214 
Note  on  Jaborandi. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(.       May,  1875. 
NOTE  ON  JABORANDI. 
BY  D.  PARODI. 
The  accounts  of  the  properties  of  jaborandi^  which  was  sent  to 
Europe  by  Dr.  Coutinho,  of  Brazil,  and  experimented  with  by  Dr. 
Rabuteau,  reminded  the  author  of  a  plant  bearing  the  similar  name  of 
Taguarundi^  and  used  among  the  Paraguayans  in  domestic  practice. 
The  botanical  notes,  taken  from  a  living  specimen,  indicate  that  the 
Taguarundi^  of  Paraguay,  belongs  to  the  natural  order  of  Piperacece.  It 
should  be  known,  however,  that,  in  the  Guarany  tongue,  the  names 
of  plants  are  generic,  indicating  a  similarity  of  some  remarkable  prop- 
erty or  character  ;  that  of  Taguarundi  being  applied  to  various  plants  of 
an  acrid  and  pungent  taste,  and  among  them,  to  several  of  the  Rutacecs. 
But  the  true  Taguarundi^  medicinally  employed  by  the  Indians,  is  a  nearly- 
smooth,  suifruticose  plant  ;  leaves  petiolate,  about  9  inches  long,  sub- 
coriaceous  or  rather  membranaceous,  ovate  to  oblong-ovate,  somewhat 
tapering  at  the  apex,  rounded  and  unequal  at  the  base  ;  the  spikes  are 
opposite  the  leaves,  erect,  medium  sized,  hermaphrodite,  the  short  ped- 
uncles finely  pubescent ;  the  filaments  are  long,  thick,  withering  ;  an- 
thers 2,  one-celled,  converging  at  the  apex  ;  style  very  short  persistent; 
stigmas  3,  rarely  two.  The  author  regards  this  to  be  Piper  jaborandi ^ 
Velloso.f 
The  leaves,  tops  and  root  of  the  plant  act  as  a  sialagogue  and  diapho- 
retic, and  are,  for  this  reason,  employed  against  the  bites  of  venomous 
reptiles,  the  juice  being  applied  to  the  wound,  and  the  infusion  freely 
taken  internally. 
By  distillation  with  water  of  the  leaves  and  spikes  containing  flowers 
and  unripe  fruit,  and  treating  the  distillate  with  chloride  of  calcium,  a 
volatile  oil  was  obtained,  having  an  acrid  and  biting  taste,  and  yielding, 
with  hydrochloric  acid  gas,  a  crystalline  compound. 
The  decoction  in  the  retort  was  evaporated,  the  extract  treated  with 
strong  alcohol,  the  tincture  evaporated,  the  residue  dissolved  in  acidulated 
water,  agitated  with  benzin,  this  solvent  evaporated,  and  the  residue 
treated  with  absolute  alcohol.     By  spontaneous  evaporation,  prismatic 
Abstract  from  a  translation  furnished  by  Louis  A.  Matos. 
t  The  plant  described  by  Velloso  has  four  stamens  and  four  stigmas  5  that  de- 
scribed by  Parodi  has  two  stamens  and  three  stigmas.  % — E,  M.  Holmes,  Lond. 
Pharm.  Jour.^  April  3, />.  781. 
J  The  species  of  Piper  vihich.  has  found  its  wslj  to  Europe,  under  the  name  of  j'alwrandi  {see  ^ngo. 
177  of  our  last  number),  seems  to  differ  from  the  above. 
