The voqui colorado (Cissus striata Ruiz & Par. or Clematicissus striata (Ruiz & Pav.) Lombardi) is a small-leaved evergreen vine with creeping or climbing habit. It was part of the human diet in precolombian times and it was still collected in the forest in the years following the arrival of the Europeans (Silva et al., 2019).
The stems of Cissus striata are long (up to 5 m) and fibrous. The leaves are petiolated (1.3-3.5 cm long) and palmately compound. The leaflets are oblong, cuneate at the base and acute at the apex. The inflorescence is a bunch of greenish small flowers. The fruits are bunches of berries, about 5-6 mm, purple when immature and dark blue or black when mature (Alarcon et al., 2020; Wilhelm de Mösbach, 1955; Blendinger et al., 2016). The stems serve as a support (canvas) for the straw in traditional Mapuche thatched roofs, and are used to make baskets in South Chile (Catalan-Labarias et al., 2006; Wilhelm de Mösbach, 1955). Cissus striata is used in ethnomedicine as an astringent for skin diseases and antihemorragic (Alarcon et al., 2020; Wilhelm de Mösbach, 1955).
There is almost no information in the scientific literature about the use of the voqui colorado in livestock feeding. The only data available show that it is a good quality forage that has been browsed by cattle in Chile (Vargas et al., 1965).
