BoTAMCVl. MrSlIM I 1 Mills 



Si'RiNC, 1983 



Vol . 29. No, 2 



THE PHYTOCHEMISTRY OF 

 QUARARIBEA FINE BR IS 



RoMiKT F. Rmiaii- and Thomas M. Zinmi;' 



In an earlier issue of the Boianical Museum Leaflets, the eth- 

 nobotany of Quararihca funchris {[/a Lhi\c) Vischer (Bombaca- 

 ceac) was reviewed. 1 he flowers have been used since pre- 

 Columbian times by the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca. Mexico as 

 an additi\e to chocolate drinks and medicinally as an antipyretic, 

 a cough remedy, to control "psychopathic fear" and to regulate 

 the menses (Rosengarten, 1977). There is also some exidence to 

 suggest that they may have been used as an hallucinogen (Was- 

 son, 1982). Other than Rosengarten's report of the presence of 

 alkaloids in these flowers, the chemistry of the genus has not been 

 studied. 



In the hands of the phytochemist, the family has not fared 

 much better. Mucilages (Gibbs, 1974), the carbohydrates raffi- 

 noseand stachyose (Gibbs, 1974; Hegnauer, 1964) and thec>cIo- 

 propenoid fatty acids obtained from the seed oils have been 

 reported (Bohannen, 1978; Morris and Hall, 1967). in addition to 

 the economically important members of the family {Ceiha poi- 

 landra, kapok; Ochronia spp., bal.sa wood), the fruits of se\cral 

 genera ha\e been used as food:The durian Durio zchethinus 

 Murr. is a very odorous fruit and is claimed to have great rejuxen- 

 ating powers (Hutchinson, 1967); the young fruits and roasted 

 seeds of Cciha acsculijolia {\\\\¥..) Britt. and Baker, the seeds of 

 Pachira macrocarpa (Schlecht. and Cham.) Walp. (Standley, 



n his paper is dedicated to m\ friend and eolleagne in Natural Prodiieis C'iiemistr\ ot 



man> years. D\ . Ulrich Weiss. Natuinal Irisiitntes nl Health, in cimimenioration t^tlus 75ili 

 birthda\. 



-Associate in Ph_Moclictnislr\ . liotaiiical Museum, Har\aid L'iii\eisii\ , Cambridge, Mas- 

 saehuseits: F^olessor of [Miarmae<ignos_\ , C\)llege ol IMiaimacv & Allied Health Piotes- 

 Mons. Northeastern rnivcrsity. Boston, Massachusetts. 



"FVesent address; Northern Regional Research Center. Iniled Slates Department ol 

 Agriculture. l*eoria, Illinois. 



151 



