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Use: Yacami Huasca is used as remedy for paralyzed or weak legs of children that have trouble walking. The cure is believed to work through a visual symbolic resemblance. The leaves of this vine look like the feet of the trumpeter bird. The trumpeter has long legs that it lifts clearly off the ground as it walks in a march like movement. When babies have trouble learning to walk, or have legs that seem to be paralyzed, a poultice is made of Yacami leaves and applied hot to the joints and leg muscles of the affected toddler. The bird’s marching ability is believed to pass through the leaf that resembles it into the patient’s muscles so that they too acquire the marching gait. Other plants that are used for the same purpose are Selaginella anceps and Oxalidaceae spathula. These two plants are also believed to work through the logic of visual resemblance. Both plants are believed to resemble miniature chontas (Bactris gasipaes) The Chonta is a palm with a very strong straight trunk. Treated with these leaves, the baby’s legs become miniature versions of the strong legs of adults just as the plant stems are miniatures of the chonta’s strong trunk.

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