(Herrera 672, Woytkowshi 5588) and agahuasca (Woyt- 
hkowshi 5332) suggest that this species may one day be 
shown to be an ingredient of the drug ayahuasca in Peru. 
[Il 
Fischer (72) isolated an alkaloid from yagé which EI- 
ger (1/1) showed to be harmine, long known from the 
seeds of a Near Eastern perennial shrub, Peganum Har- 
mala 1.., of the Zygophyllaceae. Chen and Chen (7) 
confirmed the presence of harmine in Banisteriopsis 
Caapi, and O’Connell and Lynn (26) isolated it from 
stems of B. inebrians. Hochstein and Paradies (16) 
demonstrated the presence of two other B-carboline de- 
rivatives, harmaline and d-tetrahydroharmine, as well as 
harmine, in B. Caapi stems. However, O’Connell and 
Lynn (26) had reported the absence of harmaline in the 
stems of B. inebrians. 
Harrnine has been found also in the Amazonian mal- 
pighiaceous lianas Cabi paraensis (22) and paricd (3), the 
latter containing harmaline and tetrahydroharmine as 
well. Parica is the name employed by the Tukano for the 
hallucinogenic snuffs that they prepare from myristica- 
ceous trees of the genus Virola (37a) and, reportedly, 
from malpighiaceous lanas as well (3), although her- 
barium specimens to support this interesting report are 
apparently lacking. The snuff called epend by the Surara, 
also of northwestern Brazil, contains harmine and tetra- 
hydroharmine (2a). Other harman alkaloids have been 
found in seven plant genera in six families (4). 
Hochstein and Paradies (76) isolated N,N-dimethy]- 
tryptamine from leaves said to be employed in Peru 
along with B. Caapi in preparing a narcotic beverage. In 
the absence of herbarium specimens, the common name 
had suggested Prestonia amazonica as the identity of the 
leaves, but Schultes and Raffauf (39) have shown this 
[ 115 ] 
