macopeia. This plant is often referred to, albeit incorrectly, by 
a later synonym, B. Hopeana (Hook.) Benth., particularly in 
horticultural and pharmaceutical literature. It has also been 
confused with two closely related species: B. australis Benth. 
and B. pilosa Plowman (Plowman, 1974). 
Brunfelsia uniflora is one of the most widely distributed 
species of the genus. It occurs throughout southeastern Brazil 
south to Sao Paulo, extending northward along the coast nearly 
to Belém do Para. Disjunct populations are found in the eastern 
Andes of southern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina, and in 
northern Venezuela. 
In its native Brazil, this plant was aboriginally known by a 
number of Tupi names. The most frequent is manacad (or its 
variant manacan), a word attributed to the most beautiful girl 
of the tribe and transferred to the most beautiful flower of the 
forest (von Marius, 1843). Throughout Brazil, the name /man- 
aca may be used for any species of Brunfelsia. However, in the 
pharmaceutical trade, the term ‘‘manaca root’ always refers 
to B. uniflora and will be used in this strict sense in this paper. 
Other vernacular names of Brunfelsia uniflora are related to 
its use in folk medicine. Cangamba and variants camgaba, 
cambamba, camganiba and cad-gamba mean the “‘tree of the 
gamba’’. Gamba is a species of opossum (Didelphis cancri- 
vora), known as mucura in Portuguese the odor of which the 
roots of B. uniflora are said to emit (Peckolt, 1909; Tastevin, 
1922). Jeratacaca and variant jerataca loosely translate 
‘snake bite remedy’, taken from the native name of the snake 
Mephitis suffocans (Tastevin, 1922). Umbura-puama 1s 
another name for manaca which means “medicine tree”’ 
(Peckolt, 1909). 
In addition to the indigenous Tup! names, smanacad also bears 
several Portuguese common names: mercurio vegetal (vegeta- 
ble mercury, referring to its antisyphilitic properties), mercurio 
dos pobres (poor man’s mercury), flor da Quaresma (Easter 
flower), flor de Natal, Santa Maria and boas noites (Peckolt, 
1909), 
When the first Portuguese explorers arrived in Brazil, they 
found Brunfelsia uniflora in use by aboriginal Tupi payés or 
medicine men, employed both for healing and magical proper- 
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