Wixaritari or Huichol Ethnobotany of the Southern Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico

Abstract

The Wixaritari, Wixarika, or Huichol is a contemporary group of Indigenous people, one of the most traditionally preserved of Mexico and probably the Americas. It is a society whose people have lived geographically isolated since the Spanish conquest and have maintained their ethnic identity and ancestral social, political, educational, and religious structure, for over hundreds of years, through oral communication and the practice of its traditions and customs. Its language derived from the Uto-Aztec-Sonorense linguistic family, and there is archaeological evidence proving their permanence in the territory during the last 1800 years. This study documents the traditional knowledge and worldview that the Wixaritari have on useful plants they interact with. An analysis is included integrating botanical, geographical, ethnological, anthropological, linguistic, sociological, and historical works on the subject. We identified 596 plant species used by the Wixaritari, 190 of them medicinal, 131 edible, 114 ceremonial, 63 timber, and 72 with other use like fibers, fodder, soap, firewood, glue, and poison. From each category, mythological and cosmogonic aspects of the most outstanding species are described, as well as their use and plant parts used. The results suggest the need to record the Wixaritari plant traditional heritage, before it gets lost by acculturation, death, migration, and ecological deterioration of their territories. In addition, we systematized an inventory of the useful species reported, mainly addressing the edible plants and emphasize the need of conducting ethnobotanical investigations in areas with scarce or null information, for instance, the communities of San Sebastián Teponohuaxtlán, Tuxpan de Bolaños, and Guadalupe Ocotán. We also emphasize the need of generating more applied and holistic ethnobiological research, including a greater feedback from and cooperation with the Wixaritari communities.