class of huha hai is cultivated and known as bi’a huha hai. It is 
cooked with yagé. Another Siona informant volunteered the 
following: ‘‘It makes you shiver when you drink yagé. It also 
makes your legs heavy and you feel like spines are sticking you. 
It is fresco, so it is good for curing sickness, as well as drinking 
with yagé.’’ (Langdon, 1970). 
The Kofan Indians of the Putumayo area are likewise famil- 
iar with the medicinal and intoxicating properties of Brunfelsia. 
Pinkley (1969, 1973) has stated that Brunfelsia, while not a 
common admixture to Banisteriopsis, among certain groups 
plays a role similar to that of Brugmansia in the magico-reli- 
gious ceremonies of the shaman. Brunfelsia grandiflora is 
sometimes taken by the Kofan shaman in order to diagnose 
disease (Pinkley, 1973). 
The Kofan, like other groups in the Putumayo, recognize 
three classes of Brunfelsia which are generically known as 
tsontinba’’k’o in the Kofan language. Two of these are refera- 
ble to Brunfelsia grandiflora and are distinguished primarily by 
where they grow. Soci (toucan) tsontinba’’k’o is cultivated in 
houseyards around their settlements. Chipiri ‘*small” tsontin- 
ba’’k’o grows wild in the surrounding secondary forest. 
4. Brunfelsia chiricaspi Plowman 
The third kind of Brunfelsia known to the Kofan is called 
covi ‘‘tapir’’ tsontinba’’k’o. This plant is considered to be the 
strongest of the tsontinba’’k’o class and preferred for its potent 
drug effects. It belongs to a recently described species Brunfel- 
sia chiricaspi Plowman, known only from the Colombian Pu- 
tumayo and south to the Rio Coca in Ecuador. This species 
occurs only in primary forests and is not cultivated. 
While conducting ethnobotanical field work and general col- 
lecting in 1968, I visited the Kofan village of Santa Rosa on the 
Rio Guamués, in order to study firsthand the use of Brunfelsia 
and other medicinal plants. The Kofan settlements in the Col- 
ombian Putumayo are being subjected to rapid changes as a 
result of large scale oil drilling operations in their territory. This 
made the Indians especially suspicious of strangers and highly 
protective of their medicinal plant lore. 
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