458 ECONOMIC BOTANY erence, Martfnez (7), identified 'guapaque' as Dialium guienense [sic] (Aubl.) Sandwith. He said the wood was heavy and did not float, and was used for fence-posts, railroad ties, carriage wheels, and so forth. The pods resembled a tamarind's, with an acid-tasting pulp. Martfnez had no information on Ostrya. It is as important to delete wrong names as to add correct ones, but no modem reference removes 'guapaque' as a Mexican name for Ostrya. The name belongs only to Dialium guianensis. Literature Cited. (1) Francisco Santamarfa. 1978. Diccionario de Mejicanismos, 3rd edition. Editorial Porrtia, S.A., Mexico, D.E; (2) de Molina, Alonso. 1970. Vocabulario en lengua Mexicana y Castellana. Editorial Pornia, S.A., Mexico, D.E; (3) Standley, Paul C. 1920. Trees and shrubs of Mexico. Contributions U.S. National Herbarium, Vol. 23, Part I. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Page 169; (4) Standley, Paul C. and Steyermark, Julian A. 1946. Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany, Vol. 24, Part V. Chicago Natural History Museum, Chicago. Page 136; (5) Standley, Paul C. and Steyermark, Julian A. 1952. Flora of Guatemala, Fieldiana: Botany, Vol. 24, Part III. Chicago Natural History Museum, Chicago. Page 367; (6) Hortus Third. 1976. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York. Page 804; (7) Martfnez, Maximino. 1959. Plantas utiles de la flora Mexicana. Editorial Porrtia, S.A., Mexico, D.E Page 282. --Margaret Delfeld, W1323 County HH, Brownsville, WI 53006, USA. Parmelia spp. (lichens) in ancient medicinal plant lore of I n d i a . - - I n folklore, lichens are used as medicine and have been listed in the different pharmacopoeias of the world (1). Hale stated (2) that during the middle ages lichens figured prominently in the herbals used by medical practitioners. Llano pointed out (3) that the use of lichens in medicine can be traced back to antiquity. He mentioned that Evernia furfuracea has been found in an Egyptian vase from the 18th Dynasty (1700-1600 B.C.), and is still imported into Egypt from Europe and sold with Cetraria islandica as a foreign drug. Further, Gonzalez-Tejero et al. (4) emphasized that lichens have been used in traditional medicine since the time of the first Chinese and Egyptian civilizations. Our literary review and records of medicinal plant lore of India show the word Shipal is used for algae in Rigveda (6000-4000 B.C.) (5), a text [VOL. 55 where the first authentic record of Oshadhi (medicine) has been described. The medicinal properties attributed to Shipal as a lichen are in Avkolva as mentioned in Athraveda (1500 B.C.) (6). Subsequently a number of Sanskrit synonyms of lichens--for example, Shailaya, and Shilapushp--have been described in Sushruta Samhita (1000 B.C.), Charak Samhita (300-200 B.C.), and several Nighantu (A.D. 1100-1800) (7, 8). The work in the above classical texts is followed by Sharma who carried out their critical analysis (9, 10). The Sanskrit names of lichens were later identified to several species of the genus Parmelia (11, 12) such as P. cirrhata and P. perforata. The vernacular name Chharlia is widely used in Ayurveda, an ancient system of medicine in India, for different diseases and disorders, for example, headache, skin diseases, urinary trouble, boils, vomiting, diarrhoea, dysentery, heart trouble, cough, fever, leprosy, and as a blood purifier. It is significant that another species of the same genus--Parmelia sulcata, which is described in medicinal plant lore of India--is also reported as medicinally useful by Hale in cranial maladies. Lipp highlighted (13) the work of Curtin (14) who wrote that Piman informants likened the effect of a lichen to that of marihuana and noted that the smoking of this lichen "makes young men crazy." During ethnobotanical research among the Papago, samples of this lichen were obtained and later identified as P. conspera. Considerable magical potency is attributed to this plant by the Papago-Pima, since it is also used for success in hunting, in gambling, in love, and for disposing of an enemy. He also quoted the reference of Devereux, Vestal, and Schultes (15, 16) and stated that whether these specimens account for the use of lichens with similar properties by the Mohave and Kiowa or whether other lichen genera are involved can not be presently ascertained. It seem reasonable to say that the Parmelia spp. of lichens were identified as medical substances of great interest in ancient India and should be evaluated for their ethnopharmacokinetics. Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful to Prof. E V. Sharma, formerly Director, Postgraduate Institute of Indian Medicine, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, for suggestions. Thanks are also due to Dr. R Pushpanga- 2001 ] NOTES dan, Director, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India, for providing facilities. Literature Cited. (1) Vartia, K. O. 1973. Antibiotics in lichens. Pages 547-561 in V. Ahmadjian and M. E. Hale, eds., The Lichens. Academic Press, New York and London. (2) Hale Jr., E. M. 1983 The Biology of Lichens, third ed. Edward Arnold Ltd. (3) Llano, G. A. 1948. Economic uses of lichens. Economic Botany 2:26. (4) Gonzalez-Tejero, M. R., M. J. Martinez-Lirola, M. Casares-Porcel, and J. Molero-Mesa. 1995. Three lichens used in popular medicine in Eastern Andalucia (Spain). Economic Botany 49:96-98. (5) Rigveda 1985. Commentrator-Shri Pad Damodar Satvalekar. In Hindi, printed at Mehra Offset Press, New Delhi. (6) Atharvaveda 1958. Commentrator-Shri Pad Damodar Satvalekar. In Hindi, Printed at Mehra Offset Press, New Delhi. (7) Singh, T. B., and K. C. Chunekar. 1972. Glossary of vegetable drugs in Brhattrayi. The Chaukhambha Sanskrit Series, Varanasi. (8) Sharma, P. V. 1998. Dravyaguna Vigyan. Chaukhmbha Bharti Academy, Varanasi, India VII: 724-726. (9) Sharma, P. V. 1984. Dravyaguna Vigyan. Chaukhmbha Bharti Academy, Varanasi, India. 459 Bhumika IV:27-28. (10) Sharma, P V. 1984. Dravyaguna Vigyan. Chaukhmbha Bharti Academy, Varanasi, India IV:151, 198. (11) Dymock, W., C. J. H. Warden, and D. Hooper. 1890. Pharmacographia Indica. Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta. (12) CS1R. 1962. The wealth of India, Raw Material, New Delhi, VI:85. (13) Lipp., E J. 1995. Ethnobotanical method and fact: A case study. Pages 52-59 in R. E. Schultes and S. Von Reis, eds., Ethnobotany: evolution of a discipline. Chapman & Hall, London. (14) Curtin, L. S. M. 1949. By the prophet of the earth. San Vincente Foundation, Santa Fe, NM. (15) Devereux, G. 1949. Magic substances and narcotics of the Mohave Indians. British Journal of Medical Psychology 22:111112. (16) Vestal, P. A., and R. E. Schultes. 1939. The Economic botany of the Kiowa Indians as it relates to the history of the tribe. Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. --Kumar, Kaushal (Ethnobotany Section, National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Luckow-226001, India), and D. K. Upreti (Lichenology Laboratory, National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Luckow226 001, India).