454 
On  Pareira  Brava. 
(  Am.  Joor.  Pharm. 
{     Oct.  1,  1873. 
cuius  [?)  platyphylla  by  Auguste  de  St.  Hilaire,*  and  by  Eichler,f  as 
Botryopsis  platypJiylla  Miers.  It  agrees  well  with  the  plate  of  Cis- 
sampelos  Abutua  in  Vellozo's  Flora  Fluminensis%  with  which  Eichler 
doubtfully  identifies  it. 
Chondodendron  tomentosum  has  been  found  in  various  parts  of 
Brazil,  where  it  is  known  as  Butua  and  Abutua.  Its  raceme  of  large 
oval  berries,  exactly  like  a  bunch  of  grapes,  is  another  evidence  that 
it  is  the  plant  which  the  old  Portuguese  colonists  called  Pareira  Brava 
or  Wild  Vine.§  Neither  the  fruit  nor  the  foliage  of  Cissampelos  Pa- 
reira have  anything  about  them  suggestive  of  a  grape-vine. 
The  root  of  Chondodendron  cannot  be  confounded  with  the  stem, 
which  is  woody  and  fibrous  and  of  a  different  structure.  Geoffroy's 
description  of  the  former,  which  I  have  translated  at  page  451,  is  cor- 
rect as  far  as  it  goes.  I  may  add  that  the  numerous  specimens  I  have 
seen  present  but  little  variation.  All  are  portions  of  a  tortuous, 
branching  root,  wrinkled  longitudinally  and  having  transverse  fis- 
sures, constrictions,  or  ridges.  The  root  is  externally  of  a  blackish- 
brown,  and  light  yellowish-brown  within.  In  Mr.  Francis's  drug 
there  are  young  roots  having  the  remnants  of  green  aerial  stems  rising 
from  the  upper  part.  In  Mr.  Peckolt's  specimen  the  aerial  stems  are 
fully  preserved,  as  thick  as  the  finger  and  many  feet  in  length.  The 
root  seems  to  be  gorged  with  juices  so  that  under  the  penknife  it  cuts 
more  like  a  very  hard  fat  or  wax  than  as  a  fibrous  wTood.  In  trans- 
verse section  it  does  not  display  zones  of  the  same  regular  and  beau- 
tiful definition  that  one  sees  in  ordinary  Pareira  Brava.  In  the  root 
of  Chondodendron  there  is  a  large  well-marked  central  column  com- 
posed of  wedges  diverging  from  a  common  axis,  around  which  are  ar- 
ranged a  few  concentric  rings  intersected  by  wedge-shaped  rays  which 
are  often  irregular,  scattered,  and  indistinct.  The  axis  is  not  often 
eccentric. 
*  Plantes  Usuelles  des  Brasiliens,  pi.  42. 
f  Martius,  Flor.  Bras.,  fasc.  38,  tab.  48.  Eichler  makes  two  species  under 
the  name  of  Botryopsis,  Miers  et'yht,  six  of  them  being  apparently  forms  of  Oh. 
tomentosum.  Mr.  Mier's  species,  as  named  by  himself,  can  be  seen  iu  the  Brit- 
ish Museum,  and  a  type-specimen  of  the  plant  figured  by  Eichler  in  the  Kew 
Herbarium. 
X  Tom  X.,  tab.  140.  Mr.  Miers  regard  this  to  represent  his  Abut  a  macro - 
phylla,  a  very  different  plant. 
I  In  Portuguese  the  word  is  written  Parretra,  and  signifies  a  vine  that  grows 
against  a  wall  or  over  au  arbor..  Pdrra  is  a  vine  leaf. 
