safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 557 



of their travels, referred to the parted tree as a species of Inga; 

 specimens collected by Schomburgk were described by Bentham 

 under the name Mimosa (?) acacioides; Lieutenant Herndon, 

 U. S. Navy, in the report of his exploration of the valley of the 

 Amazon (1853) called it Acacia angico. Finally Bentham made 

 a careful study of all the botanical material he could lay his 

 hands on, and came to the conclusion that all the South Ameri- 

 can trees above referred to as the source of narcotic snuff were 



• 



probably one species, and were identical with Linnaeus' Mimosa 

 peregrina, which was first described in 1737 from a seedling grow- 

 ing in the celebrated Clifford Garden in Holland. In studying 

 the flowers of this tree Bentham came to the conclusion that it 

 could be regarded neither as a true Mimosa nor as an Acacia, 

 but that it must be placed in a closely related genus, which he 

 called Piptadenia, and consequently, in accordance with the rules 

 of priority, be called Piptadenia peregrina. In his synonymy he 

 made no reference to the cohoba tree of Haiti and Porto Rico. 

 In Martius's Flora Brasiliensis this and several very closely 

 related species are set apart as a section of Piptadenia, called 

 Niopo. It is quite possible that some other of these species, 

 especially Piptadenia macrocarpa Benth., are also a source of 

 narcotic snuff; and it is either this species or P. peregrina itself 

 from which the Quichua Indians derived their intoxicating huillca, 

 or vilca, with which, according to Acosta, they used to get glori- 

 ously drunk (emborrachanse bravamente) . 



SEBIL AND HUILLCA SNUFF OF ARGENTINA AND PERU 



Still another very closely allied species of Piptadenia was 

 described by Grisebach from specimens growing in the vicinity of 

 Cordova, Argentina. A careful study of Grisebach's description 

 inclines the writer to believe it possible that the plant in ques- 

 tion, described by Grisebach first under the name Acacia Cebil 

 and afterwards as Piptadenia Cebil, is a variety of P. peregrina, 

 or of P. macrocarpa. Grisebach does not indicate the narcotic 

 properties or indeed any uses of this plant, but in his first descrip- 

 tion he gives its vernacular name in Tucuman as cebil. 16 Of the 



16 See Grisebach, in Abhandl. der konigl. Gesellsch. der Wissensch. zu Got- 

 tingen, 19: 136. 1874; ibid., 24: 121. 1879. 



