Plant Teachers of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest

Native Quechua and Botanical Names

Cielo Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi), Onanyan Shobo Ethnobotanical Garden

Photo Credit: Francesco Sammarco

The traditional shamanic initiation as it is practiced still today in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest is embedded in the Spanish term dieta, which refers to the shamanic diet with plant teachers. Plants may also be "dieted" therapeutically, for healing from a particular condition (the healing diet). In either case different degrees of restrictions and/or a specific apprenticeship is required, under the guidance of the shaman. Click here to read more abut the "plant diet".

Along with their use in the dieta  - which has different styles and degrees of rigor - some of these plants and trees may also be employed as admixture in the preparation of the Ayahuasca brew, or find as well other more specific applications in the ceremonial and daily world of the vegetalistas of the Peruvian Amazon. In Onanyan Shobo the brew is currently prepared with ayahuasca, huambisa, chagropanga, chacruna and toe'.  Other plant additives are at the shaman's discretion to use.

Vernacular Name	Botanical Name
Abuta	Abuta grandifolia
Acatuaua	Maytanus macrocarpa
Alcanfor Moena	Ocotea costulata
Allpa ayahuasca	Banisteriopsis sp.
Altaruna	Unidentified
Amasisa	Erythrinaglauca

Anacaspi	Apuleta leiocarpa
Ajos chiro	Gallizia corazema
Ajos sacha	Mansoa alliacea
Ayahùman	Couropita guianensis
Azucar huayo	Hymenaea sp.
Bellaco caspi	Himantanthus sucuuba
Bobinsana	Calliandra angustifolia
Camalonga	Thevetia peruviana (?)
Cambio de renaco	Unidentified
Campana ayahuasca	Banisteriopsis sp.
Canelilla	Aniba canellila
Capirona negra	Capirona decorticans
Catahua	Hura crepitans
Caupuri	Virola surinamensis
Chacruna	Psychotria viridis
Chaliponga / Chagropanga / Ojo Yajé	Diplopterys cabrerana
Chambira	Astrocaryum chambira
Chicuru piripiri	Cyperus sp.

Chiric sanango	Brunfelsia grandiflora
Chiricaspi (palo del frio)	Brunfelsia chiricaspi
Chontay caspi	Unidentified
Chonta quiro	Diplotropis sp. (A. Brack)  / Anthodiscus sp. (A. Gentry)
Cuchara caspi	Malovetia Tamaquarina
Chuchuhuasi	Maytenus ebenifolia
Chuchuhuasha	Heisteria pallida
Chullachaqui caspi (Chullachaki caspi)	Tovomita sp.
Chullachaqui caspi hembra	Tovomita sp.
Cielo ayahuasca (lucero ayahuasca)	Banisteriopsis caapi
Clavohuasca	Tynanthas panurensis
Colita de gabilan	Unidentified
Cumaceba negra	Swartzia sp.
Cumala	Virola sp.
Estoraque (Estorake)	Myroxylon balsamum
Garabato	Unidentified

Giausahuasca	Unidentified
Hiporuru	Alchornea castaneifolia
Huacra renaco	Unidentified
Huairacaspi	Cedrelinga catanaeformis
Huayra runa	Unidentified
Huacapu'	Minquartia guianensis
Huambisa chacruna	Diplopterys sp.
Huiririma	Astrocaryum jauari
Huicungo	Astrocaryum vulgare
Iana ayahuasca (ayahuasca negra)	Banisteriopsis sp.
Lobo chupa	Unidentified
Lupuna blanca	Ceiba sp. / Ceiba Pentandra
Lupuna roja (puka-lupuna or lupuna bruja)	Cavanillesia hylogeiton / C. umbellata
Lupuna negra	Unidentified
Mapacho	Nicotiana rustica / Nicotiana tabacum
Misqui panga (michiquipanga)	Renealmia alpina
Motelo Sacha	Unidentified
Mucura	Petiveria alliacea
Murcohuasca	Marcgravia williamsii
Mururé	Brosimum acutifolium Huber
Nuc-nuc pichana	Scoparia dulcis

Oje'	Ficus insipida
Papastrueno	Dioscorea sp.
Piripiri	Cyperaceous sp.
Puca chari (rojo dulce)	Unidentified
Pumasacha	Roucheria punctata ducke
Puro puro	Unidentified
Raya balsa	Montrichardia arborecens
Rajo ayahuasca	Banisteriopsis sp.
Remo caspi	Pithecellobium laetum
Renaco	Ficus sp.
Renaquilla	Ficus sp.
Renaquilla con hojas anchas	Unidentified
Renaquilla con hojas minudas	Unidentified
Sacha Mango	Grias peruviana
Sacha runa	Unidentified
Shapaca (Shapaja)	Sheelea cephalotes
Shihuauacu	Dipterys sp.?
Suelda con suelda	Phtirusa pyrifolia
Supay-casha caspi	Unidentified
Tahuari'	Tabebuia heteropoda
Tambor Huasca	Unidentified
Tangarana	Triplaris surinamensis var. chamissoana
Toe'	Brugmansia suavolens
Trueno ayahuasca	Banisteriopsis sp.
Uchu-sanango	Tabernaemontana sp.
Uña de Gato de Siete Capas	Uncaria sp.
Yahuar Piripiri	Eleutherine bulbosa
Yana ayahuasca	Banisteriopsis sp.

References

Duke, J. A., Vasquez, R., Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary, CRC Press, 1994; Luna, L.E. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 11 (1984) 135-156; Luna, L.E. Vegetalismo. Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion 27, Stockholm 1986; Schultes, E.R. and Raffauf, R. F. Vine of the Soul, Medicine Men, their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia, Synergetic Press 1992; Luna, L.E. : "Icaros: Magical Melodies", in Matteson Langdon, E.J. and Baer G. Portals of Power - Shamanism in South America, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1992; Dobkins De Rios, M. Amazon Healer. The Life and Times of an Urban Shaman, Prism Press, Dorset 1992; Luna, L.E. and Amaringo P. Ayahuasca Visions, The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, Berkeley 1999; Luna, L.E. and White, S. (Editors) Ayahuasca Reader - Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Wine, Synergetic Press, Santa Fe 2000; A. Gentry A Field Guide to the families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America, 1993; A. Brack Egg Dicionario Enciclopédico de Plantas Utiles del Perù, 1999; Mejia, K. &  Rengifo, E. Plantas Medicinales de Uso Popular en la Amazonia Peruana, 1995.

Acknowledgements

Most of the native quechua names of the plants as from personal communications by Francisco Montes Shuña, don Ruperto Peña Shuña, Felipe Ayala, don Julio Gerena Pinedo, Ruber del Castillo Ramirez and Heberto Hiran Garcia Ramirez. Tentative identification kindly supplied, in some instances, by Francisco Montes Shuña, Moises Suarez Mera (botanical researcher at Iquitos university) and Jessica Bertram de Sasari (guide at Manu National Park, and apprentice of Shipibo maestro don Adriano Rodriguez).

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