned the occasional use of a few medicinal plants, he nonetheless concluded that the 'unacculturated' Yanomami are almost completely ignorant of the vast natural pharmacy which inevitably exists in their surrounding forests. Data collected during anthropological/linguistic fieldwork at Watorikitheri by B.A. and the ethnolinguist Gale Goodwin Gomez in 1991 demonstrated that, contrary to the earlier assumptions of most other researchers, at least some of the Yanomami possess a significant body of knowledge of medicinal plants. The names and uses of 58 medicinal plants, most of which had not been collected or identified, were recorded during the 1991 fieldwork and these data formed the basis for the present study.
THE VILLAGE
The village of Watorikitheri consists of a single, round, open-centred palm-thatched structure housing a population of 89 at the time of the 1993 study, of whom 46% were children under the age of ten. It lies at the southern edge of the upland massif which forms the watershed between the Amazon and the Orinoco basins, and which constitutes the bulk of the traditional Yanomami territory. The village is situated close to Km 211 on the abandoned Perimetral Norte (BR210) highway, which runs eastwards to Boa Vista and peters out some 24 km to the west. Approximately 3 km from the village, on a strip of the abandoned highway, there is an airstrip (62049'22'W, 1030'48"N, alt. 154 m a.s.l.) and an indigenous post (PIN Demini) run by the Brazilian Indian Foundation FUNAI (Fig. 1). This post incorporates a medical facility which at the time of study was manned by a nurse employed by the Comissao Pro-Yanomami (CCPY), who were responsible for the medical support for the Yanomami in that sector of their territory. The people of Watorikitheri moved down from their upland territories on the upper Lobo d'Almada affluent of the Rio Catrimani in the early 1970s, and were decimated by a disastrous epidemic of measles in 1973. As a belated measure to cushion the effects of the Perimetral Norte construction programme, a FUNAI sub-post was then built on the Rio Mapulaui, with which the Indians established contact. The Mapulaui sub-post was then closed and a new post was established at Demini (1976-1977), towards which the Watorikitheri (led by their headman Lourival) began to approximate themselves. By 1982-1983 they were established in its vicinity, and in regular contact with the white (FUNAI) people living there. This migration was the last move of the Watorikitheri in the context of the general expansion of the Yanomami of the highlands of the Serra Parima into the lowlands of the Rio Branco tributaries, which probably began during the latter part of the 19th century. This expansion was underpinned by a demographical increase thought to have been due to the acquisition of metal tools and new cultigens, and the avail- ability of land caused by disappearance of neighbouring peoples (see Albert 1985: Ch. I and II).
METHODS
The ethno-botanical data collected during this study were supported by herbarium voucher specimens. These have been lodged at the herbaria of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia at Manaus (INPA), Kew (K), Boa Vista (MIRR) and New York (NY), and a full set including sterile voucher specimens is maintained at Kew. Collection of specimens and preliminary data was carried out in the forest with Yanomami informants (principally Justino and Antonio), and subsequently plant identifications and usage data were checked by consensus back in the village. Identification of plant species was only recorded when a consensus agreement was reached. Discussions of the properties of the plants were conducted in the Yanomami language. The number of people with whom the data were initially checked varied from two to several, depending upon availability. Subsequently, systematic discussions of the entire data set were held with all the adult men in the village (using only the plant names as prompts), both in 1993 and in 1994. In certain cases, medicinal use data were recorded without corroboration, on the grounds that the precarious state of the knowledge of medicinal plants. Approximate location of the study area inevitably resulted in much of that information becoming 'uncommon knowledge' but nonetheless valid. On the rare occasions that uncorroborated data were specifically denied by others, they were rejected. In some cases, plants were brought in independently by other villagers, and these were subjected to the same checking process. Subsequent efforts were then made to observe these species growing in the forest.
RESULTS
The total number of species of medicinal plants (including fungi) collected during the study was 113, representing 92 genera and 51 families (Table 1). Of these, 11 were cultivated plants, 6 of which were apparently grown specifically for their medicinal (and often magical) properties. Some of these, such as the numerous cultivated varieties of Cyperus articulatus L. (Cyperaceae), had been obtained by trade with other villages, sometimes considerable distances away, and their owners could recall with clarity from whom they had acquired them and for what they had exchanged them. One of the cultivated medicinal plants, Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae), was not being grown at Watorikitheri, and had to be collected from the village of Toototobi approximately 100 km to the west. Of the wild medicinal plants, six species did not occur in the vicinity of Watorikitheri but were collected in the upland territories (at Homoxi) during a short visit there by a group of men from Watorikitheri following the 1993 massacre at Haximu (see Albert 1994). The seeds of one of these, Phytolacca rivinoides Kunth & Bouche
YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS
13 (Phytolaccaceae) were then planted close to the village and were flourishing there in 1994. Two further species were identified as possessing medicinal properties by a visitor from Toototobi, one of which was apparently unknown to the people of Watorikitheri and the other of which was known to them by name but was not recognized in the forest. The medicinal plants collected appeared to represent the great majority of those whose properties were still known by the inhabitants of the village. All of the medicinal plants whose names could be remembered at the time (101 species), were collected in 1993. Furthermore, although during the early part of the 1993 study the sighting of certain medicinal plants in the forest stimulated the Yanomami to remember their medicinal properties (although they had been unable to remember their names when asked previously to list medicinal species known to them), this occurred increasingly rarely towards the end of the study. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the bulk of the medicinal plant information extant in the village was collected. During the return visit in 1994, a further 12 species were added to the list. In some cases these were plants which had been encountered in 1993 but whose medicinal properties the Yanomami had omitted to mention, and in others they were plants which were encountered for the first time in 1994 and whose properties were immediately remembered. The medicinal use of one species, Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. (Bombacaceae), had been learned from another group of Yanomami Indians during a visit earlier in the year. The majority of the plant medicines demonstrated by the Yanomami at Watorikitheri did not appear to be in current use. This was almost certainly largely due to the increasing availability of Western allopathic medicines since the mid-1970s (through the presence of health organizations), in which they had probably established their faith as a result of their obvious effectiveness against otherwise incurable introduced epidemic diseases (see Discussion). Another of the consequences of these epidemics, however, was that most of the elders of the group died during that period of early contact. The initial epidemic of 1973 killed the majority, and another in 1976-1977 seriously affected a part of the group
TABLE 1. MEDICINAL PLANT AND FUNGUS FAMI- LIES RECORDED AT WATORIK+THERI.
Family No. species Angiospermae Acanthaceae 2 Anacardiaceae 2 Annonaceae 4 Apocynaceae 4 Araceae 6 Aristolochiaceae 1 Bignoniaceae 3 Bombacaceae I Burseraceae 2 Costaceae 2 Cucurbitaceae I Cyperaceae 1 Dioscoreaceae I Euphorbiaceae I Flacourtiaceae I Gesneriaceae 2 Gramineae 1 Guttiferae 4 Heliconiaceae 1 Hernandiaceae I Iridaceae 1 Leguminosae 9 Malpighiaceae 1 Malvaceae 1 Marantaceae 1 Menispermaceae 2 Monimiaceae 3 Moraceae 6 Musaceae 2 Myristicaceae 1 Palmae 3 Passifloraceae 1 Phytolaccaceae 1 Piperaceae 8 Polygonaceae 3 Rubiaceae 6 Rutaceae 2 Scrophulariaceae 1 Simaroubaceae 1 Solanaceae 2 Sterculiaceae 1 Theophrastaceae 1 Urticaceae 2 Violaceae 2 Zingiberaceae 3 Pteridophyta Dryopteridaceae 1 Polypodiaceae 2 Fungi Meruliaceae 1 Phallaceae 2 Tricholomataceae 1 Xylariaceae I Total 51 113
Direct application of the aromatic crushed stem of Renealmia (Zingiberaceae) to treat headache. which had stayed on the upper Lobo d'Almada in the 1970s and who rejoined the people of Watorikitheri in 1984. Two of the eldest surviv- ing shamans (Noe and Valdo) died at the end of the 1980s, leaving only the current leader Lou- rival surviving. This had resulted in a very un- balanced age distribution within the group, of whom only 35% were adults over 20, nine were above the age of 40 and one over 50. It was said that the knowledge of traditional plant medicine had originally been kept and practised largely by the older women. In many cases, particularly for treatment of fevers etc., this phytotherapy would have taken the role of a follow-up treatment after a shamanic healing session had been performed by men. There were, however, no survivors of the generation of women who had a wide knowledge of these tra- ditional medicines remaining in the village. The last of them (the mother of Antonio, one of the men who provided much of the information gathered here) had died in 1984. Most of the knowledge of medicinal plants remaining within the group (i.e., that collected during this study) was that which a few of the older men had picked up from their mothers and grandmothers while they were still living in the Rio Catrimani uplands before their migration in the early 1970s (although the five remaining women over the age of 40 in the village also knew of some of the medicinal plants collected). It is therefore likely that this information represents only a part of what was originally known. The medicinal plants and fungi collected rep- resent a broad spectrum of plant families. The majority are represented by only one or two spe- cies (50% and 24% respectively), and the most Fig. 3. Use of the young leaves of a leguminous tree to treat eye infection. The leaves are heated in the flames of the fire and held close to the open eye as a poultice. important in terms of numbers of species used (>4) are the Piperaceae, Leguminosae, Araceae, Rubiaceae, Moraceae, Annonaceae, Apocyna- ceae and Guttiferae. These are also well repre- sented in the literature on Amazonian medicinal plants, all of them featuring amongst the 13 most represented families (by number of species used) in a broad survey of the pharmacopoeia of French Guiana (Grenand, Moretti, and Jac- quemin 1987). The plants were attributed a broad range of medicinal properties, which are listed in Table 2 along with their modes of administration. A few of the medical problems which the plants are used to treat are attributed to sorcery by the Yan- omami, but this does not alter the fact that they are genuine clinical disorders which modern medicine may attribute to other causes. As the table demonstrates, a high proportion of the treatments involve external application of the plant preparation, even for internal disorders. The most prominent example of these is fever, for which the great majority of applicable plants (e.g., Piper and Peperomia spp., Piperaceae) are prepared as an infusion (generally aromatic) which is poured over the head and body. As has already been mentioned, these fever medicines are primarily for use following sessions of sha- manic treatment. For some other medicinal applications, e.g., headache and stomach ache, the bark or stems of the plants used are softened by beating (which also releases the juices) and then tied around the affected region, as in Fig. 2 where Renealmia alpinia (Aubl.) Maas (Zingiberaceae) is being This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1996] MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS 15 TABLE 2. APPLICATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS.
Administration technique Externally applied solid/ vapour/ Application Spp. Ingested liquid smoke Plant families employed Fever/Weakness 20 4 16 0 Ana/Ara/Cyp/Dry/Ges/Leg/Mal/Mon/Pal/Pas/Pip/ Rub/Zin Stomach ache/Diarrhoea 11 7 4 0 Ana/Ara/Ari/Big/Leg/Men/Mor/Myr/Rub/Zin Eye infection 10 0 4 6 Aca/Cuc/Gut/Leg/Mus/Rub/Vio Malaria 10 7 3 0 Ann/Apo/Ara/Leg/Men/Pha/Rub Toothache 9 0 9 0 AralBom/Cyp/Fla/Mar/Mor/Polyg/Rut/Zin Itching (skin disorders) 7 0 7 0 Aca/Ann/Big/Ges/Scr Congestion/colds 7 2 1 4 Ann/Bur/Eup/Leg/Polyp/Rub/The Infantile thrush (oral) 5 0 5 0 Big/Iri/Leg/Pal/Ste Cough 5 4 1 0 Pip/Rub/Sim/The/Zin Parasites 5 3 2 0 Apo/Eup/Leg Fungal skin infection 4 0 4 0 Gut/Mor Dizziness 4 0 0 4 Mon/Polyg/Sol Nausea 4 3 0 1 Cos/Pas/Rut Abscess 3 0 3 0 Leg/Tri/Xyl Ant sting 3 0 3 0 Vio/Mer/Hel Localized body pain 3 0 3 0 Gra/Urt/Zin Snake bite 3 0 3 0 Big/Gut/Zin Headache 3 0 3 0 Urt/Zin Lumbar pains 3 0 2 1 Ara/Urt Cramps/leg pains 3 0 3 0 Mus/Urt Burns 2 0 2 0 Mor Chiggers 2 0 2 0 Gut/Phy Convulsions 2 1 1 0 Mal/Polyg Sore throat 2 2 0 0 Leg/Sim Bruising 1 0 1 0 Her Crying (baby) 1 0 0 1 Leg Hernia 1 0 1 0 Dio Imminent blindness 1 0 1 0 Sol Infected wounds 1 0 1 0 Apo Lesions (leishmaniasis?) 1 0 1 0 Gut Scorpion sting 1 0 1 0 Ara Wounds (arrow) 1 0 1 0 Sim Totals 33 88 17 used to treat headache. Some of the medicinal plants used in this fashion, such as Uncaria gui- anensis (Aubl.) Gmel. (Rubiaceae) and Aristo- lochia sp. (Aristolochiaceae) may also be taken internally (as an infusion) for the same ailment, which suggests that the active constituents may equally be absorbed through the skin as through the stomach lining. It was particularly interesting that some plants and fungi were said to be used in this manner to treat malaria, by direct action on the spleen. Swelling of the spleen is a com- mon symptom of the disease and this is evi- dently well known to the Yanomami. Their word hura means both 'malaria' and 'spleen', and huramu (to have malaria) literally means 'to be spleening.' The direct application of the plants to the swollen spleen has also been observed amongst the Wayapi Indians of French Guiana (Grenand, Moretti, and Jacquemin 1987). The sniffing or inhalation of crushed aromatic leaves or resins such as Siparuna guianensis Aubl. (Monimiaceae) and Protium spp. (Burser- aceae) is used for a number of ailments includ- ing congestion, colds, dizziness and nausea. Likewise the young leaves of several plant spe- cies, including a cultivated banana variety, are used in an interesting fashion for the treatment of eye infections. The leaves are heated in the This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 16 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 50 TABLE 3A. SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY THE YANOMAMI INDIANS, AND A COMPARISON WITH MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY OTHER PEOPLES. VOUCHER NUMBERS REPRESENT COLLECTIONS IN THE WIL- LIAM MILLIKEN SERIES, KEPT AT KEW (K) AND OTHER HERBARIA (SEE METHODS).
Medicinal plants used by the Yanomami Indians Species (Yanomami name) Family Application Method Voucher Aristolochia disticha Mast. Aristolochiaceae Diarrhoea & stom- Stem infusion drunk, or WM1713 vel sp. aff. (xuu thorho) ach ache crushed stem wrapped round waist Aspidosperma nitidum Apocynaceae Malaria Bark decoction drunk WM1734 Benth. (hura sihi) Bauhinia guianensis Aubl. Leguminosae Diarrhoea & stom- Stem infusion drunk, or WM1736 (tawakarame thotho) ach ache beaten stem wrapped round waist Clusia aff. nemorosa G. F Guttiferae Infected wounds Resin from the fruit or WM1982 W. Meyer (poripori thotho) aerial roots applied di- rectly to wound Cyperus articulatus L. (haro Cyperaceae Fevers Rhizome infusion drunk WM1751 kik+) & poured over the head & body Geophila repens (L.) I. M. Rubiaceae Eye infections Juice of crushed fruits WM1712 Johnst. (mamo wayi kik+) dripped into eyes Inga acuminata Benth. (rFa Leguminosae Infantile thrush Powdered dried leaves WM1865 moxiririma hi) (oral) put in baby's mouth Musa sp. (paixima si) Musaceae Eye infections Young leaves heated & WM1907 held close to open eyes Peperomia macrostachya Piperaceae Fevers Leaf infusion poured over WM1886 (Vahl) A. Dietr. (kona head & body hanaki) Peperomia rotundifolia (L.) Piperaceae Coughs Leaves chewed & swal- WM1720 Kunth (oru kik+ wite) lowed Philodendron solimoesensis Araceae Scorpion stings Exudate from aerial roots WM1790 A. C. Smith (puu thothoki) applied to sting Phlebodium decumanum Polypodiaceae Coughs & conges- Leaf infusion poured over WM1890 Willd. (tokosi hanaki) tion head & body Phytolacca rivinoides Kunth Phytolaccaceae Chiggers holes in Juice of crushed fruits ap- WM1928 & Bouche (kr#piari hi) feet plied to holes after re- moval of chiggers Piper arborea Aubl. (kahu Piperaceae Fevers Leaf infusion poured over WM1804 mahi) head & body This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19961 MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS 17 TABLE 3B.
Medicinal plants used by other peoples Species Users Application Method Source(s) Aristolochia spp. Bolivia (Chacobo In- Diarrhoea & stomach Plant decoction drunk Boom (1987), Vick- dians), Ecuador ache ers & Plowman (Siona Indians), (1984), Grenand et French Guiana al. (1987) (Wayapi Indians) Aspidosperma nitid- Brazil Malaria Bark decoction drunk Altschul (1973), um Brandao et al. (1992) Bauhinia guianensis Brazil (Waimiri Diarrhoea & dysen- Stem infusion or de- Milliken et al. & other Bauhinia Atroari Indians), tery coction drunk (1992); Grenand et spp. French Guiana al. (1987) (Wayapi) Clusia spp. Colombia (Makuna, Sores, wounds & lep- Resin applied directly Schultes & Raffauf Karijona & Makui rosy to affected region (1990), Morton Indians), Mexico, (1981) Costa Rica Cyperus articulatus Ecuador (Secoya In- Fevers Rhizome infusion Schultes & Raffauf & other Cyperus dians), Brazil (Tiri- drunk & poured (1990), Cavalcante spp. y6 Indians) over the head & & Frikel (1973) body Geophila repens Ecuador (Ketchwa Fungal infections Crushed fruits ap- Schultes & Raffauf Indians), French plied to affected (1990), Grenand et Guiana (Palikur In- region al. (1987) dians) Inga spp. French Guiana (Way- Buccal dermatitis of Bark decoction, leaf Grenand et al. api Indians); Co- children, fungal & root decoction (1987), Schultes & lombia (Tikuna In- skin infections Raffauf (1990) dians) Musa paradisiaca L. Indonesia Eye infections Leaves used; method Dharma (1987) unspecified Peperomia macros- Colombia (Taiwano Fevers Leaf decoction ap- Schultes & Raffauf tachya Indians), French plied as external (1990), Grenand et Guiana (Wayapi bath al. (1987) Indians) Peperomia rotundi- French Guiana (Way- Coughs Leaves taken raw or Grenand et al. (1987) folia api Indians) in decoction Philodendron spp. & Peru, Brazil (Waimiri Insect stings/bites Exudates applied to Duke & Vasquez other araceous epi- Atroari Indians), the sting (1994), Milliken et phytes Colombia al. (1992), Schultes & Raffauf (1990) Phlebodium decu- Colombia (Mirafia Pulmonary disorders Infusion of the rhi- La Rotta (1988) manum Indians) zome drunk Phytolacca rivinoides Colombia (Andoke Inflamed & infected Infusion or poultice Schultes & Raffauf Indians), Ecuador wounds (disinfec- of the leaves ap- (1990) tant) plied externally Piper spp. Venezuela, Brazil, Fevers Leaf decoction or in- Morton (1981), Colombia fusion poured over Branch & Silva body or drunk (1983), Schultes & Raffauf (1990) This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 18 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 50 TABLE 3A. CONTNUED.
Medicinal plants used by the Yanomami Indians Species (Yanomami name) Family Application Method Voucher Protium unifoliolatum Burseraceae Congestion & respi- Resin from trunk dis- WM2066 Spruce ex Engl. (warape ratory infections solved in water & kohi) drunk or poured over head; crushed fruits sniffed Renealmia alpinia (Aubl.) Zingiberaceae Headache, stomach Crushed stem tied around WM1971 Maas (mdokori sinaki) ache & general forehead or midriff, or weakness infusion poured over head & body Siparuna guianensis Aubl. Monimiaceae Dizziness Crushed leaves sniffed WM1702 (moe hanak*) and rubbed on head & body Spondias mombin L. (pirime Anacardiaceae Fevers Leaf infusion poured over WM1733 aht ?hotho) head & body Tabernaemontana angulata Apocynaceae Intestinal worms Bark infusion drunk WM1820 Mart. ex M. Arg. (akid hi) (roundworms) Tanaecium nocturnum (Barb. Bignoniaceae Itching Leaves cooked & their WM1719 Rodr.) Bur. ex K. Schum. juices rubbed onto the (puu thotho mok*) skin Uncaria guianensis (Aubl.) Rubiaceae Diarrhoea & stom- Stem infusion drunk, or WM1738 Gmel. (erame tlol5o) ach ache crushed stem wrapped round waist Urera baccifera (L.) Gaud. Urticaceae Aches & body pains Stinging leaves pressed WM1968 (fra nak+) (including head- onto affected region aches) Vismia angusta Miq. (yoasi Guttiferae Fungal skin infec- Resin from the bark ap- WM1865 hi) tions plied to the affected re- gion Zanthoxylum pentandrum Rutaceae Toothache Bark grated & kept as a WM1747 (Aubl.) R. Howard (na- wad in the lip hard hi) Zingiber officinale Roscoe Zingiberaceae Toothache Rhizome chewed WM2058 (amaiha kiki) flames of the fire and held up close to the eyes (Fig. 3), which are kept open and are presum- ably affected by the vapours emanating from the hot leaves. The preparation of ingested medicines, many of which are made from the inner bark of trees and vines, varies considerably and may depend upon the circumstances when required. Thus a bark which is carefully prepared as a hot water infusion in the village may, if required urgently in the forest, be simply crushed and squeezed out into an impromptu leaf-cup of cold water and drunk. Medicinal barks are generally col- lected by scraping off the outer bark from the trunk, and then scraping off fine shavings of the inner bark which are caught in a leaf. In a numThis content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1996] MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS 19 TABLE 3B. CONTINUED.
Medicinal plants used by other peoples Species Users Application Mediod Source(s) Protium unifoliola- Colombia (Tikuna In- Colds & congestion Resin put into nos- Schultes & Raffauf tum & other Proti- dians), Brazil (Ka- trils (1990), Balee um spp. 'apor Indians) (1994) Renealmia spp. French Guiana (Creo- Tonic & fortifier Infusion of plant Grenand et al. les), Colombia used as bath, or (1987), Schultes & (Andoke Indians) leaves rubbed on Raffauf (1990) the body Siparuna guianensis Brazil, Colombia Headaches, nausea, Leaf infusion or de- Branch & Silva & other Siparuna (Tikuna Indians), fever; calmative coction used exter- (1983), Freise spp. Ecuador (Quechua nally as bath (1933), Schultes & and Waorani Indi- Raffauf (1990), ans) Lescure et al. (nd.) Spondias mombin Mexico, Brazil Fevers Decoction of bark or Morton (1981), Bran- leaves taken or dao et al. (1992) used extermally Tabernaemontana Colombia (Taiwano Intestinal worms Decoction of the Schultes & Raffauf undulata Vahl Indians) leaves drunk (1990) Tanaecium nocturn- French Guiana (Way- Cutaneous eruptions Stem decoction ap- Grenand et al. (1987) um api Indians) plied to skin Uncaria guianensis Bolivia (Chacobo In- Diarrhoea & stomach Stem decoction drunk Boom (1987), Schul- dians); Colombia ache tes & Raffauf (1990) Urera baccifera Ecuador (Siona Indi- Muscular pains & Stinging leaves Vickers & Plowman ans), Colombia, paralysis pressed onto af- (1984), Schultes & Brazil fected region Raffauf (1990), Freise (1933) Vismia angusta & Colombia (Tikuna In- Fungal infections Latex applied to af- Schultes & Raffauf other Vismia spp. dians), French fected region (1990), Grenand et Guiana (Wayapi al. (1987), Branch Indians), Brazil & Silva (1983) Zanthoxylum spp. French Guiana, North Toothache Bark chewed Grenand et al. America, Hondu- (1987), Heckel ras, W. Indies (1897), Schultes & Raffauf (1990), Morton (1981) Zingiber officinale Colombia Toothache Rhizome chewed Schultes & Raffauf (1990) ber of cases these must then be wrapped in a tight package made from a marantaceous leaf (Fig. 4) and cooked in the embers of the fire. When ready, they are removed from the fire and the juice is squeezed from them and drunk. A few plants and fungi are burned and their ashes are used medicinally, particularly for the treatment of oral thrush (yeast infections) in ba- bies. For this purpose the ashes are glued to the nipple of the nursing mother with a little saliva or with the sticky sap from the skin of a green plantain, and when the baby is suckled they are effectively dispersed around its mouth and pre- sumably into its digestive tract. The dried tan- nin-rich leaves of Inga acuminata Benth. (Le- guminosae), powdered but not burned, are used in the same manner. It was said that three of the plants indicated for this purpose could be used This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 20 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 50 Fig. 4. Preparation of a medicinal bark. The bark scrapings are being wrapped in a marantaceous leaf and will be cooked in the fire before the juice can be extracted and drunk. jointly. In general, however, the use of mixtures of plant species appears to be relatively rare in Yanomami medical practice; the great majority of the plants being used on their own. Most of the medicines are prepared from the leaves or the bark of the plants concerned (Fig. 5). In addition to the information collected on the use of medicinal plants by the Yanomami, ob- servations were made on their use of insects for medicinal purposes. The majority of these were Hymenoptera, which in most cases were em- ployed either for the therapeutic properties of their stings (in the case of ants) or of the prop- olis and pollen from their nests (in the case of bees). These will be documented in detail else- where. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The results of this study demonstrate that the Yanomami Indians, at least in the area visited, possessed at the time a rich knowledge of me- dicinal plant properties, although the transmis- sion of this knowledge was threatened by the consequences of the population losses of the 1970s/1980s and by their increasing access to introduced (manufactured) medicines. Clearly it would not be possible adequately to assess the efficacy of their plant medicines without lengthy and detailed pharmacological screen- ing. However, an initial (limited) search of Fu PI s~~~~~~~~~~~ _ . ................. ...... ....... _. .-, ....................., -i.-... 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...........1 .! '! R~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. _.!.!........... !.!l!l...!.............''''' B E E........................... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..I.li...l...l...i.!..i!'iiii ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...: ................''' Fig. 5. Relative use of plant and fungal parts in Yanomami medicine (left) and use of medicinal plant parts by the Chacobo (centre) and Tiry6 Indians of Bolivia and Brazil (right) (Boom 1987; Cavalcante and Frikel 1973). B = bark & wood including liana stems; E = Exudate; Fr = Fruit/seed; Fu = Fungal fruiting body; I = Inflorescence; L = Leaf; P =Pith/palm heart; S = Stem [herbaceous]; R = Root/rhizome. This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1996] MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS 21 some of the relevant ethnobotanical literature (principal sources are cited in Table 3) has re- vealed a substantial degree of overlap with the properties attributed those species (or genera) by other peoples elsewhere, strongly suggesting that these species are indeed clinically effec- tive. For example, the use of bitter bark of Aspi- dosperma nitidum Benth. (Apocynaceae) for treating malaria and associated liver disorders is very widespread in Amazonia, although its effectiveness has yet to be proven. Amongst the indigenous groups of Roraima State it was the only species consistently cited as effective for this disease during a survey of the anti-malarial plants of the region (W.M., unpublished data). Similarly the use of the woody vines Bauhinia guianensis Aubl. (Leguminosae) and Uncaria guianensis (Aubl.) Gmel. (Rubiaceae) to treat diarrhoea and stomach ache are widespread, both in Roraima and beyond. For some of these species, the chemicals which are almost cer- tainly responsible for their effects (e.g., the tan- nins in Bauhinia guianensis) have already been identified, and many of the genera represented have been shown to be rich in alkaloids and/or other bioactive compounds (Grenand, Moretti, and Jacquemin 1987). A selection of the Yan- omami medicinal plants whose use data are corroborated by published information is given in Table 3. Overall, it was found that for at least 105 (93%) of the medicinal plants, the same genera are used elsewhere for medicinal pur- poses, and for 55 (49%) of them those genera are employed elsewhere for the same medicinal purposes as by the Yanomami. More signifi- cantly, at the species level at least 58 (51%) of the plants are used medicinally elsewhere, with 24 (21%) being used for the same purpose. These figures are of course to some degree sub- jective, depending upon the measure of 'same- ness' used. In this case, applications are con- sidered to be the same if they are for essentially the same disorders (rather than the same clini- cal effects), although the methods of prepara- tion and administration may differ. A comparison of the way in which the Yan- omami employ their medicinal plants with the ways in which other south American indige- nous groups use theirs, highlights considerable similarities. The proportions of the various plant parts used by the Chacobo of Bolivia and the Tiriyo of Brazil, for example, are almost identical (see Fig. 5) with a strong predomi- nance of leaves employed. Data for the Yano- mami are similar, again with leaves being the most used plant parts, the differences being a slightly greater use of fruits and barks and a lesser use of exudates. However, amongst the Wayapi medicinal plants collected by Grenand, Moretti, and Jacquemin (1987) in French Gui- ana, bark and stems were employed in many more cases than leaves. These figures will in- evitably be influenced by the types of vegeta- tion amongst which the group is living and the proportions of plant growth habits represented amongst them: Grenand and co-workers con- cluded that in most cases the choice of plant part probably depended upon the ease and speed of its collection. If one compares the applications to which the Yanomami put their medicinal plants with those of other groups, one again encounters consid- erable similarities (see Table 4). Clearly it is not possible to make a direct quantitative com- parison between them, since the differences in the ways in which these groups (and to some extent the ethnobotanists who worked with them) perceive disease affects the way that the medicines are classified, but nevertheless there is a clear preponderance of certain problems such as fevers, stomach and intestinal disor- ders, bacterial and fungal infections of skin, wounds and eyes, respiratory disorders, tooth- ache, etc. The Waorani Indians of Ecuador, shortly af- ter their contact with the outside world, were recorded as being affected by external para- sites, fungal infections, poor dentition and un- defined fevers as well as a high rate of snake- bite, but to suffer minimally from epidemic dis- eases, internal parasites or bacterial infections (Larrick et al. 1979). Of the 35 medicinal plants recorded amongst them by Davis and Yost (1983), the majority (30) were used to treat only fungal infections, snake-bite, dental prob- lems, fevers, botfly larvae and stings. The de- gree to which remedies for diseases not native to the New World (see Newman 1976) are rep- resented in a pharmacopoeia will of course de- pend to some extent upon the history of contact of the group concerned, although diseases have often reached indigenous peoples through inter- tribal contacts long before they can be said to have been 'contacted.' Cook (1946), in a com- parison of the remedies prescribed in a 17th This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 22 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 50 TABLE 4 THE PRINCIPAL USES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS AMONG FOUR TRIBES OF SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS (RANKED BY NUMBERS OF SPECIES EMPLOYED). DATA FROM BOOM (1987), LA RoTTA (1988), CAVALCANTE AND FRIKEL (1973) AND THE PRESENT STUDY.
Chcobo Spp. Mirafia Spp. Tiriy6 Spp. Yanomani Spp. Stomach ache 32 Skin disorders 23 Fevers 53 Fever/Weakness 20 Skin infections 26 Fevers 19 Wounds/ulcers 21 Stomach ache/Diarrhoea 11 Diarrhoea 25 Gastro-intestinal 19 Rheumatism 9 Eye infections 10 Rheumatism 25 Rheumatism 8 Headache 8 Malaria 10 Toothache 10 Infections (bacteria) 10 Anaemia/weakness 7 Toothache 9 Hepatitis 10 Inflammation 8 Stomach ache 6 Itching (skin disorders) 7 Fevers 9 Pain (analgaesic) 8 Toothache 6 Congestion/colds 7 Vomiting 9 Wounds 8 Dizziness/vision 6 Infantile thrush (oral) 5 Appendicitis 6 Bronchial disorder 5 Coughs 6 Coughs 5 Headache 5 Snakebite 6 Convulsions 5 Parasites 5 Eye infections 4 Eye infections 3 Eye infections 4 Fungal skin infections 4 Head colds 3 Liver 3 Hepatitis 4 Dizziness 4 century English herbal with those from two ac- counts of Mexican herbal remedies, found that in Mexico there were significantly greater pro- portions of remedies for infectious diseases, particularly respiratory disorders, diarrhoea/ dysentery and fevers (in that order of impor- tance). He took this to indicate that these were, at that time, more prevalent there than in Eu- rope. The fact that the majority of the plant medi- cines used by the Yanomami are applied exter- nally (see Table 2), even for internal disorders in many cases, is not unusual among South American tribes. Of the 209 applications record- ed among the Tiriyo of Brazil, for instance, 41 were used internally and 168 externally (Cav- alcante and Frikel 1973). Among the second cat- egory, the majority (119) were used as baths and washes, as is also the case for the Wayapi In- dians (Grenand, Moretti, and Jacquemin 1987). The Wayapi, like the Yanomami, use most of their medicinal plants singly (266 versus 16 ap- plications), rather than in combinations. Both the Wayapi and the Tiriyo use similar methods of preparation/administration to the Yanomami, in- cluding the softening of leaves in the fire to re- lease their juices, the burning of leaves to ashes for ingestion or external application, defumation of the afflicted part of the body with heated or burning aromatic plants, rubbing of grated leaves or bark into the skin, application of poul- tices, etc. That the existence and breadth of the knowl- edge of medicinal plants amongst the Yanomami has only recently come to light merits attention. One possibility is that the knowledge is to some extent a regional phenomenon, and that other de- tailed studies amongst other groups of Yano- mami would not reveal the same quantity of data. It is hoped that this will become clear in future work. Another possibility is that the Yan- omami groups visited previously by ethnobotan- ists had already reached the stage of having lost the majority of their traditional medicinal knowledge-a position in which the Wato- rikitheri Yanomami may well find themselves in the near future. It may also be that the intense interest demonstrated during previous studies on shamanic medicine and its associated hallucin- ogens diverted attention from the use of medic- inal plants. The fact that plant medicine was tra- ditionally practised primarily by women (al- though this was no longer the case at Watorikitheri), but that most ethnobotanists who visited the area were men, may also be of some significance. The discovery of a number of plants which are used against malaria was interesting. Since the invasion of their lands by gold prospectors in the late 1980s, malaria has been a very seri- ous health problem amongst the Yanomami, reaching epidemic proportions and causing nu- merous deaths. Although this was largely under control at the time of study thanks to the efforts of various health organizations, it remains a sig- nificant threat. The initial malaria epidemic was particularly savage in the highlands of the Serra This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1996] MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS 23 Parima, where the people had not, on account of their isolation, been previously exposed to the disease. However, the population bloc to which the Watorikitheri belong had maintained regular contact with the Catrimani/Toototobi Yanomami who entered the neighbouring lowlands in the first decades of the 20th century, and who prob- ably encountered malaria at some time between the 1920s and the 1940s. These Catrimani Yan- omami were in contact with balateiros (latex collectors) in the 1920s, and the Border Com- mission (CBDL) and the Indian Protection Ser- vice (SPI) entered the Catrimani/Toototobi area at the beginning of the 1940s. Thus it seems probable that the anti-malarial plants collected at Watorik+tleri (which are cur- rently being investigated for their pharmaceuti- cal properties at the University of Brasilia) were discovered by these groups within the last 70 years. Although there are references to certain of these species or their congeners being used elsewhere to treat fevers etc., only one (Aspi- dosperma nitidum) appears widely to be used to treat malaria. It is unlikely that the properties of these plants would have been learned by these south-western Yanomami from other tribal groups, since their immediate neighbours had been extinct as independent peoples since the end of the 19th century, although a few rem- nants of the Pauxiana (Caribs) and the Bahuana (Arawaks) lived on the Catrimani and Demini rivers respectively until the first decades of the 20th century. Instead, at least some of them may have been discovered through experimentation, possibly using bitterness (koaimi) as an indicator of their likely activity. This association of bit- terness with anti-malarial properties is very commonly encountered amongst the indigenous peoples of Roraima (WM., pers. obs.). The Yanomami have, however, been in ex- tended contact with neighbouring tribes in the more distant past (see Albert, loc. cit.) and it is more than likely that they have adopted at least some of their plant medicines from them. A po- tential example of such a transfer of knowledge was observed during the 1993 study visit when Davi Kopenawa, who lives at Watorikitheri and has travelled widely both within and outside Brazil as a spokesman of the Yanomami people, was assisting with medicinal plant collection at Homoxi. He noticed a small herb which he had observed being used to treat itching by the Ma- kuxi Indians, and brought the plant (Scoparia dulcis L. [Scrophulariaceae]-a species widely used in phytotherapy) back to Watorikitheri where it caused considerable interest amongst the other men, who had not formerly recognized it as a useful plant, nor indeed had a name for it. It has already been mentioned that at Watorikitheri the knowledge of medicinal plants has largely been transferred, inadvertently, from the women to the few remaining older men with- in the last twenty years. However, there is no sign that the oral transfer of this information is being perpetuated within the male line as it used to be among the women. The young men of the village, who are periodically subjected to in- creasing external influences (including the pres- ence of researchers in their village), are appar- ently showing little interest in acquiring this type of traditional knowledge, whose benefits are far from obvious in the light of the current avail- ability of modern medicines. Amongst the older men, who provided the information but who rarely actually used the medicines, there was oc- casionally considerable discussion over the man- ner in which the plants were used (see Methods). Within the next decades these men will have died, and most of that information will almost certainly have been lost from the oral tradition. If nothing is done to prevent this from happen- ing, then the potential value (direct or indirect) which that knowledge might have had for the Yanomami will have been lost, but more impor- tantly the people of Watorikitheri will have lost part of their ability to support themselves inde- pendently on their own lands, and will have moved a step nearer towards a scarcely control- lable dependence on the outside world. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was carried out under the aegis of the Universidade de Braslfia/CNPq/ORSTOM accord, with funding and support from the Roy- al Botanic Gardens Kew, the Baring Foundation, the Ernest Cook Trust, George Mark Klabin and the Rainforest Medical Foundation. Lloyd Aero Boliviano and Virgin Atlantic Airways provided support in kind. The work was carried out jointly with ethnolinguist Dr Gale Goodwin Gomez, whose input was invaluable, and also (in 1994) with the artist Jane Ruth- erford. The staff of CCPY in Boa Vista and PIN Demini gave invaluable support and assistance. Cynthia Sothers generously gave her time to con- duct a literature search for complementary references, and G. T. Prance and P J. Cribb made valuable comments on the manuscript. Nothing at all would have been possible without the cooperation and kindness of the Yanomami of Watorik4theri. LITERATuRE CITED Albert, B. 1985. Temps du sang, temps des cendres. Representation de la maladie, systeme rituel et esThis content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 24 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 50 pace politique chez les Yanomami du sud-est. Doc- toral thesis, Universit6 de Paris X-Nanterre. . 1994. Gold miners and Yanomami Indians in the Brazilian Amazon. Pages 47-55 in B. R. John- ston, ed., Who pays the price? The sociocultural context of environmental crisis. Island Press, Wash- ington. Altschul, S. von R. 1973. Drugs and foods from lit- tle-known plants. Harvard University Press, Cam- bridge, MA. Anderson, A. B. 1978. The names and uses of palms among a tribe of Yanomama Indians. Principes 22: 30-41. Balee, W. L. 1994. Footprints of the forest. Ka'apor ethnobotany-the historical ecology of plant utili- zation by an Amazon people. Columbia University Press, New York. Biocca, E. 1979a. Sciamanismo, allucinogeni e melo- terapia: relazione introduttiva. Pages 445-453 in Simposio internazionale sulla medicina indigena e populare dell' America Latina, IILA-CISO Rome 12-16 December 1977. IILA, Rome. . 1979b. Piante medicinali degli Yanomami. Pages 421-425 in Simposio internazionale sulla medicina indigena e populare dell' America Latina, IILA-CISO Rome 12-16 December 1977. IILA, Rome. Boom, B. M. 1987. Ethnobotany of the Chacobo In- dians, Beni, Bolivia. Advances in Economic Bot- any 4:1-68. Branch, L. C., and M. F da Silva. 1983. Folk med- icine of Alter do Chao, Pari, Brasil. Acta Amazon- ica 13(5-6):737-797. Brandao, M. G. L., T. S. M. Grandi, E. M. M. Ro- cha, D. R. Sawyer, and A. U. Krettli. 1992. Sur- vey of medicinal plants used as antimalarials in the Amazon. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 36:175- 182. Brewer-Carias, C., and J. A. Steyermark. 1976. Hallucinogenic snuff drugs of the Yanomamo Ca- buriwe-Teri in the Cauaburi River, Brazil. Econom- ic Botany 30(1):57-66. Cavalcante, P. B., and P. Frikel. 1973. A farmaco- peia Tiriyo. MPEG, Belem, Brazil. Chagnon, N. A. 1968. Yanomamo: the fierce people. Case studies in current anthropology, 1st Edition. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. , P. Le Quesne, and J. Cook. 1970. Algunos aspectos de uso de drogas, comercio y domestica- cion de plantas entre los indigenas yanomamo de Venezuela y Brasil. Acta Cientifica Venezolana 21: 186-193. and . 1971. Yanomamo hal- lucinogens: anthropological, botanical, and chemi- cal findings. Current Anthropology 12(1):72-74. Cook, S. F. 1946. The incidence and significance of disease among the Aztecs and related tribes. His- panic American Historical Review 26:320-335. Davis, E. W., and J. A. Yost. 1983. The ethnobotany of the Waorani of Eastern Ecuador. Botanical Mu- seum Leaflets, Harvard University 29(3):273-297. Dharma, A. P. 1987. Indonesian medicinal plants. Balai Pustaka, Jakarta. Duke, J. A., and R. Vasquez. 1994. Amazonian eth- nobotanical dictionary. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. Freise, F. W. 1933. Plantas medicinais brasileiras. Boletim de Agricultura, Sao Paulo (1933):252-494. Fuentes, E. 1980. Los Yanomami y las plantas sil- vestres. Antropol6gica 54:3-138. Grenand, P., C. Moretti, and H. Jacquemin. 1987. Pharmacopees traditionelles en Guyane. ORSTOM, Paris, France. Heckel, E. 1897. Les plantes medicinales et toxiques de la Guyane Fran,aise. Protat Freres, Macon, France. Larrick, J. W., J. A. Yost, J. Kaplan, G. King, and J. Maykall. 1979. Patterns of health and disease among the Waorani Indians of Eastern Ecuador. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Med- icine and Hygiene 72(5):147-191. La Rotta, C. 1988. Especies utilizadas por la comu- nidad Mirania. Estudio Etnobotanico. FEN, Colom- bia. Lescure, J.-P., H. Balslev, and R. Alarcon. n.d. Plantas utiles de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana. Pron- areg Ed., Quito. Lizot, J. 1984. Les Yanomami centraux. Cahiers de l'Homme, Editions de L'EHESS, Paris. Milliken, W., R. P. Miller, S. R. Pollard, and E. V. Wandelli. 1992. Ethnobotany of the Waimiri Atroari Indians of Brazil. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Morton, J. F. 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Mid- dle America. C. Thomas, Springfield, IL. Newman, M. T. 1976. Aboriginal New World epi- demiology and medical care, and the impact of Old World disease imports. American Journal of Phys- ical Anthropology 45:667-672. Prance, G. T. 1970. Notes on the use of plant hal- lucinogens in Amazonian Brazil. Economic Botany 24:62-68. . 1972. An ethnobotanical comparison of four tribes of Amazonian Indians. Acta Amazonica 2(2): 7-27. . 1984. The use of edible fungi by Amazonian Indians. Advances in Economic Botany 1:127-139. Schultes, R. E., and B. Holmstedt. 1968. The veg- etal ingredients of the Myristicaceous snuffs of the northwest Amazon. Rhodora 70:113-160. , and R. F. Raffauf. 1990. The healing for- est-medicinal and toxic plants of the northwest Amazonia. Historical, ethno- and economic botany series, Vol. 2. Dioscorides Press, Portland, OR. Seitz, G. J. 1967. Epene, the intoxicating snuff pow- der of the Waika Indians and the Tucano medicine This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1996] MILLIKEN & ALBERT: YANOMAMI MEDICINAL PLANTS 25 man, Agostino. Pages 315-338 in D. H. Efron, B. Holmstedt, and N. Kline, eds., Ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs. U.S. Public Health Publication no. 1645. Vickers, W. T., and T. Plowman. 1984. Useful plants of the Siona and Secoya Indians of eastern Ecuador. Fieldiana Botany 15:1-63. BOOK REVIEW CRC Handbook of Alternative Cash Crops. James A. Duke and Judith L. duCellier. 1993. CRC Press, 2000 Corporate Blvd., N.W., Boca Raton, FL 33431. 536 pp. (hardcover). $129.95 (cloth)/ $165.00 outside US. ISBN 0-8493-3620-1. According to the introduction, this book began with a USDA assignment to come up with ". . . alternative crops for such things as cacao in Sao Tome and Costa Rica, coca in Bolivia and Peru, marihuana in Belize, Colombia, and Jamaica, poppy in Laos, Mexico, Pa- kistan, and Thailand, and sugarcane in Belize and Ha- waii." Nuts and medicinal plants were excluded be- cause of other productions through CRC Press by Duke and his associates. When I opened the book I expected to find the names of most species unfamiliar. It was a surprise that there are only a handful of spe- cies that are not well known tropical and temperate cash crops. We are not told exactly how the authors came up with the final list, but it involved the most probable sources of economic returns for investments by agri- culturists. The list contains 129 species, from Abel- moschus esculentus to Zingiber officinale. Each of these species is introduced with the scientific name, family, selected common names, and synonyms, and then information is given under several headings. These headings include Uses, Folk Medicine, Chem- istry, Description, Germplasm, Distribution, Ecology, Cultivation, Harvesting, Yields and Economics, Ener- gy and Biotic Factors (this means diseases & pests). Many species are illustrated. When I scanned the list, my eye fell on my research favorite Ipomoea batatas, but also on Cinnamomum camphora, Dioscorea bulbifera, Leucaena leucoceph- ala, Melaleuca quinquenervia, and Passiflora mollis- sima. These last five species are known in Florida, Hawaii and other places as ecosystem damaging in- vasive exotic pests. Comments are made only under Leucaena leucocephala and Passiflora mollissima that they are naturalized or invasive pests. At least we were given a warning under Cinnamomum camphora that, "birds, especially mockingbirds, are fond of the fruits." There is no mention that Hawaii's native veg- etation is being overrun by Leucaena leucocephala or that Cinnamomum camphora, Dioscorea bulbifera and Melaleuca quinquenervia are doing the same in Flor- ida. The numbered system for the References makes it difficult to find items of interest. Still, the information on the individual species is of high quality, even though at times somewhat dated. For example, much of the data on sweet potato is taken from a 1976 type- script. None of the important publications on that spe- cies from 1978 on are cited, and considerable progress has been made. This book is an excellent source of agricultural and business information about the species it contains. Re- gardless of what you know about any particular spe- cies, chances are good that you will encounter some- thing you did not know. For example, I had no idea that aromatherapy, heavily based on Melaleuca, was a more-than-$100-million-per-year business in the U.S. I recommend this book as a resource. If it is not included in this book, at least the data here will get you started toward finding what you want to know about these plants. DANiEL F AusTIN DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES FLORIDA ATLArTIc UNIvERsErY BOCA RATON, FL 33431 This content downloaded from 165.193.178.76 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:12:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
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