Yawanawa Medicinal Plants – Plantas Medicinais Yawanawá
View PublicationThe Yawanawa have captured their long-held botanical expertise in a new illustrated field guide that helps members of the community identify and use life-saving medicinal plants. The poster details 21 medicinal plants the Yawanawa have traditionally used to treat poisonous snake bites. Each entry features an artful botanical illustration, along with reference photos and descriptions in Portuguese. Over many generations the Yawanawa have slowly recognized and mastered their life-saving properties. Today, with the help of Forest Trends’ Communities Initiative, the Yawanawa are expanding their network of “living pharmacies” by building new medicinal plant gardens in their villages and by cultivating these plants in agroforestry systems throughout the surrounding tropical forest.