Preliminary ethnobotanical contributions about the Jampi Fair, Santiago de Huari Municipality, Oruro Department, Bolivia

Abstract

In the Municipality of Santiago de Huari, Department of Oruro, Bolivia, the Jampi Fair is held every year. It is characterised by the concentration of a large number of traditional medicines or jampis (Quechua word for healing) related to a diversity of plant, mineral and animal products, and is attended by people and traders from different regions of Bolivia, as well as Andean healers and ritualists from Argentina, Chile and Brazil, who come to obtain these products. The general objective was to carry out an inventory of medicinal plants native to the Altiplano region sold at this fair and of the associated traditional knowledge. The research was carried out in April 2022 and 2023. Sixty-five species with medicinal properties were identified, grouped into 55 genera and 31 families, with the Asteraceae family being the most diverse in terms of medicinal use and number of species, followed by the Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae. The plants on offer at the fair come from Cerro Azanaques, Ventilla, Santiago de Condo, Vichajlupe, Thola Palca and from distant communities such as Pampa Aullagas, Salinas de Garci Mendoza (Oruro), some from Uyuni (Potosí). Eighty-five per cent of the species are native to the Altiplano, followed by endemic and cultivated species (7% each). The herbaceous stratum predominates with 55%. Fifty-four people were interviewed, 39 women and 14 men, aged between 21 and 82 years. Forty-four diseases were reported, grouped into three major categories, digestive, respiratory and urogenital systems. Most of the plants were used whole and the most frequent form of preparation was herbal tea, followed by baths, poultices and sahumerios.