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BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CamsripGce, Massacnuusetts, Decemper 30, 1964 
PHILOGLOSSA — A CULTIVAR OF THE 
SIBUNDOY OF COLOMBIA 
BY 
MenLvin L. BrisTro. 
ABSTRACT 
A CULTIVATED potherb, Philoglossa peruviana DC. var. 
sapida is described, together with notes on its common 
names, utilization and cultivation in a primitive horticul- 
tural setting in Andean Colombia. 
The Sibundoy inhabit a high montane basin in the 
south of Colombia. This basin — the Valley of Sibun- 
doy — lies at an elevation of 7200 feet about 20 miles 
east of the city of Pasto, near the eastern edge of the 
great north-south ranges of the Andes. Dairying, tim- 
ber exploitation and subsistence agriculture today sup- 
port a population of about 9000 Europeans (‘‘blancos’’), 
3700 Inga-speaking Santiaguefio, and 2100 Kamsa- 
speaking Sibundoy. My investigations, covering the 
twelve-month period beginning in October 1962, in- 
volved only the geographically distinct Sibundoy, al- 
though the subsistence patterns of both native groups 
are nearly identical. 
Collapsing agricultural terraces indicating prehispanic 
occupation of the area are obvious at many places on the 
valley sides. While no direct evidence relates these aban- 
doned terraces to the Sibundoy (who are even unaware 
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