WHAT THE IBERIC CONQUEST BEQUEATHED TO US: THE FRUIT TREES INTRODUCED IN ARGENTINE SUBTROPIC, THEIR HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE IN PRESENT TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

STAMPELLA, P.C.; LAMBARÉ, D.A.; HILGERT, N.I.; POCHETTINO, M.L.

EVIDENCE-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

OXFORD UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2013 vol. 2013 p. 1 - 17

1741-427X

This contribution presents information about the history of introduction, establishment and local appropriation of Eurasian fruit trees ?species and varieties of the genera Prunus and Citrus- from XVth Century in two rural areas of Northern Argentina. By means of an ethnobotanical and ethnohistorical approach, our study aimed at analysing how this process influenced local medicine and the design of cultural landscape they still are part of. As a first step, local diversity, knowledge and management practices of these fruit-tree species were surveyed. In a second moment, medicinal properties attributed to them were documented. Historical literature was consulted referred to different aspects on introduction of peaches and citric species into America and their uses in the past. The appropriation of these fruit-trees gave place to new applications and a particular status for introduced species, that are seen as identitary and contribute to the definition of the communities and daily life landscapes. Besides, these plants, introduced in a relatively short period and with written record, allow the researcher to understand and to design landscape domestication, as a multidimensional result of physical, social and symbolic environment.