which are the most valued part of the plant, are eagerly sought in 
various parts of New Granada by those acquainted with its bene- 
ficial properties as a purgative and an aid to digestion.” 
About a century later, Padre Manuel Maria Albis (Albis, 
1936) wrote about his trips to the Macaguaje Indians along the 
Rios Mecaya, Senseya and Caucaya, in the same Putumayo- 
Caqueta area of Colombia. Of guayusa, he reported that “it is 
hot and used in poisonings; the burned leaves, when mixed with 
barley and honey, are given to women suffering amenorrhoea; 
when boiled and mixed with yoco, a caffein-containing liana 
[Paullinia Yoco R. E. Schult. et Killip] the preparation is used to 
cure dysentery; the liquid is used for stomach aches.” 
Patino (Patino, 1968) insinuates that guayusa “grows both 
wild and cultivated.” Pinkley (pers. comm.) also believes that the 
species may grow in a truly wild state, although he has never 
encountered it outside of cultivation. Except for the vague state- 
ment by Padre Serra that “it grew in the forest,” I find no 
evidence in the literature to suggest its occurrence in an undoubt- 
edly wild state. All references indicate that guayusa, when not 
planted, grows as an escape or vestige of former plantings 
around abandoned human habitation sites. Patino further inti- 
mates that, since guayusa, according to early reports, grew so 
prolifically in the Colombian Putumayo-Caqueta region; that 
since Padre Serra’s experiments in guayusa propagation were so 
easily successful; and that since, in Pueblo Viejo, there was a 
grove “more than a league in size” — guayusa might be still 
found in the area. Although I once doubted that any vestiges of 
these ancient plantings still exist in the Putumayo, Patifio’s sus- 
picion has proven to be correct. 
IV. 
In May, 1972, together with Dr. Andrew T. Weil of the Botan- 
ical Museum of Harvard University and Mr. Enrique Hernan- 
dez of the Universidad de Narino, I was able to make two 
collections in southern Colombia. Both are sterile, but both are 
extremely interesting from the point of view of history and of 
economic botany. 
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