In order to identify the plants used in the making of handicrafts in the Department of Cauca, urban-rural field trips, and interviews with harvester artisans in the region, and bibliographic reviews of work carried out on this territory were performed. 221 species were grouped in 187genera and 79 families used in the making of a diversity of handicrafts. The most representative families according to the species used are: Poaceae (17 species), Arecaceae (16 species), Fabaceae (13 species), Rosaceae (10 species), Malvaceae (9 species), Asteraceae (9 species), Rutaceae and Araceae (7 species each). The handicrafts use vegetable species are grouped in the following 7 subcategories: basketwork with 45 species, imitation jewelry with 32 species, decorative objects with 32 species, paper with 17 species, knitting with 15 species, dyeing with 105 species and utensils with 19 species. The most common practices include wooden areas with 104 species (including 16 palm trees) and herbaceous with 90 species.