Lonchocarpus. Derris. and Pyrethrum 
Cultivation and Sources of Supply 
By E. C. HicBre 
Senior Agronomist 
Technical Collaboration Branch 
Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations 
INTRODUCTION 
Just as a number of plant substances poison man, others are toxic 
to certain insects and are valuable for the compounding of commercial 
insecticides. Among the most important are pyrethrum flowers, pro- 
duced by a few species of Chrysanthemum, and rotenone-bearing roots, 
harvested from severa! species of Lonchocarpus and Derris. 
Each of these insecticidal products has specific merit which cannot 
be wholly duplicated by the others, by such synthetics as DDT, or by 
the various metallic poisons. Aside from being effective against 
numerous pests, commercial pyrethrum and rotenone insecticides are 
also comparatively nontoxic to man and other warm-blooded animals. 
They may be used with safety in the household, for livestock dips and 
sprays, and on garden vegetables, fruits, and canning crops. 
Rotenone and, to a lesser extent, related chemical substances called 
rotenoids are lethal to the Mexican bean beetle, wooly apple aphid, 
European corn borer, pea aphid, ox warble, and the cattle tick. They 
are alsc effective against fleas, cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes, and 
many other insect pests. Although numerous leguminous plants of 
the subfamily Papilionaceae have been reported to contain rotenone 
and rotenoids,' most commercial supplies are obtained at present from 
the roots of Derris elliptica, D. malaccensis, Lonchocarpus urucu, L. 
utilis, and L. nicou2 
These important rotenone-producing species are so closely related 
taxonomically that MacBride (17)° classifies them under the single 
genus Derris. From a horticultural, as well as a commercial, view- 
‘point it is important to maintain a separation between the genera; 
fortunately other systematists, including Ducke (4), Hermann (9), 
Killip (14), Krukoff (16), and Smith (14, 16) recognize a distinction 
between them. 
Derris is native to the Far Eastern Tropics, whereas the commercial 
rotenone-bearing species of lonchocarpus are native to the Amazon 
1 Jones, Howarp A. A LIST OF PLANTS REPORTED TO CONTAIN ROTENONE OR 
ROTENO:DS. U.S. D. A., Bur. Ent. and Plant Quar. E-571, 14 pp. Washington. 
3942. [Processed.] 
7 Roarx, A.C. LONCHOCARPUS SPECIES (BARBASCO, CUBE, HAIARI, NEKOE, AND 
TIMBO) USED AS INSECTICIDES. U.S. D. A.,, Bur. Ent. and Plant Quar. E-367. 
133 pp. Washington. 19236. [Processed.] 
= Italic numbers in parentheses refer to literature cited, p. 35. 
