[1] In Ecuador, its fruits are reportedly eaten to produce an inebriated state.

Coriaria ruscifolia grows in Mexico as well; it has been suggested that it was the Aztec inebriant known as tlacopétatl.

In the Las Huaringas region, a lake plateau in the northern Peruvian Andes, the local healers (curanderos) refer to Coriaria ruscifolia as contra-alergica, “against allergies.” They use the herbage to prepare a bath additive that they use to wash patients suffering from allergic reactions.

Known in Chile as deu, dewü, huique, huiqui, and matarratones, it is reputed to be a toxic hallucinogen.

The fruits are made into rat poison in Chile and are said to be lethal for small children.