Cures of the Copper Canyon: Medicinal Plants 
of the Tarahumara with Potential Toxicity 
by Enrique Salm6n 
(excerpt from an article that appeared in the magazine 
HerbalGram Number 34, pp.44-55)

     The prayer demonstrates the Tarahumara's reverence for plants 
that heal. Not only lilies, but many species of plants the Tarahumara 
consider sacred or powerful require such prayers or songs prior to their 
use or harvest. This practice survives since many plants are thought to 
contain spirits which. unless otherwise placated, will injure the party 
that unceremoniously picked the plant. Tarahumara herbalism utilizes 
approximately, 300 plant species (Bye, 1985: 81). Man), of these are 
known by the scientific community to contain toxic compounds 
harmful to humans or to at least exhibit psychotropic effects... 

The Relativity of Toxicity
     That the Tarahumara employ approximately 300 different 
plants for medicinal use may seem an exaggeration. This researcher 
once was told by a healer from the isolated area of NarArachi that he 
used about 250 plants for healing. To make the story even more 
remarkable, he revealed his a2e to be only 32 years. When asked how 
such a young person could learn so much about plants, he said that he 
began learning his trade at age three. It was, he said, "the father 
above" who taught him through dreams.
     Western biomedicine employs well over 300 chemical compounds 
for healing. To ask a physician to identify and demonstrate the 
use and preparation of 250 of these compounds reveals the remarkable 
education one must receive to become a native healer. The physician 
at least has the aid of pharmacopeias. There are those who would say 
that the native healer's techniques and beliefs are mere "hocus-pocus." 
But the beliefs and knowledge of the healer from NarArachi cannot be 
ignored. Anthropological studies of native healing methods reveal 
strong empirical underpinnings lof traditional knowledge] which has 
not received the attention it merits (Schultes & Swain, 1976: 147).
     Due to variations among, toxins it is difficult to define exactly 
when a constituent becomes a poison. One possible definition suggests, 
'Plants and parts of plants that contain potentially harmful sub-		
stances in high enough concentrations to cause chemical injury if 
touched or swallowed are known as poisonous" (Turner & Szczawinski. 
1991: 1). This definition is too rigid. Salt (sodium chloride) when	
ingested in large doses can cause vomiting in adults. There have been 
cases of infant fatalities when excessive amounts of sodium were 
mistakenly fed to children. To the average person salt is not a toxin. 
It is used every day by millions of consumers.  Pharmacologically, 
it can be a toxin, depending on levels ingested The same 
does not hold when salt is poured on a snail. Some toxins are obviously 
more harmful than others.
     ... The Tarahumara recoanize that some plants are harmful to humans. 
Thev recognize the concept of toxicity but not with the same 
conceptualization that western biomedicine does. The western concept	
of plants is generally one dimensional. Plants are either harmful or 
beneficial. A weed is a weed and has no uses. Western categorization 
of plants is rigid. This is the result of a language that speaks only to
reducible substances and objectivism. To the Tarahumara categorization 
of plants is flexible since the language allows the speaker to envision 
relationships. To say "red" in English is only that, red. By itself 
it speaks only to a color, a wavelength on the light spectrum. To say 
red in Tarahumara, sitakame, automatically speaks to hues of corn, 
flowers that span the hues of red, and natural dyes. Many plants
in the Tarahumara language include the term sita in them. Since 
language influences thought, the Tarahumara language automatically 
conjures up relationships with their environment.
	An important aspect of this train of thtougis
that the Tarahumara language maintains no term for
poison, therefore there is no room in thought to envision a plant that 
is solely harmful. To the Tarahumara every plant maintains a beneficial 
quality. This is so because of their cultural view of the universe. 
All living things derive their inherent beingness, life, from one of 
three levels. In the upper level exist the creator and the other beneficial 
spirits. This is the level to where human souls go after death. The 
middle level is the one in which all mortal living beings exist. In the 
lower level exists the evilness of the universe. Here live Diablo and 
his malevolent allies, including several species of plants. Although 
there is a level of the universe that contains malevolent beings, evilness 
to the Tarahumara is not absolute. Some plants from this level can be 
beneficial if tapped of their usefullness by knowledgeable healers. The 
plants from this lower level are inherently harmful but hold within them 
an ability to heal if correctly prepared and administered. The biodiversity 
of the Tarahumara environment enriches and determines, to an extent, 
their social, personal, and cultural behavior. Because of their toxic 
contents, many of the plants the Tarahumara utilize for healing should 
be feared. But toxicity is a Western concept. Degree of toxicity is relative 
The Tarahumara cultural model of plants understands that some plants contain 
powerful spirits, some are potentially deadly, but the same can heal. 

Bye, Robert A. 1985. Medicinal Plants of the 
     Tarahumara Indians of Chihuahua, Mexico, in Tyson, 
     Rose & Daniel Elerick,eds., Two Mummies From 
     Chihuahua, Mexico, pp.77-104, San Diego Museum 
     Paper No. 19, San Diego: San Diego Museum of Man.

Shultes, Richard E. & Tony Swain. 1976. The Plant 
     Kingdom: A Virgin Field For New Biodynamic 
     Constituents, in Fina, Nicholas, ed., The Recent 
     Chemistry of Natural Products, Including Tobacco., 
     pp. 133-172. Proceedings of the Second Philip Morris
     Science Symposium, Richmond Virginia. 

Turner, Nancy J. & Adam F. Szczawinski. 1991. 
    Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North 
    America. Portland: Timber Press.