POISONS FROM JUNGLE PLANTS 161 



Murdoch (late Conservator of Forests, F.M.S, and S.S.) 

 (Ref. 4). M» Maingayi is one of the commonest of these 

 tail, handsomely foliaged trees ; it occurs in the south 

 of the Peninsula, in Sumatra, and all over the Federated 

 Malay States. The stem is straight and without 

 buttresses, the leaves large ; the flowers are white and 

 the fruit red and rather large, resembling in shape the 

 fruit of Achi^as sapota, Linn.—Sapotaceae, the chiku or 

 sapodilla fruit. The bark is reddish brown, moderately 

 rough, coming off in scales ; but it frequently appears 

 much lighter, a whitish grey, when the tree is growing 

 in the open, in clearings, etc. Black markings are 

 frequent owing to exudations of the black poisonous sap, 

 which is called geiah r^ngas. 



Poisonous Properties. — Eengas sap is exuded in 

 small quantities ; it is thinly viscid, but clear when 

 quite fresh, with an odour of crushed mango leaves. It 

 becomes yellow in colour, and although still quite fresh, 

 quickly turns dark red on further exposure, and finally 

 coagulates to a black resin. The sap of all the rengas 

 trees sets up an acute dermatitis when it touches the 

 skin, causing much swelling, followed by a pustular 

 eruption which sometimes ends in chronic ulceration. 

 Fever and other constitutional disturbances may 

 develop, according to the susceptibility of the patient, 

 hut death from accidental rengas poisoning seems to be 

 rare. Carnegie BrowTi describes the action of the sap 

 of M. Curtisii, Oliv., from Penang as follows : " If the 

 healthy skin is rubbed lightly with the juice from a 

 freshly cut twig, violent inflammation, with smarting • 

 and bm-ning pain, follows within twenty-four hours, and 

 results in a characteristic pustular eruption— an erup- 

 tion of blebs filled with matter. If the injured surface 

 be of any extent, fever and other constitutional disturb- 

 ances follow the local injury. When a large extent of 



