ResumenEste trabajo pretende introducir a los usos e imaginarios relacionados con las plantas en las aldeas formativas de la Pampa del Tamarugal, Tarapacá (Chile). Se estudiaron los restos vegetales recuperados de las excavaciones de los sitios Pircas y Caserones, en la quebrada de Tarapacá, así como de Guatacondo 1 y Ramaditas, en la de Guatacondo. Estas aldeas poseen contextos domésticos, ceremoniales, mortuorios y de almacenaje, asociados a alimentos silvestres y cultivados, así como un amplio universo artefactual, principalmente en madera, que incluye materias primas, instrumentos y desechos de talla. Se concluye que, si bien las cuatro aldeas comparten aspectos significativos como su orientación agrícola y forestal, las ocupaciones de ambas cuencas expresan situaciones disími-les que permiten cuestionar la noción evolucionista que se ha tenido del período Formativo como una sucesión unilineal de etapas de progreso.Palabras claves: aldeas -Prosopis -alimentos -tecnologías vegetalesperíodo Formativo -Tarapacá. AbstractThe aim of this work is to introduce to the uses and imaginaries related to the plants in the formative villages of Pampa del Tamarugal, Tarapacá region (Chile). To accomplish this, we studied the plant remains recovered from excavations in the sites of Pircas and Caserones in the ravine of Tarapacá, as well as Guatacondo 1 and Ramaditas in the Guatacondo ravine. These villages have domestic, ceremonial, mortuary and storage contexts, from which were recovered wild and cultivated food and a wide artefactual universe, mainly in wood, including raw materials, artifacts and wastes. We conclude that while the four villages share significant aspects like their agriculture and forestry orientation, their occupations are dissimilar, which permits us to question the evolutionary notion that understands the Formative period as a unilinear succession of stages of progress.

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A biologically monitored fractionation of the resinous exudate of Fabiana densa Remy var. ramulosa Wedd. led to the isolation of the two new diterpenes: ent-beyer-15-en-18-O-succinate and ent-beyer-15-en-18-O-oxalate as the unique compounds responsible for the observed antibacterial activity of this extract. Their structures were determined by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy.

Dunalia spinosa, a plant used in folk medicine for toothaches, breathing problems and cleansing wounds, was found active as antimicrobial and antioxidant. A new (E)-aurone rutinoside (dunaurone) has been isolated from the aerial parts of the plant, and its structure was determined by spectroscopic means. Lupeol, ß-sitosterol, scopoletin, quercetin and withaferin A were also found. All the extracts exhibited strong antimicrobial activity while dunaurone showed only weak antimicrobial inhibition against Klebsiella pneumoniae; in addition it presented a significant free radical scavenging activity.

Surface features, anatomy, and ultrastructure of the floral nectary of Eccremocarpus scaber (Bignoniaceae), pollinated predominantly by the largest‐known hummingbird (Patagona gigas gigas), were studied together with nectar sugar content and secretion rate. The annular disk nectary comprises epidermis, secretory and ground parenchyma with intercellular spaces, and branched vascular bundles terminating in the secretory parenchyma where only phloem is found. Amyloplasts and vacuoles increase in size throughout development, the latter becoming sites of organelle degradation. Transferlike cells in nectary phloem and P‐proteinlike fibrillar material in phloem parenchyma were observed. Flowers produced around 32 μl of nectar (mostly after anthesis) with 11 mg of sugar composed of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and maltose in a ratio of 0.34:0.32:0.17:0.17. Morphological studies as well as the presence of maltose and glucose in nectar suggest storage of the originally phloem‐derived sugars as starch with its subsequent hydrolysis. The low sucrose/hexose ratio (0.25) and high nectary secretion force (nectar per flower biomass) observed places E. scaber close to large‐bodied bat‐pollinated plants. A hypothesis based on nectar origin and nectar secretion is advanced to explain pollinator‐correlated variation in sucrose/hexose ratio.