A Zapotec Medical Ethnobotany

Traditional knowledge of medicinal plant use is widely shared in the Zapotec community of San Juan Gbee, Sierra de Miahuatlan, Oaxaca, Mexico. However, several men and women are recognized as particularly knowledgeable in this area. Based on interviews with several such local healers, I have documented some 400 distinct medicinal applications of some 270 plant species to treat nearly 100 locally recognized and named illnesses. Treatments most often involve consumption of infusions as teas or topical applications.Compound recipes are of particular note. Characterization of treatments as "hot" or "cold" in varying degrees is pervasive. A limited comparison of local hot/cold characterizations with a sample from central Mexico suggests that there is substantial agreement across considerable geographic and cultural distance in hot/cold designations. A range of treatments are noted also for psychosomatic/spiritual illnesses, such as "fright," "rage," and "lassitude," some of which may be linked to malnutrition.