Incredible Andean plant friends

*Note to Jon: This is my experience blog post for this Sunday (June 16). This post is like The Tree Post but better.

I’ve been nourished by so much incredible plant knowledge today and I would love to share it with you all. Also, I saw quinoa plants for the first time on our drive to Moray! So amazing!!!

(Stay tuned for photos. The wifi is terrible and I can’t search up images.)

Muña

• English name: Andean mint
• Spanish name: menta
• Scientific name: Minthostachys mollis
  • I’m unsure why the genus for this plant is Minthostachys, while the genus for the common mint we usually see is Mentha. It might just be a location thing?
• I’ve been seeing muña tea everywhere we go and at first I thought it was regular mint, same as what we have at home, and that calling it “Andean mint” was just a marketing ploy
  • But no! Muña is a different mint endemic to the Andes! (Endemic means a plant is only found in this one specific place)
• When I searched it up, I found that muña is traditionally used as a carminative (something to prevent the formation of gas or help with the expulsion of gas from the stomach)
  • This claim has no citation on Wikipedia so I was very skeptical, but now I can say from personal experience that this is indeed true! (Emily can also back up my claim)
  • After discovering this for myself, I brought the tea to Annie hoping it would cure her big tummy ouchie. Guess what? It worked! Tummy ouchie no more!
  • Highly recommended for anybody’s future tummy ouchies! And muña tea is also muy rrrrrico!

Tara 

• Described in my previous post about trees, but now I’ve actually seen and experienced it!
• Commonly called tara in English and Spanish too
• English: Peruvian carob
• Spanish: guarango
• Scientific name: Tara spinosa
• Tara is sort of a pacifier for kids! And for adults too probably…
  • One of the teachers at Kusi Kaway kindly showed us the traditional way of eating the bean-like fruit of the plant. After popping the seed out of the pod, you have to carefully peel the outer skin off of the seed. As the outer skin comes off, it pulls off with it the translucent layer underneath. You then carefully isolate the translucent layer and chew on it like gum (except that you can swallow it)!
  • I have two pods sitting in my room so let me know if you would like a demonstration :))
  • It doesn’t taste like much and I would describe the texture as similar to… crystal boba? Not the super chewy kind of boba, I’m talking about the one that’s kind of crunchy.

Kiswar

• Same name in both English and Spanish, just with different spellings
• Scientific name: Buddleja incana
• At Kusi Kaway, the weaving teacher told us kiswar is used to dye fabrics yellow or maroon!

Capuli

• Described in my previous post about trees, but I finally learned to recognize them today at Kusi Kaway!
• Spanish: cerezo criollo
• English: black cherry
• Scientific name: Prunus serotina
• I think we’ve been seeing quite a few of them here and there, but I just didn’t know they were capuli trees. I will be looking more carefully from now on!

Tarwi

• Scientific name: Lupinus mutabilis
  • Emma you were right when you said this plant looked like a lupin!
• Also referred to as tarwi in English and Spanish
• A great gluten-free grain choice for Anja!
• Also super high in protein so great for the vegetarians in our group!
• I keep trying to try this food, but the markets keep running out of it by the time I get there. But I am determined! I will try tarwi before we leave the Sacred Valley!
• I saw the plant itself for the first time today at Kusi Kaway! So exciting!!
• Tarwi is nitrogen fixing (for those that didn’t read The Tree Post, this means a plant can take nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil, usually through symbiotic relationships with certain bacteria)! Using this plant as green manure (AKA incorporating residues into the soil as fertilizer) is great for improving soil fertility and structure.

(Sorry this post has so many exclamation marks, I’m just so excited.)

Jasmine, I’m still trying to figure out what the shorter, blue-looking trees that you pointed out while we stood at Puka Pukara are. I will update you when I do! I stumbled upon cinchona trees while searching, which have a pretty insane history if you’re curious. Cinchona is also the national tree of Peru, which is… interesting.

Also, I didn’t catch the name of the plant we encountered at Kusi Kaway today that smelled fantastic and is used to treat respiratory issues. I would really appreciate if anybody has more information!

Update 06/13/2024: Turns out the shorter, blue-looking trees are just baby eucalyptus 🙁