Mr. Homer V. Pinkley, one of my graduate students 
who spent more than a year in ethnobotanical studies 
amongst the Kofin Indians of Kcuador and Colombia, 
reports that the root of this small tree, known in Kofin 
as i-te-si-fan-di, is the source of a curare preparation of 
the tribe. 
This species was first reported as an arrow poison in- 
gredient by Martius (Spix, J.B. and K.F.D. Martius 
‘*Reise in Brasilien’ (1881) 1287), who stated that the 
Juri, Mirana and other Indians of the Rio Japura (Rio 
Caqueti) and Rio Negro of Colombia and Brazil so em- 
ployed it. Unonopsis veneficiorum has been reported as 
containing bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids (Hegnauer, 
R. “*Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen’? 8 (1964) 118). 
Mr. James W. Walker of the Gray Herbarium of 
Harvard University has identified the collection Pinkley 
558. 
CONNARACEAE 
The chemistry of the Connaraceae is very poorly 
known and most certainly represents one of the areas in 
the angiosperms where phytochemists should concen- 
trate attention. Dye materials and balsamic resins are 
rather common in the family, and, although very poison- 
ous substances have been reported from the fruit, seeds 
and bark of some species, their chemical nature is not 
yet clarified (Hegnauer, loc. cit.) 3 (1964) 545-546. As 
a family very closely allied to the Leguminosae, the 
Connaraceae should be expected to possess 2 good num- 
ber of species employed as poisons in primitive societies. 
My identification of the connaraceous species men- 
tioned in this paper has been verified by Dr. Gilian T. 
Prance of the New York Botanical Garden. 
Connarus opacus Schellenberg in Engler Pflanzenr. 
4, Fam. 127 (1988) 244. 
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