POISONS FROM JUNGLE PLANTS 155 



Pod 4 — 6 inches, apiculate, with broad double wings 

 along both sutures, but without wings or plates on the 

 sides, densely covered with adpressed, chestnut-brown, 

 irritant bristles " (Ref. 15). Kachang riniau grows 

 along river banks or in hollowed-out beds of jungle 

 streams in Malaya. The dark red and yellow hairs 

 covering the pod suggest in colour and arrangement 

 the skin of a tiger {rimau). They are intensely irri- 

 tating to the skin, and under the microscope can be 

 recognised by having a series of short wide-based spines. 

 The hght yellow hairs of kachang bulu rimau do not 

 present these peculiar features under' the microscope. 



KfiLADI 



Keladi is a general name given by Malays to a number 

 of aroids ; some of the wild varieties are poisonous and 

 are used by Malays with criminal intention. They are 

 here considered under one heading for the sake of 

 convenience. Among them are keladi chandek (Alocasia 

 denudata, Eng. — Araceae), likir or lokie (Amorpho- 

 phallus Pranii, Hook. fil. — Araceae), and the black and 

 white varieties of Alocasia, called hirah liitam and hirak 

 f ut-eh in Kelantan. The acrid juice, which is charac- 

 teristic of this family, is used as a poison, and generally 

 in combination with the berries of the shrub pokok batu 

 pilir kambing (wliich see, p. 207). 



The juice of the swollen underground stems or corma 

 of the Mladi contains masses of fine needle crystals ; 

 under the microscope they have an average length of 

 fom' microns, and are colomiess except in the ease of 

 likiT, in which they are orange coloured " en masse." 

 A note relative to them is given b^^ Warden and Pedler 

 and is quoted by Kirtikar and Basu under Alocasia 

 antiquarum : " There appears to us no reason to doubt 



