Medicinal plants of the Mapuche

A list of 136 plants used for medicinal purposes by the Mapuche Amerindians of Chile has been compiled. This is the first such list in English and is important due to the disappearance of Mapuche culture with increasing urbanisation. Some introduced plants have been incorporated into the traditional medicine of the Mapuche since the advent of European settlers but there is also a wealth of information about the uses of many indigenous species.