2 MISC. PUBLICATION 650, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
Basin and the rain-forest areas of northern South America. To date, 
plantation culture of lonchocarpus has succeeded only in the Amazon 
Valley, whereas derris cultivation has been a profitable venture only 
in the Far East. In their native habitats, the important rotenone- 
bearing species of derris and lonchocarpus are lianas which take ad- 
vantage of neighboring trees for support to climb to the upper canopy 
of the rain forests. Under cultivation D. elliptica assumes a decum- 
bent growth habit unless trellised. D. malaccensis and the three lon- 
chocarpus species develop as bushes. Derris produces a relatively 
small root system, compared with that of lonchocarpus. These dis- 
tinguishing characteristics have a direct bearing on the methods used 
to cultivate the various plants and on the costs of root production. 
In addition to the insecticidal properties of rotenone, it is also a fish” 
poison. Infusions of macerated rotenone-bearing roots have long been | 
used by natives of the Malay Peninsula and the Amazon Valley for 
this purpose. Among certain riverbank dwellers of the Amazon, it— 
remains a practice to this day to plant small plots of lonchocarpus along 
with other crops necessary to their mode of subsistence living as soon” 
as they migrate into new areas for the purpose of settlement. 
A large portion of the commercial roots exported from Brazil during 
the past 15 years were harvested from plants found in the neighborhood 
of either inhabited or abandoned villages and hut clusters, where origi- 
nally they had been established to provide fish poison. The Spanish 
word barbasco, meaning fish poison, is a term commonly applied in 
Peruvian commercial circles both to the lonchocarpus plant and to its 
dried roots. Otber local names are timbé in Brazil, cube (30) in Peru, 
nekoe in Surinam, and haiari in British Guiana. (See table 1.) 
ROTENONE-BEARING ROOTS 
AH 
ee See World production* 
POUNDS 
(MILLIONS) 
Total US. 
imports 
; — 
Western Hemisphere 
production 
1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 _ | 
*craTisTICS NOT AVAILABLF SINCE 1240 
Figure 1.—World production, United States imports, and Western Hemisphere ~ | 
production of rotenone-bearing roots, specified years. 
