It is becoming increasingly apparent that the indigenous 
materia medica of the northwestern Amazon represents an 
untapped assemblage of plants, many of which might be of 
interest to pharmacological and phytochemical scientists. The 
flora of the Amazon Valley—undoubtedly surpassing 73,000 
species —represents one of the last preserves to be destroyed by 
man. This destruction is progressing at a prodigious rate, 
especially in the eastern part of the basin. With acculturation or 
extinction of the aboriginal populations, an extensive ethno- 
botanical survey of lore and practice extending at least over 5000 
years will have been totally lost. 
A recent —and, from several points of view, an outstanding — 
phytochemical study of one group of plants, based in great part 
on ethnopharmacological information, strongly supports the 
value of the interdisciplinary approach: the collaboration of the 
chemist and pharmacologist with the botanist and ethnobotanist. 
I refer to Gottlieb’s recent article in the Journal of Ethno- 
pharmacology (Gottlieb, O.: Journ. Ethnopharm. 1 (1979) 
309-323). This review points out that there is chemical support 
for a number of the native uses of various myristicaceous plants of 
the Amazon as hallucinogens and arrow poisons as well as in the 
treatment of infected wounds and skin troubles. 
Voucher specimens for the following notes are preserved in the 
Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames and in the Gray 
Herbarium, both of Harvard University, in the Herbario 
Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, or in several of these institutions. 
Several of the collections mentioned are preserved in the New 
York Botanical Garden herbarium. 
The families are arranged in accord with the Engler and Prantl 
system and the genera alphabetically under the families. 
Part of the research basic to this paper has been supported by 
grants from the National Science Foundation (DEB75-20107), 
the Marstrand Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation. 
LYCOPODIACEAE 
Lycopodium cernuum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. (1753) 1103. 
CoLoMBIA: Comisaria del Amazonas, Rio Amazonas, vicinity of Leticia. 
August 29-September 12, 1966. R. FE. Schultes, R. F. Raffauf et D. Soejarto 
24038. 
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