The ritual use of Brugmansia species in traditional andean medicine in Northern Peru

Abstract

This paper reports the use of Brugmansia species (Solanaceae) in traditional practices of shamans (curanderos) of Northern Peruvian Andes. The field study permitted the classification of a number of species and/or their hybrids used for both curative and psychotropic activities. There is evidence of a folk systematics in this genus that constitutes a very important phenomenon for its therapeutic-divinatory, phytotherapeutical, and ritual (in initiation and black magic rites) uses. © 2004 by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.