XIV, 1 Wells: Philippine Medicinal Plants: III 5 
CORIARIA INTERMEDIA MATSUMURA 
This is the only representative of the small family Coriariaceae 
known from the Philippines and occurs at high altitudes in 
Mountain Province, Luzon; it is called buacat by the Igorots 
of Benguet, who claim that the fruit is inedible because it is 
poisonous. A glucoside is found to be present in very small 
quantities in the leaves and fruits of this plant. One hundred 
kilograms of the fresh plant give 69 grams of crude glucoside, 
which can be extracted by water or squeezed from the young 
shoots. The extract is treated in the usual manner with lead 
acetate, and the filtrate is freed from excess lead by hydrogen 
sulphide and evaporated to a sirup. From this the glucoside 
is extracted by alcohol and precipitated by ether. 
Two cubic centimeters of plant extract, representing 20 grams 
of the fresh plant, intraperitoneally injected into a guinea pig 
weighing 700 grams, resulted in death after thirty minutes. 
Coriaria is known in New Zealand as “toot-plant.” Landsay 
(30) has the following to say regarding this plant: 
During a tour through the New Zealand provinces in 1861-1862, I was 
struck with the abundant evidences, which everywhere presented themselves, 
of the ravages produced among the flocks and herds of the settlers by 
the Toot-plant, one of the most common indigenous shrubs of these islands. 
In many cases of losses by individual settlers brought under his [their ?] 
notice, the amount of loss from this source alone had been from 25 to 
75 per cent. In Otago, particularly, were such losses felt during the 
height of the gold mania there, from July to December, 1861: the traffic 
between Dunedin and Tuapeka gold-fields required the service of large 
numbers of bullocks, a great proportion of which were lost by Toot- 
poisoning. * * * 
1. The Toot-poison belongs to the class of Narcotico-irritants. a. Its 
action on man includes the following symptoms: — coma, with or without 
delirium; sometimes great muscular excitement or convulsions; the details 
differing in different individuals; during convalescence, loss of memory, 
with or without vertigo, b. In cattle and sheep, they include vertigo, stupor, 
delirium, and convulsions; curious staggerings and gyrations; frantic 
kicking, and racing or coursing; tremors. 
2. The poisonous portion of the plant, (a) to man, is generally the Seed, 
which is contained in a beautiful, dark-purple, luscious berry, resembling 
the blackberry, which clusters closely in rich pendent racemes, and which 
is most tempting to children; occasionally the young Shoots of the plant, 
as it grows up in spring: (b) to cattle and sheep, in almost all cases, 
is the young Shoot, which is tender and succulent, resembling in appear- 
ance and taste the similar state of Asparagus. 
CONCLUSIONS 
Arcangelisia flava (Linn.) Merr. (A. lemniscata Becc.) con- 
tains berberine and shows approximately 4.8 per cent of pure 
alkaloid based on moisture-free wood. The plant material is 
