CHAMAIRO: AN OVERLOOKED ADMIXTURE TO COCA 
I first learned about chamairo in 1976 from the Peruvian plant 
collector José Schunke Vigo who was employed as my 
expedition assistant in the Huallaga valley of eastern Peru. 
Schunke had first encountered chamairo during previous 
botanical collecting work in the Chanchamayo valley, where he 
observed that the Campa Indians added chamairo bark to their 
coca. At that time, Schunke was able to identify chamairo as a 
liana of the Bignoniaceae, but he did not know the genus nor 
had he collected specimens for study. 
After consulting several general works on Peruvian botany, | 
was unable to find any mention of chamairo. Later the same 
year, I again met with the plant while consulting collections of 
coca paraphernalia at the Ethnografiska Museum in Goteborg, 
Sweden. I found a piece of unidentified liana labeled yarnayru 
which had been collected by Nordenskjéld in 1922 among the 
Campa on the Rio Azotiqui (affluent of Rio Perené) in Peru 
(specimen no. 21.10.142). Nordenskjéld noted simply that 
yarnayru bark was chewed with coca. Yarnayru is almost 
certainly identical with chamairo, but I was not able to study 
further the Goteborg specimen nor to attempt a botanical 
identification based on the wood anatomy. 
Returning to Peru for field work in 1978, I discovered 
chamairo bark for sale by herb dealers in markets in Lima (La 
Parada) and in the central market of Tingo Maria. This strongly 
suggests that the plant is used by the general populace and is still 
widely available. The material was sold as long strips of bark, 
sometimes doubled over, sometimes coiled and tied in small 
bundles. It was very fibrous and tough in texture and reddish or 
greyish brown in color. It had a bitter and astringent taste. In 
both markets, chamairo was being sold as an admixture to coca 
and was said to originate in the Chanchamayo region (Dept. 
Junin). 
In 1979, Dr. John Elick, an anthropologist working on 
Campa ethnomedicine, provided additional data on the use of 
chamairo. Elick observed the use of chamairo among the Campa 
of Peru on the Pichis, Nazaratequi and Neguachi rivers. While 
most of the Campa coca users preferred lime as a “sweetener” to 
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