Description

Shadows of the colonial past – diverging plant use in Northern Peru and Southern Ecuador

Rainer W. Bussmann1* & Douglas Sharon2

Abstract
This paper examines the traditional use of medicinal plants in Northern Peru and Southern
Ecuador, with special focus on the Departments of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Cajamarca,
and San Martin, and in Loja province, with special focus on the development since the early
colonial period. Northern Peru represents the locus of the old Central Andean “Health Axis.”