and study for a number of years, especially since it has 
shown such highly positive alkaloidal spot test reactions 
for the seeds. The seeds are recognized by the inhabi- 
tants of the area as being toxic. 
Ormosia coccinea (Aub/.) Jackson var. subsim- 
plex (Spr. ex Benth.) Rudd in Contrib. U.S. Nat. 
Herb. 35 (1965) 328. 
This tree, with attractive, shiny, deep red pods, is 
rather abundant in Amazonian Colombia (Rudd, loc. 
cit.), usually in association with the flora of savannahs 
in the vicinity of the remnant quartzitic mountains of the 
Guiana- Venezuela land-mass. 
The seeds are considered by the Witotos of eastern 
Colombia to be highly poisonous when ingested, but 
these Indians do not seem to employ them for any spe- 
cific purpose. The tree is called ee-t6’-a in Witoto. 
Cotompia: Comisaria del Amazonas, Rio Karaparana, near FE] En- 
canto. Alt. about 150 m. “‘Tall tree up to 20 m. Basal diameter 10 
m. Pods deep red. Bark smooth, mottled brown and grey. Wood 
soft, yellowish.’ May 22-28, 1942. R.E. Schultes 3833, 
Ormosia isthmensis Standley in Field Mus. Nat. 
Hist., Bot. Ser. 17 (1987) 264. 
Mexico: Oaxaca, District of Choapam, San Juan Lalana. Alt. 550 
m. May 8, 1939, Schultes & Reko 822. 
The wood of this very tall and conspicuous tree is 
employed in Oaxaca for a number of purposes where 
strength and durability is required (Schultes in Bot. 
Mus. Leafl. Harvard Univ. 9 (1941) 176), but no use is 
known for the seeds which the Chinantee Indians, who 
call the tree mu-sa, consider to be strongly poisonous. 
Ormosia lignivalvis Rudd in Contrib. U.S. Nat. 
Herb. 82 (1965) 381. 
Known from French Guiana, British Guiana, Vene- 
zuela, and the central part of the Brazilian Amazon, 
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