Medical Ethnobotany of the Amazonian Kichwa Community of San Jose de Payamino, Ecuador: Preliminary Results from an Undergraduate-Level Field Course

As the focus of an undergraduate-level field course, we recently began documenting the traditional medicine of San Jose de Payamino, a Kichwa community in Orellana Province, Ecuador. Like many indigenous communities in the region, Payamino is rapidly changing, and knowledge of medicinal plants - still the primary means of treatment for the Payamino - is being lost to acculturation. While various studies have been published on Kichwa traditional medicine from the region, to our knowledge, no thorough survey of the traditional medicine of the Payamino has been done. During this initial phase of the study, interviews were conducted with community elders who are considered particularly knowledgeable in the use of medicinal plants. Interviews were semi-structured and included free-listing and forest walks. Sixty-three species were indicated as having medicinal use by Payamino healers. Searching the literature for the Kichwa names and scientific names showed that the Payamino may have medicinal uses for many plants that differ from other Kichwa communities. In addition, some plant names used by the Payamino may not be used throughout Kichwa traditional medicine. This supports the idea that thorough surveys of medicinal plant use should be done at the community level rather than at the regional level.