onstrated that Radix pareirae prepared from Chondodendron 

 niicrophylluni yields d-beheerinc, whereas that obtained from 



Ch. platyphyllum yields l-hebeerine! The pharmacologic and 

 commercial significance of these phytochemical data are self- 

 evident, and they served to underscore the suspected plant taxo- 

 nomic heterogeneity, of imports under the general name of 

 pareira hrava. More recently, Krukoff and Barneby (1970) noted 

 the different pharmaceutical uses of Chondodendron species: 

 Clh tomcniosuni as the preferred source of d-tubocurarine, 

 whereas both Ch. microphyduni and Ch. platyphylhini pro\'ide 

 the "source of the drug known in pharmacy as 'radix pareirae 

 bravae\ " 



Two hundred years of nomenclatural and taxonomic confu- 

 sion over the botanical identity o[ pareira brava is hardly sur- 

 prising from an ethnobotanical perspective. Among indigenous 

 peoples of the Amazon basin, various mixtures of taxonomically 

 diverse, tropical lianas and other plants are used in the prepara- 

 tion of arrow and dart poisons, collectively referred to as 

 "curare". In most cases, species of either the genus Strychnos 

 (Loganiaceae) or Chondodendron (Menispermaceae) are added 

 as the major, active principle of curare (Krukoff & Smith, 1937). 

 At least five species of Chondodendron have been used in curare 

 preparation by various Amazonian tribes (Krukoff and Mol- 

 denke, 1938). Furthermore, other genera of Menispermaceae are 

 used in curare recipes, by various tribes and; or in different 



regions of the Amazon, including Abuta, Anomospernmnh Cis- 

 sampelos and Sciadotenia (Krukoff and Smith, 1937, 1939). 

 These authors also noted that the Canelos of the Rio Conambu 

 basin in Ecuador sometimes substitute Cissanipelos Pareira for 

 Chondodendron lonienlosuni in their curare preparations, but 

 refer to both taxa by the same common name. Similarly, Mor- 

 ton (1977) notes that in commerce, the "root" of the pantropic 

 Cissanipelos Pareira C[false pareira*') often is substituted for 

 **true pareira rool'\ She considers the true drug to be Chondo- 

 dendron tomentosunh in accord with Hanbury (1873) but con- 

 trary to the conclusion of Krukoff and Moldenke (1938), who 

 believe /?^/r/>^ brava to be derixed from Ch. microphyUum and 

 Ch. platyphyllum. It wx')uld appear that, at least in the minds of 

 the Amazonian natives, ''pareira brava** was a very general term, 



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