April 27,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
861 
GONOLOBUS CUNDURANGO. 
BY M. TRIANA. 
In a note by this celebrated botanist, presented to 
the Academie des Sciences at tlie sitting on the 25th 
nit. by M. Roulin,* some interesting particulars are 
given respecting this plant, which has recently 
gained so much notoriety as a new therapeutic 
agent and alleged remedy for cancer. 
The author states that it is not as a remedy 
against cancer that the cundurango plant formerly 
figured in the popular medicine of South America; but, 
that in common with other plants of the same country, 
the Guaco, the Matos, etc., it was looked upon as 
an antidote to the bites of serpents. This kind of 
A- ^ 
wound, apparently so trifling, being in most cases j 
followed by death, it is not surprising that the dis- j 
covery of substances that pass for antidotes should 
everywhere in popular opinion be surrounded by the 
marvellous ; but it is worthy of remark that in most 
places the legends bear a resemblance to each other. 
They generally state that some animal which hunts 
these reptiles has recourse to a certain plant to heal 
the wounds and neutralize the venom. Thus, in the 
Magdalena Valley and in the mountains that bound 
either side, it is a heron, called the “guaco,” that 
heals itself with the leaves of a composite plant that 
Humboldt and Bonpland have named Milcania 
Guaco. Still in New Granada, but in the vast plains 
which extend to the east of the Cordilleras of the 
Andes, it is a small mammifer that obtains the same 
result by gnawing the tuberculous roots of an Aristo- 
locliia known to the natives under the name of 
“matos.” Lastly, in Ecuador it is tlie’condor which 
employs as an antidote to the venom of serpents the 
leaves of a species of Gonolobus, called for this rea¬ 
son “ cundur-angu,” or the vine of the condor. 
Some of the species of the genus Gonolobus are 
looked upon by the natives as virulent poisons, and 
it was in consequence of this belief that its repute 
as a remedy for cancer had its origin. It is said that 
a Loxa Indian woman, wishing to poison her hus¬ 
band, perseveringly administered to him an infusion 
of this plant, but instead of causing his death, he was 
healed of a cancer from which he had long suffered. 
It appears to have been this story, become legendary, 
which suggested to Dr. Eguiguren, physician and 
brother to the Governor of the province of Loxa, the 
idea of trying cundurango in cancerous and syphi¬ 
litic affections. It is asserted that these trials were 
completely successful, and that, afterwards, the 
governor himself, having occasion to visit Quito, ob¬ 
tained an equal success with several other persons. 
The President of Ecuador, Don Gabriel Garcia Mo¬ 
reno, informed of these cures, especially those that 
had taken place in the hospitals of the city, thought 
it to be his duty to give them greater publicity, in 
order to call the attention of the American and 
European Governments to a discovery which, if con¬ 
firmed, would give to the native country of the cin¬ 
chonas a fresh title to the gratitude of the world. 
Consequently, he distributed to friendly Govern¬ 
ments, through their diplomatic agents, ample sup¬ 
plies of the cundurango wood, with a request that! 
they would submit them to the examination of phy¬ 
sicians, botanists and chemists. 
hi. Triana was in this country when the English 
Government received, and transmitted to Kew for 
determination, the specimens of cundurango. These 
* Comptes Rendus, vol. lxxiv. p. 879. 
Third Series, No. 06. I 
were shown to him, but he was unable to recognize 
by mere pieces of stem a plant that he had never 
before seen. He was, however, inclined to doubt 
the anti-cancerous properties attributed to it, re¬ 
membering that in America the name cancer is 
applied sometimes to syphilitic or gangrenous ulcers 
which might be ameliorated or cured by some of the 
plants contained in the popular medicine of the 
country. These doubts were, however, somewhat 
modified upon reading the circumstantial accounts 
of cases treated in America. 
In consequence of the great interest which the 
subject excited in the Central American States, M. 
Triana, as a Columbian, thought it to be his duty to 
make a botanical investigation of this interesting 
plant; and, although not claiming to speak decisively 
upon the medical question, he thinks he is justified 
in sajdng (1) that some of the symptoms of cases 
described as being successfully treated in America 
could only have belonged to cases of cancer; (2) 
that supposing diagnostic error on the part of the 
physicians, it is sufficiently well established that 
serious maladies have been healed 'by it; (3) that 
judging by analogy from other asclepiadaceous plants 
in the genera Calotropis, Cynanchum, and Tylophora , 
etc., there is reason to suppose that the plant would 
possess depurative and antisyphilitic properties. 
The author acknowledges that in Europe the 
cundurango has only given hitherto negative results 
in well-characterized cases of cancer. But he con¬ 
siders that before this experience be taken as decisive 
_i_ 
it is worthy of inquiry whether the experiments 
have been made in both countries under the same 
conditions. Is it certain that the plant in drying 
does not lose much of its activity? Or is it not pos¬ 
sible that in the consignments of cundurango various 
species of Gonolobus have been confounded ? Some 
time since specimens of wood, leaves and fruit had 
been submitted to him as cundurango, which he had 
no difficulty in recognizing as belonging to a species 
of Macroscepis, collected by himself in the warm re¬ 
gion of Magdalena, and named by Decaisnei!/. Triana;. 
The author states that the plant has close affinity 
with Macroscepis , to which genus however it cannot 
be referred, in consequence of its corolla, described 
as being rotate. The same character separates :t 
from Fischeria. At Ecuador it was thought to be 
an Oxypetalum, but that genus has smooth fruit, 
bifid styles and linear petals, characters entirely 
distinct from cundurango. There remained, therefore, 
in the group of Gonolobece only the genus Gonolobus 
itself; and upon examination of the specimens of 
fruits and leaves at the office of the Ecuador consu¬ 
late all doubt disappeared, for it was found that the 
first are follicles with longitudinal ribs, and the 
latter cordate and deeply emarginated, as in the 
generality of species of Gonolobus. The author, 
however, considers it be a new species, to which he 
has given the name Gonolobus Cundurango. Many 
other species of Gonolobus found in the tropical zone 
of America probably possess similar medical pro¬ 
perties, but before their respective therapeutic value 
can be decided, it will be necessary to avoid con¬ 
founding them. The following is M. Triana s dia¬ 
gnosis of the species:— 
G. Cundurango, ramulis sulcatis, petiolis pedun- 
culisque pube gricea indutis, foliis longiuscule peao- 
latis cordatis sinu lato cuspidatis supra puberulis, 
subtus cinereo tomentosis mollibus a basi 5-nervhs 
folliculis ovato-oblongis ventricosis I-alatis giabns. 
