105 
GUARANA 
PROSPER H. MARSDEN, F.C.S., 
LECTURER ON MATERIA MEDICA AND PHARMACY IN THE UNIVERSITY 
OF LIVERPOOL 
( Received for publication January ir, 19to ) 
(Plate X) 
Guaranais a Brazilian drug obtained from the seeds of a climbing 
plant of the natural order Sapindaceae, Paullinia sorbilis, Martius 
(P. Cupana, H. B. and K.). The name is derived from a tribe of 
Indians in the Amazon basin, and is pronounced with the accent on 
the last syllable, much like Panama. 
Nomenclature 
Paullinia , 1 Linn. Gen. ed. I, 116 ( 1737 ), Sapindaceae. Benth and 
Hook, f. I, 394; Enourea, Aubl. PI. Gui., I, 5^7 ( J 775 )> Semari 
Ruiz and Pav. Prod., iv. 52, t. 9 (i 794 )- 
Paullinia sorbilis, Mart. Reise Bras., i. 31b nomen = P. Cupana. 
Paullinia Cupana? H. B. and K., Nov. Gen. et Sp. , 1 7 > 
Venezuela. . 
The name Paullinia 3 is derived from C. F. Paullin, a German 
botanist, 1712. Shrubby tropical plants. About 125 spec 
mostly tropical America, one African. 
Bentham and Hooker, 4 writing in 1862-1867, say of t ® £ e 
‘Species ad 80, nobis cognitae v. bene descriptae, me *- 
praesertim orientalem incolentes, quarum una in Africam occi en a e 
vagatur.’ 
Bentley and Trimen, Medicinal Plants, Vol. I, No. 7 > S 
coloured illustration of Paullinia sorbilis, Mart., which is repro 
(fig. I) by kind permission oT Messrs. J. & A. Churchill. 
History 
The plant which yields guarana is abundant in the pro 
Amazonas, along the banks of the Tapajos, Rio Negro, as w 
