THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
Volume 9, Number 6, 2003, pp. 813B815
8 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Biocultural Diversity, Phytomedicines, and Tropical
Rainforests: The Holistic Link from Practitioner to
Cultures of the Tropical Rainforest
STEVEN R. KING, Ph.D.
PHOTOESSAY
813
Shaman Pharmaceuticals, South San Francisco, CA.
Left: An illustration of local people collecting Croton seedlings under a Amother@ Croton lechleri tree, which is part of
a manual on the sustainable harvesting of this plant medicine. Top right: The Croton lechleri tree, Sangre de Drago, cultivated
in a mixed agroforestry system in the Quichua Indian community of Molino, Ecuador. Bottom right: Manual
Ramirez holding latex of Croton lechleri in his hand in his backyard mixed-species house garden, part of his living
pharmacy for his family and community in the region of Iquitos, Peru. Drawing and photographs courtesy of Steven
- King. 8 2003.
When you recommend medicinal plants do
you ever wonder about the health of the
people who harvested the plant or the forest it
came from? These three pictures tell a story that
lives and breathes behind many of the phytomedicines
that have become part of our alternative
and complementary pharmacopoeia.
The images speak of how interconnected
we are to the people and plants of the tropical
rainforests. In this case I focus on the latex
of (or sap) of Sangre de Drago (Croton lechleri),
which is used to treat gastrointestinal problems
such as diarrhea, stomach ulcers, and several
other internal and external health problems
(Carlson et al., 2000). An extensive review of
the research conducted to date on the efficacy
and safety of this species is in this issue (Jones,
pp., 877B896). There are a number of companies
that carry and distribute this extracts and
preparations from this widespread Amazonian
tree species.
The focus of this phyto/photoessay is not the
biologic and medical importance of this species
in the North America and Europe. The narrative
that is shared focuses instead on the role
of this plant among the peoples and cultures of
the rainforest where this traditional medicine
has been used for centuries. There is a great
deal of green and fair trade marketing taking
place in the sphere of alternative and complimentary
medicine, which is often weakly linked
to the places and cultures of origin.
Let us take a closer look at how our health is
interwoven with the peoples and cultures of
the Peruvian rainforest. This beautiful pioneer
tree species, Sangre de Drago (dragon=s blood)
is found throughout the northwestern Amazon
in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.
It is known and used by dozens of tropical forest
peoples throughout this region. Each culture
group has its specific name for this botanical
medicine. The latex of this tree is red and
it is a common house garden medicinal. Mothers
and other healers often collect the latex for
care and treatment of their families and patients
from right outside their homes. There is
also a national trade and market for this latex
among the urban center of the Andean nations.
In fact there is rapidly growing national and international
public health focus on utilizing traditional
medicines to manage malaria and a
number of diseases and health problems. Ironically,
as more and more people utilize these
plants as part of alternative and complementary
medicines, the national and international
public health care agencies are working to incorporate
these treatments in health care systems.
The illustration of a person collecting seedlings
in the forest is part of a Spanish-language
manual on the sustainable harvesting and management
of this species (drawing at left). This
pioneer tree species (top right) is part of dynamic
human ecological cycle in secondary forest
habitats. The tree produces up to 500,000
seeds per year. The fruits have three segments
and during the Adrier@ phase of the year the
fruits explode, similar to popcorn popping, and
distribute the seeds to the forest floor. Many
seeds are eaten by birds and insects, other melt
into decaying layer of leaves and soil. A great
number, however, lie dormant in the soil awaiting
the right conditions to sprout and grow.
When people clear the secondary forest to plant
gardens or build homes, the sun heats up the
soil and the seedling (hence the name pioneer
species) quickly sprouts and begins to grow.
This species has been documented to grow up
to 1 foot per month for the first several years
of its life cycle. This tree is a common invader
of gardens after people have finished the 12- to
18- month harvesting cycle of maize, manioc,
and plantains. It is quite common for households
and communities to maintain these volunteer
living pharmacies for daily health care
needs and for collection and sale to local and
regional markets.
Taking care of the health of families in communities
of indigenous peoples is often the
managed by women. Caring for families involves
health care, nutrition, education, and
other primary necessities. Most of the communities
that I have had the privilege to work with
over the past 20 years have expressed a persistent
desire to generate income for their families
via the sale of a variety of nontimber forest
products (NTFP), artwork, textiles, and
other materials that are generated from the
forests in their environment.
The third image of this set (bottom right) is
Manuel Ramirez in his back yard agroforestry
garden in the northern rainforest of Peru. He
PHOTOESSAY 814
has been planting seedlings and allowing Avolunteer@
spontaneous Croton tree=s to fill his
house garden to treat his family and to sell latex
to the local market. He has also been providing
seedlings to regional reforestation projects
as part of a growing national interest in
the production of this species. The government
of Peru and several international development
agencies have been supporting reforestation
activities with several medicinal plants that are
part of national and international commerce.
There is an increasing emphasis on finding and
developing international markets for phytomedines
from Latin America, Africa, and regions
of the planet that are epicenters of biologic
and cultural diversity. These efforts are
important because the diversity of languages
and cultures around the planet are disappearing
at an alarming rate.
Our opportunity to treat, heal, and self-medicate
with many phytomedicines from the
Amazon rainforest such as Una de gato (Uncaria
tomentosa), Sangre de Drago, and Pau d= arco
(Tabebuia species) should ideally support the
people and cultures who first discovered the
healing properties of these rainforest botanical
medicines. This requires a certain degree of
awareness and focus on our part as we learn
about the origins of these plants and how to
honor the cultures and environments where
they have coevolved. The best way to cultivate
this awareness is to ask questions about the origins
of the phytomedicines that we use, who
collected or cultivated them, and how does this
process fit into the human ecology of the communities
that produced them. A holistic analysis
and treatment of our mind, body, and spirit
should ideally be extended to the people and
habitats of the world that discovered and produce
healing plants for practitioners and patients.
REFERENCE
Carlson TJS, King SR. Sangre de Drago (Croton lechleri
MΓΌell.CArg.): A phytomedicine for the treatment of diarrhea.
Health Notes 2000;7:315B320.
Address reprint requests to:
Steven R. King, Ph.D.
213 East Grand Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080
E-mail: [email protected]
PHOTOESSAY 815