NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS 415 



thinnish, smooth above, appresso-subpilose beneath ; on a petiole 

 0.9 inch long. Panicles axillary, leafy. Umbels 4-flowered. 

 Pedicels appresso-tomentose, bracteolate only at base. Calyx 

 deeply 5-partite ; segments ligulate, eglandulose, or with only 

 rudimentary glands, appresso-tomentose. Petals 5, on longish 

 thick claws; lamina pentagonal, fimbriate, the fimbrice clavate. 

 Stamens 10, subunequal ; anthers roundish. Styles 3, subulate; 

 stigmas capitate. Capsules muricato-cristate, prolonged on one 

 side into a greenish-white semiobovate wing (1.7 x 0.6 inch). 



Habitat. On the river Uaupes, the Icanna, and other upper 

 tributaries of the Rio Negro, where it is commonly planted in the 

 rocas or mandiocca-plots ; also at the cataracts of the Orinoco, 

 and on its tributaries, from the Meta upwards ; and on the Napo 

 and Pastasa and their affluents, about the eastern foot of the 

 Equatorial Andes. Native names: Caapi, in Brazil and Venezuela; 

 Cadana, by the Tucano Indians on the Uaupes ; Aya-huasca (i.e. 

 Dead man's vine) in Ecuador. 1 



The lower part of the stem is the part used. A 

 quantity of this is beaten in a mortar, with water, 

 and sometimes with the addition of a small portion 

 of the slender roots of the Caapi-pinima. 2 When 

 sufficiently triturated, it is passed through a sieve, 

 which separates the woody fibre, and to the residue 



1 Caapi (the Portuguese have made it Caapim) is the Tupi or Lingoa 

 Geral name for "grass." It means simply "thin leaf," and in that sense 

 may correctly be applied to the Banisteria Caapi. In the same language the 

 Mate of Paraguay (Ilex Paraguayensis) is called Caamirim, i.e. " small leaf," 

 \vhirli is certainly not so truly said of it. The Brazilian Indians accent the 

 last, the Venezuelan the first, syllable of Caapi. 



2 Caapi-pinima, i.e. "painted Caapi," is an Apocyneous twiner of the 

 genus I I,i mudictyon, of which I saw only young shoots, without any flowers. 

 The leaves are of a shining green, painted with the .strong blood-red veins. It 

 is possibly the same species as one I gathered in flower, in December 1849, at 

 an Indian settlement on the river Trombelas (Lower Ama/.on), anil lias been 

 distributed by .Mr. I'entham under the name of Hcemadictyon aiu:o>iicnni, 

 n. sp. It may be the Caapi-pinima \\hich gives its nauseous taste to ihc caaj i 

 drink prepared on the Uaupes, and it is probably poisonous, like most of its 

 tribe- ; but it is not essential to the narcotic effect of the Banisteria, \\hii-li (so 

 far as I could make out) is used without any admixture by ili<- < .u.ihibos, 

 /.aparos, and other nations, out of the Uaupe*s. 



The Tucano Indians call this plant Cadina-pfra, which means the same as 

 the Tupi name. They are the most powerful tribe on the t'aupes, and the 

 greatest consumers of caapi ; but all the oilier tribes on that river and they 

 are about a do/en use it in the same way. 



