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 yet unpublished, of my learned fellow labourer Mr.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. " Ramuli lignosi, 

 oppositi, ramulo altero abortivo, teretiusculi, fusceseenti-to- 

 mentosi, inter petiolos lineola pilosa notati, gemmula aut 

 processu filiformi (pedunculo ?) terminati. Folia opposita, 

 breviter petiolata, ovato-oblonga, acuminata, integerrima, 

 reticulato-triplinervia, nervo medio subtusprominente, mem- 

 branacea, ciliata, utrinque glabra,nervo medio fuscescenti-to- 

 mentoso, lacte viridia, subtus pallidiora, 1^-2^ pollices longa, 

 8-9 lineas lata. Petioli lineam longi, 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 op- 

 posite, and without any trace of stipulae. The idea of Mr.Will- 

 denow, 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 per- 

 ceptibly articulated to the branches, and fall off easily in the 

 dried specimens : the curare, on the contrary shows no articu- 

 lation. The small gemmula?, which de Jessieu mentions in 

 describing the coriaria in his Family 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 assimi- 

 late the curare ; for the real strychneas appear to belong ex- 

 clusively to the East Indies. We find in the curare a row of 

 small hairs between each pair of petiolae • and this character, 

 Jong since observed in the strychneae, which are known for 

 their deleterious properties, is of great weight in the com- 

 parison, which we think ourselves justified in making between 

 such venomous plants.'* 



