144 MALAY POISONS AND CHAEM CUBES 



Ceylon for those of arsenic — a matter of some importance 

 (Castellam). A glucoside kno\vn as thevetin, a cardiac 



poison wnich also occurs in C. thevetia nerifolia, has 

 been fomid in the milk-hke juice of all parts of 

 C. odollam. The seeds are an irritant poison (Eef. 16). 



The old medical botanists held that " the majestic 

 tribe of palms, the nobles of the vegetable kingdom, 

 contained not a single noxious species,** but among 

 palms that are kno^vn to be poisonous by Malays are 

 hiredin, ihul, kabwng^ langkaj)^ and pinang, Ridley gives 

 iukiLS as a Malay name for herecUn or viMrMin. It is 

 Caryota mitis. Lour. — Palmae, a wild as well as a culti- 

 vated palm with a whitish flower not unlike that of 

 Areca catechu, Linn. — PalmsG. The botany is described 

 by Brandis. It has a tufted trunk 8 to 40 feet high, 

 4 to 5 inches in diameter, with numerous root suckers. 

 The leaf is 8 to 9 feet long, pinnate or feathered ; the 

 fruit is globular, flattened, about \ mch through, fleshy 

 and purple when ripe. This palm is common in the 

 Andaman Islands. Ridley refers to Caryota mitis, 

 Lour., as the bredin of Province WeUesley in his ** List 

 of Plant Names," and further describes it (syn. C. soboh- 

 fera, Mart.) as having several slender stems 15 to 25 feet 

 high. It is common in the Straits SettI ements and Malay 

 Peninsula, and is distributed in Burmah and Cochin- 

 €hina (Ref. 20). 



Beredin fruit is put into wells with intent to cause 

 annoyance. Bathing with well water that has been 

 treated in this way gives rise to an intense itching of the 

 skin, and may cause an acute inflammation of the eyes. 

 The fresh juice of the fruit when applied directly to the 

 skin is extremely irritating ; its use with toad extract 

 as a Malay poison has been referred to above (section 



THE BfeRfiDIN PALM 



