MORACEAE 
Pourouma Cucura Standley et Cuatrecasas in Fieldiana, Bot. 28, 
no. | (1951) 211. 
COLoMBIA: Comisaria del Vaupés, Rio Apaporis, Soratama (above mouth of 
Rio Kananari) and vicinity. January 1952. R. E. Schultes et I. Cabrera 19835. 
The bark of Pourouma Cucura is boiled for several hours in 
water to prepare an infusion which is vigourously rubbed on 
aching joints and other areas of the body affected with 
rheumatic-like pains and swellings. This practice is common 
amongst the Taiwano Indians of the Rio Kananari, who know 
the plant as ma-he ’-ne-ka-pa. 
There appear to have been no chemical studies made of the 
genus Pourouma. The major importance of the genus to the 
Indians of the northwest Amazon centers on P. cecropiaefolia 
Martius, a cultivated tree yielding an edible grape-like fruit. 
PIPERACEAE 
Lepianthes umbellatum (L.) Rafinesque, Sylv. Tellur. (1838) 84. 
Pothomorphe umbellata (L.) Miquel, Comm. Phyt. (1840) 36. 
CoLomBIA: Comisaria del Putumayo, Rio Guamiiés, San Antonio. “Second- 
ary growth. Herb 5-6 feet.” September 5, 1966. H. V. Pinkley 427. 
The Kofan Indians prepare an arrow poison of this plant alone 
(the bark of the lower stem and root is scraped and boiled) or 
mixed with other plant ingredients, especially for hunting 
monkeys and wild pigs. The Kofan name is a-nama-he-se-he ‘-pa. 
This species has been employed as a strong diuretic in Brazil 
(Peckholt, T.: Pharm. Rundschau 12 (1894) 240, 285). 
There appears to be no chemical constituent which would 
make the bark active as an ingredient of curare. Many 
piperaceous plants are employed as minor ingredients in 
preparing curares, but they are believed not to have themselves 
any active curare constituents. The report that Lepianthes 
umbellatum may be used with no admixtures as an arrow poison 
plant consequently acquires special significance. 
