nomically speaking’. (Gibbs, R.D. ‘‘Chemotaxonomy 
of Flowering Plants” 8 (1974) 1676-1677.) 
The best known members, from the point of view of 
their phytochemistry, are undoubtedly the several closely 
allied species of Banisteriopsis—B. Caapi, B. inebrians, 
B. Rusbyana—employed in northern South America in 
elaborating the narcotic drink known variously as aya- 
huasca, caapi, natema, pinde and yajé. ‘These species 
contain psychoactive alkaloids—the first two, B-carboline 
alkaloids; thethird, N, N-dimethyltry ptamine( Deulofeu, 
V. ‘Chemical Compounds Isolated from Banisteriopsis 
and Relative Species’ in [| Ed.D. Efron] ‘‘Ethnopharm- 
acologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs’” Public Health 
Service Publ. No. 1645, Washington, D.C. (1967) 893- 
402). 
One hundred and twenty-five years ago, when Spruce 
collected the type material of Banisteriopsis Caapi and 
described its narcotic use in the northwest Amazon of 
Brazil, he despatched material for chemical analysis— 
material which was not analyzed until 1968 (Schultes, 
R.E., B. Holmstedt and J.-E. Lindgren *‘De Plantis 
‘Toxicariis e Mundo Novo Tropicale I11. Phytochemical 
Kxamination of Spruce’s Original Collection of Banis- 
teriopsis Caapr” in Bot. Mus. Leafl. Harvard Univ. 22 
(1969) 121-182). Spruce was struck by the presence in 
this family of such a potent narcotic. In 1852, he wrote: 
‘2... Lsaw, not without surprise, that it belonged to 
the order Malpighiaceae and the genus Banisteria, of 
which I made it out to be an undescribed species. .. . 
My surprise arose from the fact that there was no narcotic 
Malpighiad on record, nor indeed any species of that 
order with strong medicinal properties of any kind... . 
The seed [of Bunchosia] is described in books as poison- 
ous, and if it be really so, then it is the only instance, 
so faras I know, of the existence of any hurtful principle 
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