Drimys andina

One of the last plants we were able to image, Drimys andina (with thanks to Sacred Succulents in California), enabled us to extend the geographical representation of sacred plants in our project much further south into the immense forests that are the Mapuche ancestral lands on both sides of the cordillera of the Andes in Chile and Argentina. According to Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, “Foye trees [canelo, Drimys winteri] are sacred trees of life that connect the natural, human, and spirit worlds and allow Mapuche shamans, or machi, to participate in the forces that permeate the cosmos. They are symbols of machi medicine, and machi use the bitter leaves and bark to exorcise evil spirits, as an anti-bacterial for treating wounds, and to treat colds, rheumatism, stomach infections and ringworm.”

Over the years, as a literary critic, translator and editor, I have appreciated and promoted poetry by contemporary Mapuche/Huilliche poets such as Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpan (who, in 2020, became the first Indigenous winner of Chile’s National Prize for Literature), Jaime Luis Huenún and Graciela Huinao (the first Indigenous woman to join the Academia Chilena de la Lengua). I included a selection of verse by Huenún in El consumo de lo que somos: muestra de poesía ecológica hispánica contemporánea. In so many ways, his poetry is, as Jonathan Bate would say, the song of the earth. And sometimes Huenún’s poems sing in Mapuzugun: “Inche, Mawiza ñi Pelom,/Witrunko ñi Rayen,/ñien kiñe ül/pewmatun ñi kewün mew/eymingealu.” In my translation of a translation into Spanish, this would be: “I, Light of the Forests,/Flower at the water’s Source,/I have a song/in the language of dreams/for you.”

During their ceremonies, Mapuche shamans ascend a rewe, which Bacigalupo describes as “a step-notched axis mundi, or tree of life, which connects the human and spirit worlds, [allowing them to travel] in ecstatic flights to other worlds.” The author says that this sacred structure permits an altered state of consciousness called küymi directly linked to Drimys: “Mapuche often refer to the rewe itself as foyé or canelo,” even though it is often shaped from the wood of another revered tree triwe (Laurelia sempervirens). According to Mösbach, author of the classic compilation Botánica indígena de Chile, the Mapuche consider the Foye tree “a symbol of benevolence, peace and justice.”

The researchers Mariana Cardoso Oshiro and Ivone Antônia de Souza from Brazil’s Universidade Federal do Pernambuco did a “systematic review on the phytochemical, biological, pharmacological and toxicological activities of the species of the genus Drimys,” shrubs/trees with a wide geographical distribution that are “widely used in Latin American popular medicine for the treatment of malaria, gastric pain, toothache, anemia” and many other maladies. This overview of existing scientific literature from 1987-2022 was published in Brazil in 2023. Table 1 of their study is a meticulous listing of a compendium of scientific studies demonstrating the medicinal uses of a variety of species of Drimys as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antiviral and also as an insecticide, an insect repellent, and for use as a bioherbicide. In Chile, a decoction prepared from the bark of the tree is used to treat skin ailments that affect cattle. In Costa Rica, people chew leaves to alleviate toothaches. In Brazil, different species of Drimys were shown to have anti-ulcerative, antifungal and antiviral properties, in addition to significantly reducing triglycerides and total cholesterol.  Still other studies demonstrated the efficacy of Drimys against neurodegenerative illnesses such as Huntington’s disease and also as a means to keep cancerous cells from proliferating. Importantly, studies also show that Drimys is not toxic in humans when it is consumed in moderation. The scientists conclude that future studies are necessary and “will contribute to maximizing the therapeutic benefits,” which appear to be many, and “minimizing the possible risks associated with the use of species of Drimys.”