La Etnobotánica y Etnofarmacología de los Tomatillos Silvestres, Physalis longifolia Nutt., y Especies Afines a Physalis: Una Revisión

Translated title of the contribution: The Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology of Wild Tomatillos, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and Related Physalis Species: A Review

Kelly Kindscher, Quinn Long, Steve Corbett, Kirsten Bosnak, Hillary Loring, Mark Cohen, Barbara N. Timmermann

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology of Wild Tomatillos, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and Related Physalis Species: A Review. The wild tomatillo, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and related species have been important wild-harvested foods and medicinal plants. This paper reviews their traditional use as food and medicine; it also discusses taxonomic difficulties and provides information on recent medicinal chemistry discoveries within this and related species. Subtle morphological differences recognized by taxonomists to distinguish this species from closely related taxa can be confusing to botanists and ethnobotanists, and many of these differences are not considered to be important by indigenous people. Therefore, the food and medicinal uses reported here include information for P. longifolia, as well as uses for several related taxa found north of Mexico. The importance of wild Physalis species as food is reported by many tribes, and its long history of use is evidenced by frequent discovery in archaeological sites. These plants may have been cultivated, or "tended," by Pueblo farmers and other tribes. The importance of this plant as medicine is made evident through its historical ethnobotanical use, information in recent literature on Physalis species pharmacology, and our Native Medicinal Plant Research Program's recent discovery of 14 new natural products, some of which have potent anti-cancer activity.

Translated title of the contributionThe Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology of Wild Tomatillos, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and Related Physalis Species: A Review
Original languageSpanish
Pages (from-to)298-310
Number of pages13
JournalEconomic Botany
Volume66
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • anti-cancer
  • Ethnobotany
  • Ethnopharmacology
  • medicinal
  • medicinal chemistry
  • Paleoethnobotany
  • Physalis longifolia
  • Tomatillos
  • traditional ecological knowledge

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Plant Science
  • Horticulture

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