cies and use it in the preparation of the intoxicating yajé 
drink. He stated that the plant material is boiled to pre- 
pare the beverage. Notes with the collection Garefa- 
Barriga 4634a, which has been identified as probably 
referable to this same species, indicate that the Indians 
who live between Mocoa and Umbria (Inganos) call the 
vine yajé and prepare an intoxicant from it, with the ad- 
mixture of two other plants. Garcia-Barriga (25) stated 
that Banisteriopsis quitensis is ‘‘cultivated near their 
dwellings in order to have it at hand during the rainy 
season’? and that ‘‘they make with the stems a drink or 
beverage which they call yaje.’’ One of the admixtures, 
according to Garcia-Barriga, is the amaranthaceous A/- 
ternanthera Lehmanii Hieron., locally known as borra- 
chera or chicha (both of which terms refer to ‘‘intoxi- 
cant’? in Spanish); the other admixture could not be 
determined. Alternanthera Lehmanii is said by Garcia- 
Barriga to be added also to native beers or chichas as a 
condiment to increase their intoxicating properties. A 
sterile collection which seems to represent Banisteriopsis 
quitensis (Pérez- A rbeldez 639) was stated to be used in the 
region of Florencia on the Rio Orteguaza in preparing 
an inebriating drink. Williams (103) has reported Ban- 
isteriopsis quitensis to be used in the same way as B. Caapt 
in Amazonian Peru, where it is gathered from both wild 
and cultivated plants. 
The Indians of the Comisaria del Vaupés in Amazon- 
ian Colombia have conserved many of their aboriginal 
customs, such as the use of the malpighiaceous narcotics. 
Unlike the natives of the Putumayo, at the eastern foot- 
hills of the Andes, who use species of Banisteriopsis in 
a concentrated decoction made by boiling the plant ma- 
terial, the Indians of the Vaupés prepare a cold-water 
infusion of the bark. Banisteriopsis quitensis and B. in- 
ebrians seems to be lacking in the flora of the Vaupés, 
[ 37 | 
