Parastrephia lepidophylla

Parastrephia lepidophylla, commonly known as tola or tola tola, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to South America and has been recorded from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru where it is characteristic of the puna grassland ecoregion. It is a resinous shrub, growing up to 2 m in height, that is typically found in semi-arid central Andean dry, or tola heath, puna habitats, at altitudes of 3500–5000 m above sea level, and in the undergrowth of central Andean Polylepis forest.^[1]

Parastrephia lepidophylla
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Parastrephia
Species:	P. lepidophylla
Binomial name
Parastrephia lepidophylla (Wedd.) Cabrera
Synonyms
Lepidophyllum tola Cabrera

Uses

In north-western Argentina the smoke from burning the leaves of the plant has been used externally as an aid in hastening childbirth.^[2]

References

1. "Central Andean Ecosystems". Terrestrial Biozones. Peter Martin Rhind. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
2. Pennacchio, Marcello; Jefferson, Lara; Medard, Kayri Havens; Welch, Elizabeth (2010). Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke : Its Ethnobotany as Hallucinogen. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199708475.