Vol. 30, pp. 51-62 March 31, 1917 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



THE COWHAGE AND RELATED SPECIES. 

 BY CHARLES V. PIPER. 



In connection with economic investigations of the Florida 

 Velvet Bean and other cultivated forms of Stizolobium, various 

 related species characterized by having stinging hairs on the 

 calyx and pods, have been studied both from growing plants 

 and from herbarium material. The stinging hairs from one or 

 more of these species were formerly used in medicine as an an- 

 thelmintic. This substance was known as cowhage, couhage 

 or cowitch, the names also being applied to the plant which 

 produces the substance. The medicinal use of cowhage as an 

 anthelmintic was first recorded by Browne (Browne, Patrick. 

 Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, p. 291. 1756) and later 

 described in detail by Bancroft (Bancroft, Edward. An Essay 

 on the Natural History of Guiana, pp. 390 et seq. 1769). 



The name cowhage or cowitch is of East Indian origin, ac- 

 cording to Watt (Watt, George. Dictionary of Economic 

 Products of India, 5:286), a corruption of kiwach or kiwanch, 

 the Hindu name of the plant. While the name is of East Indian 

 origin, the official cowhage seems to have been secured wholly, 

 or at least mainly, from the West Indian plant. 



With few exceptions botanists have considered that there is 

 but one species of cowhage, to which the name Mucuna pruriens 

 is generally applied. The facts are far too complex to permit 

 of such a simple disposition. 



The pre-Linnaean history of the various plants referred to 

 cowhage is much complicated, but at least three different plants 

 were involved. Parkinson in 1640 described a cowhage from 

 Surat, India, with black shining seeds. Morrison in 1680 de- 



14— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 30, 1917. (51) 



