Skip to content
Herbs & Cultures

Mapuche medicine →

Matico wound wash

An infusion of matico leaves, in Chile the household remedy for washing small wounds and burns.

Traditional use

Time
25 minutes
Makes
Wound wash for 1 day
Matico

Matico (pañil in Mapudungun) is a shrub with orange ball-shaped flowers from the forests of Chile and Argentina. It is a well-known Chilean household remedy, also among the Mapuche: an infusion of the leaves is used externally to wash wounds, small burns and sores.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp dried matico leaf
  • 500 ml water
  • Clean gauze pads

Step by step

  1. Bring the water to the boil with the leaves and boil for 5 minutes.
  2. Steep for 15 minutes, strain through a cloth and let cool to lukewarm.
  3. Dab the wound twice a day with a gauze pad soaked in the wash.
  4. Make a fresh infusion every day.

Tips

  • In Peru a different plant (Piper aduncum) is also called matico. Buy Chilean matico, Buddleja globosa.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    South America · Herb · № 853

    Matico

    Buddleja globosa

    A shrub with orange, ball-shaped flowers. The leaf contains anti-inflammatory compounds such as verbascoside; clinical research on wound healing is lacking.

    Mapuche medicine

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

The herbs in this recipe also appear in these traditions.