MENISPERMACEiE. 105 



Perrot, Fl. Sen., i. 12.) The root of C. fibraurea, De C, has the same 

 properties, and, according to Loureiro, is used in fevers and liver complaints 

 (Fl. Cochin. 769). Those of C. cinerascens and C. platyphyllus are known 

 in Brazil, under the name of" Butua," and are much esteemed in fevers and 

 chronic affections of the digestive organs. (Chernoviz. Formula 74.) 



Anamirta. — Colebrooke. 



Flowers dioecious. Sepals in two series. Corolla none. Stamens of male plant united ; 

 anthers numerous. Female flowers unknown. Drupes 1-3, one-celled, 1-seeded. 



Much uncertainty and doubt has existed as regards this genus. Linnaeus 

 referred the only species known, to Menispermum ; this, with others, was 

 separated by De Candolle, and erected into that of Cocculus, and finally it has 

 been made by Colebrooke the type of Anamirta. 



A. cocculus, Wight and Arnott. — The only species. 



Wight & Arnott, i. 446 ; Menispermum cocculus, Linn. Sp. PL i. 468 ; 

 Willdenow, Sp. PI. iv. 829 ; A. paniculata, Colebrooke. Linn. Trans. 

 xiii. 52!. 



Commoji name. — Cocculus Indicus. 



Foreign names. — Coque du Levant, Fr. ; Galli di Levante, It. ; Fisch- 

 korner, Ger. 



Description. — A very large climbing shrub, with stems as thick as the human arm, 

 covered with a scabrous, wrinkled, corky bark. The leaves are cordate, retuse, mucronate, 

 with a jagged petiole, shorter than the leaves. The flowers are in lateral compound, 

 racemes, and have an unpleasant smell. They are dioecious, and only the male is known ; 

 this consists of six sepals in a double row, with two appressed bracts. The corolla is 

 wanting. The stamens are united in a central column, dilated at the apex ; the anthers 

 are numerous, covering the top of the column. The fruit is a drupe, which is one-celled 

 and one-seeded, of a blackish-purple colour, with a soft pulp, and a round seed or nut. 



This plant is found in various parts of Asia, and has long been known for 

 the narcotic properties of its berries, which, besides being used for medicinal 

 purposes, are employed to intoxicate fish. It was probably introduced into 

 the Materia Medica by the Arabians, but there is no certainty on the subject, 

 though the fact of its having been in use for ages in India and other 

 Eastern countries for the above purposes, renders the supposition that we are 

 indebted to this source for a knowledge of it, highly probable. 



The parts used are the berries ; these are round, somewhat subreniform, 

 inodorous, of a grayish-black colour, about as large as a pea, and composed 

 of an external, thin, hard, brittle shell, covering another which is white and 

 still denser, and contains a white nucleus divided by a central placenta. 

 They are very bitter to the taste. Many analyses have been made of them, 

 the last of which was by Pelletier and Couerbe. (Ann. de Chimie, fyc.) These 

 chemists found in the shell, Menispermin, Paramenispermin, Hypopicrotoxic 

 acid and various vegetable matters ; in the nucleus Picrotoxin, Resin, Gum, 

 a fatty acid substance, an odorous matter, &c. The most important of these 

 is the Picrotoxin, on which the activity of the seeds depends. 



Medical properties, d^c— Cocculus Indicus is poisonous to all animals, 

 acting on the cerebro-spinal system and causing nervous tremors, convulsions 

 and tetanus ; it also acts on the stomach as a local irritant. It is rarely em- 

 ployed as a remedial agent, but has been used externally in form of powder 

 or ointment, in some obstinate cutaneous affections, and for the destruction of 



