CHAPTER VIII 



POISONS OBTAINED BY MALAYS FROM JUNGLE PLANTS 

 AKAR BATU P£LIR KAMBING 



Akar haiu 'pBir kamhing^ or Kawbing-kamhing, is Sar- 

 colobus globosus, Wall. — Asclepiadacese. The botany 

 has been described by Ridley : " A long climber with a 

 slender brown stem rather thicker than a crowquill 

 covered with a brown thin bark. The leaves rather 

 thin and fleshy, ovate to lanceolate, 3 inches long by 

 IJ wide with a broad rounded base, and a petiole 

 ^ inch long, opposite. The flowers are in small clusters 

 on short stalks J inch long. Each flower is J inch 

 across, pale purple in colour, with few rather broad 

 lobes and a very short tube. The fruit is large and oval 

 in outline with a strong keel on one side. It is 3 inches 

 long and as much through, brown and rough with very 

 small warts. When cut through it is seen to have a 

 thick rind |- inch through, white and pithy, and con* 

 taining, as does the rest of the plant, a quantity of 

 latex. This rind which when fresh is quite tasteless is 

 the eatable part of the plant. The seeds are ovate, 

 flat, thin discs, an inch long and | inch across, and 

 form a large mass overlapping each other. They are 

 brown and possess a broad thin wing all roimd the seed 

 itself " (Ref. 19). It is found in the Straits Settlements 

 and Malay Peninsula, and extends as far north as India, 

 being found near the sea-eoast, in mangrove swamps, 

 and along the banks of tidal rivers. The fruit resembles 

 in shape and size the testicles of a goat, whence the 

 Malay name. 



