518 



The mavacure is employed fresh or dried indif- 



the curare, or bejuco de Mavacure, taken from a manuscript, 

 yet unpublished of my learned fellow labourer Mr. Kunth, 

 corresponding member of the Institute. " Hamuli lignosi, 

 oppositi,ramulo altero abortiro,teretiusculi,fuscescenti-tomen- 

 tosi, inter petiolos lineola pilosa notati, gemmula aut processu 

 liliformi (pedunculo ?) terminate Folia opposita, breviter pe- 

 tiolata, ovato-oblonga, acuminata, integerrima, reticulato-trip- 

 linervia,nervo medio subtus prominente,membranacea, ciliata, 

 utrinqueglabra,nervo medio fuscescenti-tomentoso,lacteviridia, 

 s ubtus pallidiora, l|-2* pollices longa,8-9 lineaslata. Petioli 

 lineamIongi,tomentosi,inarticulati." Mr.Kunth adds,The curare 

 cannot be a species of the genus phyllantus, because the leaves 

 of the latter are alternate,and provided with two stipulae,while 

 in the curare the leaves are opposite, and without any trace of 

 stipulae. The idea of Mr. Willdenow, that the curare belongs 

 to the genus coriaria, of which the berries only are poisonous* 

 is altogether as little admissible. The leaves of the coriaria are 

 somewhat fleshy, and sometimes alternate ; in the curare they 

 are membranous, and constantly opposite to each other. The 

 petiolae, in the coriaria, are perceptibly articulated to the 

 branches, and fall off easily in the dried specimens: the curare^ 

 on the contrary, shows no articulation. The small gemmula?, 

 which de Jussieu mentions in describing the coriaria in his Fa- 

 milies of Plants, are not found in the curare. Finally, the young 

 branches are angular in the coriaria, and cylindrical in the curare. 

 They have in the latter, a tendency to stretch out spirally as 

 in the rouhamon of Aublet (lasiostoma, Willd.)* It is to 

 this last genus I would assimilate the curare j for the real 

 strychneae appear to belong exclusively to the East Indies. 

 We find in the curare a row of small hairs between each pair 

 of petiolae j and this character, long since observed in the 

 strychneae, which are known for their deleterious properties, is 

 of great weight in the comparison, which we think ourselves 

 justified in making between such venomous plants." 



