Hypotensive Plants of the Traditional Totonac Medicine from Tlalpila, Veracruz, Mexico

Totonacas is one of the main ethnic groups in Mexico since prehispanic times, mainly located in Veracruz with a small population in Puebla. Its present traditional medicine is rich and diverse in the use of medicinal plants and constitutes an ancestral legacy of their predecessors. Regional studies on the use of medicinal plants in Totonaca communities have recorded very few species with hypotensive effects. However, in the isolated community of Tlalpila in the Municipality of Zozocolco de Hidalgo, Veracruz, where Totonac traditional medicine has been preserved, 116 medicinal species have been documented and seven of them are used to treat hypertension. This chapter presents ethnomedical information of the seven hypotensive medicinal plant species used by Totonaca traditional healers from Tlalpila, Veracruz, and discusses in the light of scientific pharmacological and chemical evidence, the relation of biological activities confirmed and therapeutic applications.