Ethnobotany Trip to Guyana
I always knew I would go but I did not know how much I would love it
I remember meeting another person with the last name Fraser when I lived in Baltimore and she could trace her ancestry to Guyana. My surname is also Fraser and this intrigued me and first put Guyana as a place on my radar that I wanted to visit. Guyana has the fifth largest population (Trinidad has the 6th largest) of Fraser’s in the world, under the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. This is due to a high degree to which the Scottish played in colonizing the Caribbean as traders and plantation owners.
I am currently reading a book called Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean that details this history of the Scottish in the Caribbean. The book mentions Fraser a lot and especially in relation to Guyana. Although the Dutch first colonized Guyana in 1616 with the intention to trade goods with Indigenous peoples under the Dutch West Indian Trading company. 15000 kilograms of tobacco were shipped from the Essequibo region by 1623! By the 1650s the banks of the Essequibo River were covered with plantations worked by thousands of enslaved people. The maps in the book show that along the Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo rivers were many plantations (sugar cane, coffee, cacao, tobacco and cotton) owned by people with the last name Fraser and other Scottish names by the late 1700s. This was also the case in Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago where there are also high numbers of people with the surname Fraser, the islands where my father and his ancestors were born. This is either a result of intermarrying or of unrelated people on a plantation being given the same last name of the plantation owner. The author also details everything from rebellions to family histories to give a good birds eye view of this topic. I recommend this book to anyone interested in this history!
When I started planning my trip to Guyana, besides hoping to find some Fraser’s :-), I knew was that I wanted to interview as many people as possible about herbal traditions and folk remedies. I know from interviewing people in Trinidad that most people are happy and fond of sharing memories of their favorite bush teas. Therefore, my general research question was “What is your favorite bush tea?”. I would then ask what they used them for and how they prepared them. In doing this type of research it is important to reciprocate and appreciate. I often carry chocolate from our brand Panorama Cacao and seeds from the land to share. I also reciprocate with answering questions that people have about plants or remedies. One time, I was walking down the street in Bartica, Guyana, and a blind man stopped me and asked me to count the money in his hand because he kept getting robbed. I am not sure why he trusted me without seeing me, but I am glad that he did. I sat down with him, counted his money and then asked him about some of his favorite herbs to use and then he asked me to pick some sweet sage (Lantana camara) for him since he can’t see. This was another example of natural reciprocity that shows up while doing field research.
THE TRIP
I flew into Georgetown’s OGL airport at night and when I woke up the next morning at 6 am, I went straight to Bourda Market which was walking distance from my Airbnb. I stopped by a few of the herb vendors. The first was a short Indian woman. I told her that I had been traveling and needed a bush tea to support me. She gave me Cure for all (Pluchea carolinensis), Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus), Tisane ( Lippia spp.). I also asked for something bitter and she gave be a red zeb grass (Tripogandra serrulata ) that she said is good for cleaning out your urine and blood and improving eye sight. She mentioned that I should not drink a lot of the zeb grass and to use sparingly. She also had bottles of ubiquitously named medicines like Sex tonic, Clean out belly, Diabetes medicine, prostate medicine, Malaria medicine, etc. These bottles likely held strong decoctions of multiple unknown herbs and it would take building a relationship with the wimen over time to learn those types of secrets!
She as well as many of the other herb sellers also had a myriad of dried bark and roots on display. Capadula, Granny back bone, rose of the mountain, sarsaparilla and cockshun were the most popular. One of my goals while there was to identify the actual plants that they call by these names because throughout the Caribbean and also in any one country there could be 3-5 different trees or vines used under the same name. I did this by showing pictures and asking if it was the same tree or plant. However, I realized that at the market, most sellers bought from a wholesaler and they did not actually harvest or fully know the plants themselves. They knew how to make the medicine though. Harvesting medicine and making medicine are two different skill sets and knowledge bases. I was very impressed by a cold remedy I bought from Sister Amanda that had 20 bushes that she said she boiled down over night in a sweet tamarind and honey mixture that made it pleasantly sweet but strong. I felt drowsiness effects within an hour and would only take again when I actually have cold symptoms and want to lay in bed! Some of the bushes she named in her concoction were basil, mint, tisane, cure for all, thyme, etc.
Within Guyana, the name granny backbone is given to several lianas with a flat, undulate stem, although the main one is Curarea candicans, and sometimes Bauhinia spp. Outside of Guyana, the name ‘sarsaparilla’ is used for several species of Smilax, however within Guyana sarsaparilla may be also be a yam (Dioscorea spp.) or a tree epiphyte named Philodendron fragrantissimum. Whatever the name, or the exact species, I learned that this particular set of herbs are usually used as tonics for mens fertility and impotence issues.
Kapadula wood is the main ingredient in aphrodisiacs made with the things like Caribbean locust bark (Hymenaea courbaril), cockshun root (Smilax schomburgkiana), kufa root (Clusia spp.), sarsparilla root (Dioscorea trichanthera), monkey ladder wood (Bauhinia spp.), and granny backbone wood (Curarea candicans). I was told that they are soaked in alcohol to make a tonic or boiled in water for at least 15 minutes if not much longer depending on the final preparation. When making a tea, it was noted that you can keep drawing down or steeping the same piece of wood in fresh water as long as it still imparts taste and color to the water. Most of these tonic herbs turn water a deep blood red color or dark brown color. These concoctions can be added to milkshakes or other foods. They are also known to strengthen the body and protect from illness, in addition to aphrodisiac qualities. Another thing that was noted is that as a woman, I should not drink much of these herbs. If I do drink, I should only take a shot glass full, or it would be too strong on my system. I was told “don’t rush rush with it, just a little or you will be too excited”. It was also noted that there is a red kapadula and a white kapadula and that white kapadula is better suited to women.
While in Georgetown for the day, I also visited the Stabroek market, the National Library and the Botanical Gardens. At the Botanical gardens it was lovely to see all of the lotus ponds in bloom as well as the stately and interesting Silk Cotton Trees lining the walkway. The Botanical Gardens is fashioned after the different ecosystems in Guyana from the rainforest to the savannahs and it is home to 100 of the 800 species of birds present in Guyana. It was beautiful but not very user friendly as there was only one path and the rest was not well maintained. There were also not many signs or information about plants or the gardens. It was still a very important part of my journey!
At the National Library, I went upstairs to the reference section and asked to see books on traditional medicine. The librarian pointed me to two books that were published in 1986 (A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Coastal Guyana) and 1987 (A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Trinidad and Tobago). The books were a wealth of knowledge and helped me with my research question about the similarities and differences of plant use between different Caribbean sub cultures. Trinidad and Guyana are very similar in climate, ethnicities and plant species and yet they are very different. So it was exciting to read these two books side by side and take ample notes!
BARTICA
I then caught a 1 hr taxi to Parika and a 1 hr speed boat to Bartica. I knew Guyana was big, but I did not fully prepare myself for the amount of time and energy it takes moving around from place to place. I chose Bartica because it is known as the Gateway to the Interior of Guyana. It is an old mining town and there is much evidence of Dutch and English colonization in the 1600s and 1700s. There is also still a lot of quarrying going on for sand and stone along the Essequibo in this area. I loved the people here and spent a lot of time making new friends at the Bartica Market through talking about farming and exchanging seeds like hill rice, cotton and hot peppers. I befriended a Warao man who was the self-proclaimed Indigenous mayor of Bartica, I had breakfast and lunch every day at Aunty Julies market stand where she sold rotis, baigan choka, pepper pot, egg balls and curry chicken (or chicken curry as they say in Guyana). Her food was so good, and she loved comparing Guyanese and Trinidad cuisine with me.
I found out that the owner of my guesthouse owned a speedboat tour company, so he took me on an amazing tour to Baracara waterfall where we stopped at different places along the way to admire the plants and scenery and for him to give me the history of the area. He was very knowledgeable about plants as well and was very open in sharing once he realized how serious I was! All around the guesthouse he had medicinal plants that he collected over the years and everyone I asked about had a good story to go with it. I gave him chocolate bars, butterfly pea seeds, brown cotton seeds and a comfrey/cbd cocoa butter salve I made at home to help with the pain in his hip as I was leaving.
Final Stop
Once I reached the last stop on my journey which was the town of Soesdyke on the banks of the Demerara river, I was greeted at the end of my street by a young man named Fish. He had a small market stand with roots and barks for sale. I had hit the jackpot because unlike at the Bourda market in Georgetown, his looked fresh and he could tell me more about where to find these plants in the forest and what they looked like. At first he was shy but then as we traded pictures of herbs that we harvest and we compared notes, he opened up and told me about his grandfather who taught him everything he knew. Another man of African descent named Abraham proudly told me that Fish and his family lineage truly own the land and are wealthy in their knowledge and birthrights as Indigenous peoples to Guyana. Abraham also showed me around the neighborhood, introducing me to his uncle, a farmer, and pointing out all the common plants and their uses like ironweed (Desmodium sp), wild daisy (Wedelia trilobata), congo pump (Cecropia sp), citronella grass, rabbit meat (Emilia spp.) and many others.
This area of Guyana felt the most like home out of all the places I visited. The smells, the plants, the people, the food! Even though the electricity was gone for most of my two days there, it allowed me to spend even more time outside, catching the breeze, talking to people and walking the land. They all encouraged me to come back soon so they can show me more and take me to some biodiversity hotspots. I look forward to this greatly because going further in the interior and talking to more people with Indigenous and Maroon lineages excites me and was the purpose of the trip. I knew this could not happen in a short amount of time so I hoped to find people that I can come back to and stay in touch with, which did happen.
A common thing I noticed was that if I asked who the traditional medicine healers or practitioners in an area were, most people would point out the fact that people don’t have to go to someone special because the medicinal bushes grow abundant everywhere. This is a common theme in Caribbean herbalism, that the knowledge of these plants lives on within everyone. Almost everyone can tell you something about traditional plant medicine and one person doesn’t hold all of the knowledge. This is why interviewing and compiling these stories is an important step in further appreciation of Caribbean folk medicine.
One important theme of this trip was trusting my intuition and guidance to meet the right people. Guyana was an amazing test of my faith, and I was greatly rewarded. I give thanks for my husband who encourages me to the fullest to spread my wings and fulfill my purpose. Even when I felt anxious and worried, he calmed my spirit and assured me I was on the right path. All while holding down our home, child and businesses while I was away!
Where to next for another ethnobotany trip!? I am thinking of Barbados, Dominica or Panama. Where have you been or would you recommend?