EIGHT PLANTS - NATIVE AND TRADITIONAL MEDICAL USES
Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve

Roots, leaves, bark, flowers and seeds of specific plants have all been used for healing and medicinal purposes around the world from antiquity to the present. In fact, some of our familiar medicines are chemical copies of naturally occurring substances; one such is aspirin (salicylic acid) found in willow, cottonwood and poplar tree twigs and bark.

AN EARLY ETHNOBOTANIST

The Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve is named for Leonora Scott Muse Curtin who first came to New Mexico from New York in 1889. She was an avid naturalist, who spoke fluent Spanish, and quickly became fascinated with the healing skills of the curanderas, who used naturally growing herbs to treat the sick and injured. Healing Herbs of the Upper Rio Grande compiles Curtin's research from time spent in the mountain villages of Northern New Mexico.

Ground Cherry	Cottonwood	Equisetum
Globe Mallow	EIGHT PLANTS NATIVE AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USES	Piñon
Yarrow	Mullein	Yerba Mansa

Information contained in this article is not intended to prescribe or recommend native and/or traditional remedies but only to illustrate how certain plants have been used for medicinal purposes

REFERENCES

Curtin, L.S.M. 1947 revised edition 1997 Michael Moore Healing Herbs of the Upper Rio Grande, Western Edge Press, Santa Fe.

Dunmire, William W. , and Tierney, Gail D. 1955: Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province, Museum of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Cerrillos Hills Historic Park - A Catalog of Nature in the Cerrillos Hills

Medicinal Plants of the Southwest - New Mexico State University - History, Habitat, Propagation, Non-Medicinal, Medicinal, Preparation, Phytochemistry/Toxicology

Native American Ethnobotany - Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of Native American Peoples

Wildflowers and Weeds - Identification of Wild Flowers - Thomas J. Elpel