Ethnobotanical research on Salvia Divinorum
Ethnobotanical research on the Mazatec’s traditional knowledge of the medicinal and psychoactive use of Salvia Divinorum.
Salvia Divinorum is an endemic plant from Oaxaca, Mexico. It has been used by the Mazatec people for hundreds of years for healing and divination. The Mazatec chew the fresh leaves in order to modify their consciousness and to attain valuable knowledge for their community, and they also employ the leaves for many physical ailments.
Ana Elda Maqueda started to study the plant Salvia Divinorum seven years ago. She has just finished a PhD studying the neuropsychopharmacology of the plant’s active ingredient, salvinorin-A, by adminestering it to healthy volunteers, studying thoroughly the effects.
Her current project aims to gather the traditional knowledge about Salvia divinorum from the Mazatec, preventing it to fade in time due to cultural pressures, and to have a more complete understanding of Plant Salvia Divinorum.