Ethnopharmacology of Ska Maria Pastora (Salvia divinorum, Epling and Jativa-M.)

Leander Valdes, Jose Luis Diaz and Ara Paul were researchers in pharmacognosy, and this peer-reviewed Journal of Ethnopharmacology article reports their fieldwork with Mazatec curanderos recording the identification, ritual preparation and traditional use of Salvia divinorum, including its association with the Virgin Mary in Mazatec practice. Its strength is that it combines direct ethnographic fieldwork with the same authors' own botanical and pharmacological expertise, a combination that gives the account of both the plant's identity and its traditional religious use real authority. Its limit is that it documents the specific Mazatec curandero practice the authors observed at one period, so a claim about a different regional use of the plant needs a separate source.