Paramela (Adesmia boronioides Hook.f.): From Popular Uses to Commercialization

• Autores: González, Silvia B.; Ladio, Ana H.; Gastaldi, Bruno; Silva Sofrás, Fresia Melina; Mazzoni, Ariel; Sánchez, Gustavo
• Año de publicación: 2018
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: parte de libro
• Materia: Ciencias Agrarias; Ciencias Médicas y de la Salud; Paramela; Adesmia Boroniodes; Aceites Esenciales; Ciencias Agrarias; Ciencias Médicas y de la Salud
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Río Negro

Fil: González, Silvia. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco sede Esquel, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud, Ruta 259 km 4, Esquel, Chubut, Argentina.
Fil: Ladio, Ana. Grupo de Etnobiología. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medio Ambiente CONICET. Argentina.
Fil: Gastaldi, Bruno. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco sede Esquel, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud, Ruta 259 km 4, Esquel, Chubut, Argentina.
Fil: Silva Sofrás, Fresia Melina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco sede Esquel. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud, Ruta 259 km 4, Esquel, Chubut, Argentina.
Fil: Mazzoni, Ariel. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA).
Fil: Sánchez, Gustavo. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Tecnicatura en Viveros. Río Negro, Argentina.
Paramela (Adesmia boronioides Hook. f.) is a species with a long history of use among the native societies which inhabited in the past and inhabit today the Argentinean-Chilean Patagonia. Due to its cultural and symbolic value, it stands out as part of the biocultural heritage of the region. It is part of the knowledge and practices related mainly with the health and subsistence of Mapuche and Tehuelche communities since prehispanic times (Molares & Ladio, 2009a; Ciampagna & Caparelli, 2012). It is a species used for human consumption as medicine (Martínez-Crovetto, 1980; Campos et al. 1997; Montes & Milkomirsky, 2001) as well as ornamental and melliferous (Forcone & Muñoz, 2009; Green & Ferreyra, 2011). Recently, it has raised an increasing commercial interest given its exceptional conditions and potentialities, specially due to its fragrant odor (Montes & Peltz, 1963; Bandoni et al., 2000). There is a clear distinction in views between rural areas where paramela is mainly used as a medicinal infusion, and urban areas where it is used as ornament and / or as an aromatic ingredient for the preparation of an alcoholic beverage. Since 2005, its essential oil has been used as a supply for the perfume industry. This native plant of the Patagonian region inhabits low irrigation sites, is of slow growth, and its culture is of interest (Contardi et al., 2016, a, b). So far it is almost exclusively found in its natural state (Barthelemy et al., 2008). However, in a great part of the rural communities, mainly those of Mapuche-Tehuelche ascendance, the paramela is protected in family orchards either because it is tolerated and cared for with the rest of the plants or because it has been transplanted to these spaces, thus being possible to place it in an incipient domestication process (Ladio & Morales, 2017). A successful and sustained development of products from native plants requires a domestication process of the species, starting from an improvement of the raw materials and allowing a standardization in the active principles’ contents. Obtaining homogenous genetic material and quality plants is crucial for its production, processing and usage. Reproduction studies made from A. boronioides seeds, allowed for the development of the species propagation protocols and the production of plants in greenhouses (González et al., 2009; Sánchez et al., 2012; y Mazzoni et al., 2013). Since 2015, an experimental culture in the Andean region of the Argentinean Patagonia allows for the evaluation of the productivity and quality of the cultivated plant’s essential oil in relation to the wild population.