The use of alien plants in tropical South American folk medicines.
Prance G. T., Plana V.
Author Affiliation: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK.
: 185-200
Abstract : The native medicinal plants of South America have been well studied and many important medicines have been derived from them. However, studies of local peoples throughout the Amazon region have shown that today a large number of their popular medicinal plants are introduced species. A survey of recent medicinal plant literature yielded 156 different alien species used in tropical South American folk medicine. Fifty-two percent of the species originated in the Mediterranean region and Europe, with Asia in second place and Africa third. Most of these species were probably introduced directly as medicinal plants but some fruits, such as Citrus spp. and Mangifera indica, and other useful plants have also become important medicinal plants. The Labiatae are the most represented family (28 species), followed by the Compositae (13), Rutaceae and Umbelliferae (9), and Leguminosae (8). This survey shows that cross-cultural plant transfer has by no means been a one-way process from South America. Local medicine had benefited greatly from the introduction of many species.