The ¡°algarrobo¡± complex (Prosopis spp. + Ceratonia silliqua) in South America: changes in the

CAPPARELLI, A.; BARTL, B.; POCHETTINO, MARIA LELIA

MONTPELLIER

Congreso; 13TH CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ETHNOBIOLOGY; 2012

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ETHNOBIOLOGY

The term “algarrobo” is the most generalized collective name of Prosopis trees of the Algarobia section in South America. It includes species such as P. alba, P. nigra, P. flexuosa, P. chilensis and P. pallida, from which the pods are consumed. This term was given to the South American Prosopis by the Spanish conquerors, and did not originate from analogies between Old and New World Prosopis genus, but instead, between Old World Ceratonia silliqua and New World Prosopis, both taxa with very similar food applications. From an ethnoecological perspective, this paper explores the cosmovision, knowledge and practices of the algarrobo consumption in two Argentinian places, one representing local and the other urban traditions. Ethnobotanical data previously published by one of the authors around the local use of algarrobo for food in the Hualfín Valley is now compared with new data coming from semi-structured interviews addressed to La Plata urban shop sellers. Results showed the algarrobo as a multi-purposed Prosopis native tree of the Hualfín Valley, which has several food applications, from drinking’s to jams, and flours for making breads. Their real common name there is “el árbol”, which means “the tree”, a demonstration of the importance of this genus among other tree species growing in the region. On the contrary, Old (Ceratonia silliqua) and New World (Prosopis spp.) traditions are mixed up in a palimpsest of knowledge about algarrobo within urban shop sellers. The same mix was observed in the constitution of algarrobo products sold there, restricted mainly to flours. Samples of these products were bought and microscopically analysed in these paper. Skills had to be developed to find diagnostic characters which allow distinguishing between pod parts of both taxa. It is concluded that changes in cosmovision, knowledge and practices occurred from the local to the urban algarrobo consumption contexts.