ABSTRACT
In aboriginal populations, wild plant use constitutes a distinctive manifestation of cultural identity that reflects the characteristics of local environment, the history, and the belief system of the people (Wetterstrom, 1978; Thornton, 1999; Ladio and Lozada, 2003a). In this context, the inclusion of wild plant foods in people’s diets is deeply linked not only to their nutritional needs but also to the mitiga tion of their health problems; these needs are integrated and they can not be easily separated, as is currently done in occidental society. It was Schultes and von Reis (1995) who suggested this aspect, indicat ing that in native classifications, the distinction between edible or me dicinal plants is very infrequent. The study I describe here was done in a Mapuche community of Argentina. I will evaluate similarities and differences between edible and medicinal wild plant use, using distinct levels of analysis such as botanical, ecological, and socio cultural.
