at the present time. No one can feel more certain than I 
that we are just beginning our serious taxonomic studies 
of the complex of malpighiaceous narcotics. 
Perhaps the most revealing observation based on bo- 
tanical material to have been made since Spruce’s time 
has not hitherto been published. I was fortunate in dis- 
covering in the Museum of Economic Botany at the 
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew several samples of the 
‘“‘yajé plant,’’ comprising twigs and leaves (Econ. Mus. 
Kew 60-1913) from the Caqueta, Colombia. These were 
sent in 1918 by Perey EK. Wyndham, Esq., His Majes- 
ty’s Minister in Bogota. The leaves were determined by 
Dr. T. A. Sprague who wrote, in a communication at- 
tached to the specimens, that they represented species 
of Malpighiaceae (possibly Tetrapterys) and that ‘*the 
twigs no doubt belonged to one of them.’’ I have care- 
fully compared the leaves with specimens of the Mal- 
pighiaceae at Kew and would agree (insofar as it is pos- 
sible to determine such limited sterile material) with 
Sprague that they may be referable to Tetrapterys. This 
is the first time that a malpighiaceous genus other than 
Banisteriopsis has been mentioned as the source of a 
narcotic. 
With the Wyndham material at Kew, there are sev- 
eral communications concerning the specimens. It is ap- 
parent that Wyndham was moved to gather specimens 
of the yajé plant as the result of interest aroused by a 
newspaper article (3). This article spoke rather optimisti- 
cally of yajé as a cure for beri-beri, and it published a 
long letter from Dr. Rafael Zerda Bayén, a Colombian 
pharmacist, who put forth extraordinary claims concern- 
ing the telepathic properties of the vine. No botanical 
determination was offered. Sprague, in one of the com- 
munications with the Kew specimens, wrote: ‘*. . . Dr. 
R. Z. Bay6én says he has deposited specimens of the 
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