Koch-Griinberg stating that the narcotic snuff of the 
northwest Amazon is derived from a legume. Neverthe- 
less, we must emphasize Spruce’s own words that he 
“did not see the snuff actually prepared from the seeds and 
in use...’ in the Rio Negro area. 
Some of the records of a narcotic snuff from the Am- 
azon Valley might actually refer to Piptadenia, as, for 
example, Herndon’s report (Herndon, W. L.: ‘‘Explo- 
ration of the Valley of the Amazon’’ (1854) 819), which 
he attributed to a trader of snuff amongst the Mundu- 
ruki Indians of the Rio Tapajéz. This snuff is reported 
to be made from powdered seeds, not from bark, which 
would suggest Piptadenia and not Virola. But, the Mun- 
durukt paricd is composed of several constituents: 
Several vegetable substances compose paricd: first, the ashes of a 
vine that I cannot class, not having been able to procure the flowers ; 
second, seeds of the Acacia angico of the leguminous family; third, 
juice of the leaves of the abuta (cocculus) of the menispermes family. 
In the twelve years which I have devoted to the study 
of the flora of the northwest Amazon, I have never seen 
Piptadenia peregrina either cultivated or wild in the 
area. I have never seen any snuff prepared from legumi- 
nous seeds in this area, nor have I heard of the practice 
which appears, in Colombia, to be confined to the Ori- 
noco basin. ‘The Puinaves, who live on the Inirida and 
Guaviare, where Amazon and Orinoco tribes meet, are 
acquainted with both the myristicaceous and the legumi- 
nous snuff and are quick to distinguish between the two. 
Whether or not paricd-snuff is prepared from a legu- 
minous plant in some parts of the Amazon, it is quite 
definite that the term parvicd in most parts of the lower 
Amazon does refer to certain trees of the Leguminosae. 
Paricd is employed in Brazil to denote Cassia fastuosa 
Willd., Cedrelinga catenaeformis Ducke, Parkia spp., 
Piptadenia spp., Pithecolobium spp., Schizolobium ama- 
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