Medicinal Plants Classification Biosynthesis and ... - Index of

Native Medicinal Plants used in the Ethnomedicine of the Córdoba Hills...
rhombifolia), Austro-Antarctic and endemic elements (Luti et al., 1979). Occupying the
lower slopes of hills and ravines, and distributed along an altitudinal gradient that encourages
the presence of different layers with typical species (―Bosque Serrano‖, ―romerillal‖ or
highland grasslands or forests), the Chaco Serrano area is characterised by a dominant
xerophytic forest interrupted by grasslands at higher altitudes.
Similarly, the cultural and socioeconomic dynamics of the serrano inhabitants links them
to other nearby regions that also provide medicinal resources; such is the case of the
neighbouring piedmonts or valleys which, in addition to the variety of highland species,
comprise an area of great diversity as here the Chaqueño Province merges with the Espinal
and Pampeana Provinces.
From a cultural point of view, especially regarding the way of envisaging health, disease
and cures, this study is referred to the knowledge and practices shared by most of the criollo 3
settlements that compose the peasantry of central Argentina. The work of Idoyaga Molina
(2003), based on many descriptions collected from towns of central and northern Argentina,
from Jujuy to San Juan, shows that there is a homogenous concept on the notion of illness in
the way peasants represent organic imbalances (temperature imbalances, digestive, skin and
blood disorders like ―cullebrilla‖, ―empacho‖, ―nervios‖, ―pata de cabra‖ and social
imbalances (―envidia‖, ―daño‖, ―brujería‖). On the other hand, there are conceptual
variations on illnesses regarded as ritual imbalances depending on whether the indigenous or
European beliefs prevail; thus, according to the aforementioned author there are three
different sub-areas:
A northern sub-area (Puna region, valleys and ravines of Salta and Jujuy), with a
strong influence of indigenous traditions where the ritualistic notion of the
Pachamama (Mother Earth) and maladies like ―sopladura‖, ―agarradura‖,
―pilladura‖ and ―aikadura‖ are important.
A central sub-area comprised by southern Salta, Tuchman, Catamarca and Santiago
del Estero, where indigenous representations gradually loose importance and
European beliefs gain entry, and where practices related to the Pachamama are less
common.
A southern sub-area (La Rioja, San Juan, Córdoba), referred to in this review, in
which the indigenous influence is practically non-existent and where traditional
Catholic and other European representations become dominant, associating ritualistic
imbalances with popular saints.
Even though the main focus of this chapter is the ambit of traditional medicine that
characterizes the peasant culture of serrano environments, it is necessary to point out that it is
embraced within the framework of a wider ethnomedical system, where healing practices and
3 In accordance with Idoyaga Molina (2001a), the term ―criollo‖ is used in this study ―to designate peasants of
European descent, in the same sense as it was used in the XIXth century to difference Europeans born in
America (the criollos) from Europeans born in the Iberian Peninsula and other Old World countries‖. Hence,
the meaning of criollo proposed here is different from the meaning of Creole in other American countries that
is always associated to mixed races or ―mestizos‖.
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