Medicinal plants are identified by common names in Spanish and English, as well as by genus and species in botanical Latin. Those plants that are also used in teas or extracts as remedies in alternative medicine by English speakers are included in Part II, the Spanish to English section. It must be emphasized that none of these remedies are recommended. They are included so that health care providers know of them. Yet another difficulty arises from insufficient or inaccurate information or inadequate vocabulary.
Language change is a problem.
Vocabulary derives from experiences. Despite the efforts of academicians to keep the Spanish language pure, medical terminology continues to reflect both the latest technology and the new popular medicine of the various media, especially radio and television. In particular, television has influenced the medical vocabulary of our youngest Mexican American informants, who were likely to know few Spanish terms but were also commonly cared for by their grandmothers, who knew little English. Most consultants were older women. This edition includes words that have more recently entered the vocabulary.