May 1945 E-661 
United States Department of Agriculture 
Agricultural Research Administration 
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 
PLANTS OP POSSIBLE INSECTICIDAL VALUE 
A Review of the Literature up to 19^1 
By N. E. Mclndoo, Division of Insecticide Investigations 
CONTENTS 
page p ag e 
Scope of this review — 1 Part 1 --Cryptogams — — — — b 
Brief history of Part 11 — Phanerogams or 
incecticidal plants — 2 spermatophytes - — ---— 12 
Methods of research — — — U Literature cited 21 U 
Commercial and experimental Index of "botanical names 252 
cultivation of insecti- Index of insect names 281 
cidal plants — — — 5 Index of plant products 285 
SCOPE OP THIS REVIEW 
This is a review of the literature on plants that have been re- 
ported to have insecticidal value or have been tested or used in in- 
secticides or other preparations, such as repellents or attractants, 
for the control of insect pests. In addition to plants that are 
sources of the active ingredient of such preparations, brief mention 
is made of those that furnish such accessory materials as spreaders, 
adhesives, emulsifier6, and synergists. The notes give only informa- 
tion on the Insecticidal value of these plant materials, not on their 
chemical nature. The preparation of this review was reported in 19^2 
(Mclndoo, 255) . 
This review covers the literature up to 19^1, with a few more 
recent references that were addad In l^kk when the manuscript was re- 
vised. Reviews on some of the more common insecticidal plants and 
their constituents, as well as lists of patents, have already "been 
issued, most of them in the I series of this Bureau, and in such cases 
the reader is referred to the Published reviews. A list of nearly 
200 species of plants that had been tested for or reported to possess 
insecticidal properties was published "by Roark ( 331) in 1919. 
Included in this review are about 1,182 species of plants, rep- 
resenting 697 genera and 173 families. The lower orders( cryptogams) , 
including the algae, fungi, mosses, ferns, and horsetails, which total 
27 species, 20 genera, and lk families, are given first, followed by 
the higher orders (phanerogams), which total about 1,155 species, 
