South America and southeastern Asia, comprising about 
100 species of shrubs and trees. 
It is usually the seed that is reputed to be toxic, al- 
though the bark is not without suspicion in some species. 
‘The seeds of most, if not all, species are probably poi- 
sonous to some degree. Normally brightly colored, red 
and black, the beans are often used in making ornamen- 
tal necklaces by peoples in primitive societies. The tech- 
nical name of the genus has, in fact, been derived from 
a Greek word for necklace. 
Alkaloids have reputedly been isolated from the seeds 
of at least nine species (Willaman, J.J. and B.G. Schu- 
bert ‘‘Alkaloid-bearing plants and their contained alka- 
loids’? U.S.D.A. Techn. Bull. No. 1284 (1961) 120- 
121). These have been named ormosine, ormosanine, 
ormosinine and panamine; and N-methylcytisine has 
been reported from one species. Ormosinine is stated to 
be morphine-like in physiological action (Henry, T. A. 
“Phe plant alkaloids’? ed. 4 (1949) 776), while pana- 
mine has been found to possess hypotensive properties 
when applied to dogs. In her outstanding monograph of 
the American species of this genus, Rudd (Rudd, V. E. 
‘The American species of Ormosia (eguminosae)”’ 
Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 82 (1965) 279-884) reviews 
the sparse chemical and pharmacological literature on 
Ormosia and points out that ‘‘the plant names used [in 
this literature] are not necessarily true taxonomic syno- 
nyms, and it is not always possible to know what ma- 
terial the chemist had at hand’’. 
The seeds of some of the species have been employed 
therapeutically in folk-medicine. The collection Steyer- 
mark 61330 reports that, in eastern Venezuela, seeds of 
Ormosia monosperma, known locally as ‘‘pionia mon- 
tanera’’ are cooked and made into a drink ‘‘for pains of 
the heart’? and that the ‘‘cooked seed placed in water 
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