BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY „, 



Cambridge, Massachusetts Summer 1983 Vol. No. 3 



THE ETHNOBOTANY OF THE 

 WAORANI OF EASTERN ECUADOR 



E. Wade Davis and James A. Yost* 



Because of their intimate knowledge of plants, indigenous peo- 

 ples of the Amazon have long had an essential role in the scientific 

 search for new natural products. Today, with the tropical rain 

 forest being destroyed at an alarming rate, and with the indigen- 

 ous groups themselves facing acculturation or extinction, the 

 modern world stands to lose a wealth of knowledge of unknown 

 potential. The need for thorough ethnobotanical surveys is 

 urgent. This paper presents the results of such a basic study 

 conducted among the Waorani, one of the most recently con- 

 tacted and vulnerable indigenous groups in South America. 



The Waorani are a small group of 660 Indians whose tradi- 

 tional homeland covers some 8000 square miles of tropical wet 

 forest south of the Rio Napo and north of the Rio Curaray 

 between 76°W and 77°30'W in eastern Ecuador. Generations of 

 hostility between the Waorani and all outside groups have main- 

 tained these borders. The Waorani refer to outsiders as cowode 



*Summer Institute of Linguistics 

 Dallas, Texas 



Botanical Museum I eaneis (ISSN 0006 8098). Published quarterly by the Botanical Museum. Har- 

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Published December 28, 198.1. 



