Several significant collections, all from cultivated sources, 
were made by my former student, Dr. Homer V. Pinkley, in 
1966 in eastern Ecuador (H. V. Pinkley 199, 454, 455, 456) at 
Dureno, Rio Aguarico; Puerto Napo; between Tena and Archid- 
ona, Guayura, respectively. All are sterile. Notes on these collec- 
tions, preserved in the Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames in 
the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, state that the 
leaves are prepared as a tea drunk as a “health tonic” and 
amongst the Jivaro as an “emetic.” 
Il. 
lex Guayuisa has, until recently, not been known from 
Colombia. Several collections are now available, however, and 
indicate that this tree is recognized and used medicinally and 
does grow in the lowland (more or less 2100 feet altitude) areas 
of the Putumayo on the eastern slopes of the Andes near the 
Ecuadorian frontier. 
COLOMBIA: Comisaria del Putumayo, Valley of Sibundoy. “Obtained at a 
distance by a Sibundoy medicine man. Medicinal. Guayusa.” October 31, 
1962. M. L. Bristol 352-A2. Comisaria del Putumayo, Pepino, near Mocoa. 
Alt. 680 m. “Cultivated.” May 7, 1972. R. E. Schultes 26359. Comisaria del 
Putumayo, Rio Mocoa, Alto Afan, near Mocoa. Alt. 700 m. May 8, 1972. 
Schultes 26360. 
The Bristo/ collection constitutes a few leaves purchased from 
a medicine man of the Kamsa Indian tribe in the highland Valley 
of Sibundoy (8500 feet altitude). lex Guayusa, of course, does 
not grow at this altitude, but the leaves are acquired by trade or 
purchase from lower, warmer regions. The two Schultes collec- 
tions demonstrate for the first time that the species does indeed 
form part of the Colombian flora. These collections are pre- 
served in the Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames, Harvard 
Botanical Museum, and in the Herbario Nacional de Colombia 
in Bogota. 
III. 
It is suspected that guayusa was formerly employed over a far 
greater area than today (Schultes, 1972). 
We know that the Jesuits exploited /lex Guayusa as a medi- 
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