ABSTRACT
The arrival of the Spaniards radically modifi ed the native medicine practices of the Aztecs and the use of medicinal plants. Diverse colonial documents, such as those of Martín de la Cruz, Juan Badiano, Bernardino de Sahagún and Francisco Hernandez, provide examples of the use of medicinal plants from the viewpoint of the Aztecs in works such as Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians). Additional works describe the actions of Mexican medicinal plants and suggest their usefulness, such as Historia de las cosas dela Nueva España (General History of the Things of the New Spain) by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (Viesca 1992, Viesca 1996).
