ZAVALETA'S 40-YEAR WORK OF LOVE WELL RECEIVED

By Juan Montoya

They could have been at the park, lounging on their patios on the balmy Sunday afternoon or getting the grill going for the weekend BBQ.

Instead, the standing-room only crowd gathered at the Brownsville Heritage Museum

(the Porfirio Diaz's cuartel next to the Stillman House) and listed raptly as Dr. Antonio N. Zavaleta presented his newly-published book on medicinal herbs used along the Rio Grande borderlands.

"This is not a how-to book, and I am not giving out remedies for any ailments you may have," he told the audience. "People have already called me up from different places asking me how to fix this herb or that one and this is not what this book is about."

The compendium of medicinal plants used along the borderlands is lengthy, some 625 plants are listed in the attractive tome decorated with an original artwork depicting the revered Niño Fidencio administering a treatment using medicinal herbs.

The illustration for the book's cover is by local artist Daniel Maldonado Nuñez titled "El Niño Fidencio Curando con Plantas," commissioned for the publication of Zavaleta's work. Maldonado was present and receive a round of appreciative applause from the audience.

Zavaleta published his medicinal plant opus through AuthorHouse Publishers in Bloomington, Ind. The 314-page compendium is as its title claims: A (Semi) Bilingual Resource Gu

ide of the Borderlands, or Plantas Medicinales Fronterizas, Un Guia Bilingue.

Zavaleta says he started the journey some 40 years ago to this eventual publication when, as he studied curanderismo (folk healing), he realized that medicinal plants were an integral part of the native healing traditions.

"You can't study curanderismo without encountering the medicinal plants curanderos use in their remedies, remedios," he writes on the "how-to use this book" preface to the tome. "For 40 years I have collected plants and researched their names and how they are used to treat illnesses."

He broke the book into five basic categories: English plant names, Spanish plant names, plant pharmacognosy properties; and which specific illnesses or condition the plant is believed to treat in the cultural realm.

The author is very explicit on what he expects to achieve with his work.

"The information contained in this book is a virtual treasure trove for anyone who needs awareness of plant medicine or delivers health care to people who continue to utilize pre-pharmacy plant medicine," he writes. "This book provides information that guides both the serious enthusiast through the world of medicinal plants "plantas medicinales" and more finely detailed information by studying specific plants."

In the 1982 interview, Zavaleta told the Herald that "the use of botanical remedies in the contemporary America is part of the continued cultural Renaissance of man's awareness in his place in nature. This basic need is evidenced in a universal tradition of use that crosses continents, cultures and social status."

Although the initial shipment of the book at the Heritage Museum ran out before all the audience could purchase their copy, staffers there said they would gladly order them their copy and they would even foot the shipment if they so desired. Among the audience were local plant healers, academics and medical doctors.

You can purchase the book through Amazon.com, Barnes&Nobles.com and can be ordered through the UTB-TSC bookstore.