SAN ANTONIO - Behind the counter at Casa Mireles, a botanica in downtown San Antonio, rows of small white drawers used to store dried herbs are neatly labeled in Spanish names, such as yerba en cruz, golpe, capitana and chocolate del indio.

Some of the drawers are empty, the curative properties of the herbs once commonly used by curanderos, or folk healers, having been forgotten over the years, said Yolanda Davila, who runs the store, founded in 1916 by her grandparents.

``The modern curanderos, they don't know of those yerbas mas antiguas,'' said Davila, who runs the store with her 90-year-old mother, Estela Davila. She was referring to the ancient herbs.

But many people, including customers in their 20s, still come to the botanica seeking the ingredients for remedies they grew up with, Davila said.

Centuries-old, traditional Mexican folk medicine, or curanderismo, persists despite modern medicine.

Ellen Riojas Clark, a professor in the division of bicultural and bilingual studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said her students have done surveys about the practice.

``It was astonishing to me to see the results that in the year 2000, young people 25 years old know about curanderismo and it's still practiced,'' she said.

Why?

``Well, because I think it works. That's why,'' Clark said.

She is not alone.

``I do believe it works if you use discretion,'' said Eliseo Torres, vice president of student affairs at the University of New Mexico.

Torres, the author of ``Green Medicine: Traditional Mexican-American Herbal Remedies'' (Nieves Press), is working on two self-help books tentatively titled ``Heal Yourself Using Traditional Hispanic Plants'' and ``How to Heal Yourself Using Ancient Hispanic Rituals.''

``If you really need medical attention you have to go to see a physician, but if you look at what other physicians and practitioners of alternative medicine are saying, it's not any different than what my grandmother was doing. They use different language, but it's basically the same concept.''

The basis of curanderismo is that a human being is made up of three aspects - the physical, the mental and the spiritual, said Elizabeth de la Portilla, a lecturer in the division of bilingual and bicultural studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan.

``These three things are entwined with one another, and in order for the body to be healthy these three things have to be aligned and in harmony,'' said de la Portilla, who is studying the work of Jacinto Madrigal, a San Antonio yerbero, or herbalist, as well as the work of a curandera known as La Golondrina. ``This belief has been around since before the Spaniards.''

When one of the three aspects is off kilter, the result can be sickness.

``To be sick from one's nerves is to be emotionally or mentally ill,'' de la Portilla said. ``But because curanderismo talks about the body as a unit aligned spiritually and mentally, being sick from a nervous condition is a physical ailment.''

Some of the traditional treatments involve rubbing the body with aromatic herbs while reciting prayers.

For Jacinto Madrigal, help for ailments comes in the form of the herbs and plants he cultivates in the backyard of his San Antonio home. Born in Mexico, Madrigal grew up with the use of herbs for healing. His grandmother's yard was full of medicinal herbs, Madrigal said, speaking in Spanish.

In recent years, he has augmented his knowledge of herbal medicine through study. After having a series of heart attacks in 1993, Madrigal began doing research to find out what herbs would be beneficial for him.

``I don't like to take so much medicine from doctors,'' Madrigal said. ``They give out too many kinds of pills. For the most part, doctors' medications are good, but the chemistry is so strong that if they improve one illness, they cause another.''

Retired from construction work, Madrigal sells the plants he grows at a flea market. Of the plants he sells, the most sought after are ruda (or rue), romero (or rosemary) and albacar (or basil). To ward off bad energy, a person should plant all three in their front yard, he says.

Each person has an aura, or electrical field, surrounding the body that can be damaged by bad energy, Madrigal said. Aromatic plants can help restore the aura.

The scent of the plant is important because the scent is the ``spirit that comes out of the plant, the energy,'' he said.

Customers also come seeking basil, believed to be good for stomachaches, insomnia and calming the nerves when consumed as a tea. Anise is also sought for its calming effect.

In addition to using plants in traditional ways, Madrigal combines complementary herbs and plants to maximize their affect. He has developed a tea using 14 different types of plants; he said it is good for treating diabetes.

``He does `r and d' - research and development - in the barrio,'' de la Portilla said of Madrigal's work. ``It's innovative. It's smart and it's creative.''

Ethnobotanists go looking in the rain forest for medicinal plants, de la Portilla said, ``and we should be looking closer to home.''
　　
　　(HealthWorld Online)