Tropical shrub with showy flowers that open purple and fade to white. The bark is one of the canonical "plantas maestras" of Mestizo Amazonian curanderismo — taken in long dietas, it is said to teach the apprentice and clean the body.
Understory shrub of lowland Amazonian forest, especially the upper Amazon. Cultivated in dooryard gardens across Peruvian and Brazilian Amazonia.
The names this organism has been given by the cultures that have lived alongside it. Each carries an entire relationship — what is sacred is never simply translated.
- chiric sanangoQuechua"cold healer"
- Plant-dieta (extended period of dietary and behavioural restriction with the plant) in Mestizo and Shipibo curanderismo
- Folk medicinal infusion for rheumatism, fever, and snakebite
The Quechua name chiric sanango — "cold healer" — refers to the intense cold-flush sensations the bark decoction can produce. The active chemistry is incompletely characterised; scopoletin, brunfelsamidine, and related compounds have been isolated.
- Luna 1986
- Schultes 1992
