Andes Peru. (1945); Munoz P., Sin. Fl. Chilena, Ed. 2(1966)96. 
Melchior (in Engler, Syllab. Pflanzenfam., Ed. 12, 2(1964)408) 
has kept Desfontainiaceae, but has noted that the systematic 
position is still not clear. Similarly, Takhtajan (Flow. Pl., Origins 
and Dispersal (transl. Jeffrey) (1969)203) maintains Desfon- 
tainiaceae as a separate family but remarks: ‘‘relationships not 
very clear’’. Macbride (Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Bot. Ser. 13, pt. 5, 
no. | (1959)249) and Skottsberg (Bot. Ergebnisse (1916)287) 
have retained Desfontainia in the Loganiaceae. Airy Shaw, 
however, continues to assign the genus to the Potaliaceae (in 
Willis, Dict. Fl. Pl. Ferns, Ed. 8(1973)350). At the present time, I 
prefer to accept the monotypic family Desfontainiaceae. 
Although the genus Desfontania is regarded usually as com- 
prising but two or three species, some eleven binomials have 
been described. All are Andean. The type species, D. spinosa, 
was collected near Churupallano, Tarma, or between Muna and 
Pozuzo, Peru. It seems probable that some of the binomials 
proposed do represent synonyms of D. spinosa. Leeuwenberg 
has reduced all eleven species to synonymy under a highly 
variable D. spinosa, attributing the variability to altitudinal and 
ecological factors. He enumerated informally six “‘forms’’ (not 
recognizing them with Latin epithets) and a number of inter- 
mediates between the “‘forms,”’ noting in summary that “‘the 
complexity of the variation is not yet completely described”’ by 
his enumeration. A preliminary survey of herbarium material of 
Desfontainia and familiarity with the variation in highland An- 
dean floras combine to make me extremely dubious that such 
extraordinary variability can be treated simply as environmen- 
tally induced responses in a single species. Further taxonomic 
studies are needed to clarify this long standing enigma. 
The two concepts upon which the reports of narcotic use are 
based are: 
Desfontainia spinosa Ruiz et Pavon FI. Peruv. Chile 2(1799)47, 
t. 186. 
Desfontainia spinosa Ruiz et Pavon var. Hookeri (Dun.) Voss 
ex Vilmorin Blumengartn, Ed. 3,1(1894)669. 
