Isibukuri, 250 m. - 700 m. November 29-30, 1951. H. Garcia-Barriga 13779. 
— Rio Piraparana. Loma Buc-chia. August 28-31, 1952. H. Garcia-Barriga 
14286 — Rio Piraparana, middle course. January 9, 1952. R.E. Schultes etl. 
Cabrera 17137. — Rio Vaupés, below mouth of Rio Kubiyu, March 26, 1970. 
D. Soejarto et T.E. Lockwood 2430. — Right tributary of Rio Macu-Parana, 
upland forest. ‘‘Ingredient of we-wit-kat-ku (‘no children medicine’) of 
Bara-Maku. June 1-8, 1970. P. Silverwood - Cope 10. — Rio Vaupes, about | 
km. below Mitu. **Tree 12 m. tall, spreading, inundated; leaves silvery green 
witha swollenrachis at first pair of leaflets housing extremely ferocious ants; 
flowers with calyx pale green, corolla yellow.”* July 3, 1976. J.L. Zarucchi 
ISIOA. **Tree 15 m. tall, spreading, at edge of river, inundated. Leaves 
silvery white beneath; leaves with swollen rachis at the first leaflet pair, 
which house ants (these being the fiercest ants encountered by the collector 
in the Vaupés). Flowers bright yellow, showy”’. June 25, 1976.J.L. Zarucchi 
et M. Balick 1746. 
A common plant along the banks of the rivers in the Colom- 
bian Vaupes, Tachigalia cavipes has a number of medicinal 
uses in the native ethnopharmacopeia. A tea of the leaves is 
widely valued in the Colombian Vaupes as a febrifuge. Bark of 
the stem is employed as an emetic and as a medicine when the 
intestinal system has been *‘poisoned”’ by ingestion of tainted 
fish. When the powdered leaves are mixed with the pulverized 
leaves of a species of Combretum, they are employed as a body 
insect-repellant. According to Zarucchi (Zarucchi et Balick 
1746), the ‘‘bark is macerated to make a preparation used to 
clean bad cuts and wounds; also, the bark is powdered and 
used to ‘dry up’ cancres of the mouth and lips from over-use of 
coca’. 
The Kubeo Indians dry and powder the leaves to mix with 
farina (flour of Manihot esculenta) when there is blood in the 
stool. 
The Maku Indians who live near the Barasana tribe along the 
Rio Maku-Parana apparently employ Tachigalia cavipes as an 
antifertility agent. 
Tachigalia paniculata Auvb/et var. comosa Dwyer in Ann. Mo. 
Bot. Gard. 41 (1954) 240. 
CoLomBIA: Comisaria del Amazonas, Rio Loretoyacu. September 1946, 
R.E. Schultes 8266. Same locality. September 1946, R.E. Schultes et H. 
Garcia-Barriga 8360. — Comisaria del Vaupes, Rio Apaporis, Jinogoje. 
September 3-11, 1952. H. Garcta-Barriga 14418. 
The Tikuna Indians of the Leticia area of Colombia utilize 
184 
