Anamirta cocculus
{{short description|Climbing plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Anamirta_cocculus_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-157.jpg
| image_caption = Indian berry (Anamirta cocculus)
| genus = Anamirta
| species = cocculus
| authority = (L.) Wight & Arn., 1834
| synonyms =
- Anamirta jucunda Miers
- Anamirta paniculata Colebr.
- Anamirta populifera (DC.) Miers
- Anamirta racemosa Colebr. ex Steud.
- Cocculus indicus Royle
- Menispermum heteroclitum Roxb.
- Menispermum monadelphum Roxb. ex Wight & Arn.
}}
Anamirta cocculus ({{langx|mr|काकमारी}}) is a Southeast Asian and Indian climbing plant. It is the source of picrotoxin, a poisonous compound with stimulant properties.
The plant is large-stemmed (up to 10 cm in diameter); the bark is "corky gray" with white wood. The "small, yellowish-white, sweet-scented" flowers vary between 6 and 10 millimeters across; the fruit produced is a drupe, "about 1 cm in diameter when dry".
Chemical substances
File:Fishberry (Anamirta cocculus) fruits closeup ruled.JPG
File:Anamirta cocculus 001.JPG
File:Anamirta cocculus 003.JPG
The stem and the roots contain quaternary alkaloids, such as berberine, palmatine, magnoflorine and columbamine. The seeds deliver picrotoxin, a sesquiterpene, while the seed shells contain the tertiary alkaloids menispermine and paramenispermine.{{cite journal |author =R.Verpoorte |title=Studies on Indonesian Medicinal Plants V. The Alkaloids of Anamirta cocculus |journal=Journal of Natural Products |date=March 1981 |volume= 44|issue= 2|pages=221–224 |doi=10.1021/np50014a013 |display-authors=etal}}{{cite book |title=Commercial Organic Analysis - Vol.III Part III |author =Alfred H. Allen |year=1896 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IihLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA167 |publisher=P.Blakiston, Son & Co |location=Philadelphia |oclc=64367571 |page=167 |edition=2nd |chapter=Bitters of Cocculus Indicus |accessdate=June 9, 2012}}
Uses
Its crushed seeds are an effective pediculicide (anti-lice) and are also traditionally used to stun fish or as a pesticide.{{cite web |url=https://phytochem.nal.usda.gov/phytochem/plants/show/129 |title=Ethnobotanical uses |author =James A. Duke |authorlink=James A. Duke |date=September 26, 1995 |work=Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases |publisher=USDA |accessdate=June 9, 2012}} In pharmacology, it is known as Cocculus Indicus.
Although poisonous, hard multum is a preparation made from Cocculus Indicus, etc., once used (by 19th century brewers){{cite book |title=Text Book of Modern Medicine and Surgery on Homœopathic Principles |author =E. Harris Ruddock |year=1874 |url=https://archive.org/details/b2040072x |publisher=Homœopathic Publishing Company |location=London |oclc=14853471 |page=[https://archive.org/details/b2040072x/page/833 833] |accessdate=June 9, 2012}} to impart a more intoxicating quality ("giddiness") to beer than provided by the alcoholic content alone.{{cite book |title=Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary |year=1913 |url=http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&word=multum&use1913=on |publisher=G. & C. Merriam Co |location=Springfield, Mass. |page=953 |accessdate=June 9, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627131601/http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster's |archivedate=June 27, 2012 }}{{cite book |title=Early Papers and Some Memories |author =Henry Morley, LL.D. |authorlink=Henry Morley |year=1891 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2EEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA373 |publisher=Geo. Routledge & Sons, LTD |location=London |oclc=10078708 |page=373 |chapter=Appendix (1841-1848): Management of the Food |accessdate=June 9, 2012}} Charles Dickens referred to those engaging in such practices as "brewers and beer-sellers
of low degree,... who do not understand the wholesome policy of
selling wholesome beverage."{{cite book |title=Household Words - Volume XIV |author =Charles Dickens |authorlink=Charles Dickens |year=1852 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-5LAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA299 |publisher=Bernhard Tauchnitz Jun |location=Leipzig |oclc=634265325 |page=299 |chapter=Constitutional Trials |accessdate=June 9, 2012}} Although appearing in many homeopathic volumes and at least two brewers' guides, the use of such preparations was outlawed in England, during the mid-19th century, with fines of £500 for sale and £200 for use of the drug.
The wood of the plant is used for fuel and carving.{{cite web|url=http://erdb.denr.gov.ph/publications/rise/r_v12n2.pdf |title=Research Information Series On Ecosystems - Volume 12 No.2 |editor=Wilma C. Dichoso |date=May–August 2000 |work=Useful Plant Species with Toxic Substance |publisher=DENR |accessdate=June 9, 2012 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Common names
The English common names are Indian berry, fishberry, or Levant nut{{GRIN | accessdate=June 9, 2012}} (both referring to the dried fruit, and to the plant by synecdoche) and coca de Levante in Spanish; it is variously known as ligtang, aria (Mindanao), bayati (Tagalog), and variations thereof throughout its natural distribution (the Philippines, East India, Malaysia, and New Guinea).
The name "fishberry" comes from the use of the dried fruit as a method of fishing, in which the fish is "stupified and captured"; this method, however, is considered "unsportsmanlike".{{cite book |title=A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy |edition=3rd |author1=Lucius E. Sayre |author2=B.S. |year=1907 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKoUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA100 |publisher=P.Blakinston's Son & Co |location=Philadelphia |oclc=5302717 |chapter=MENISPERMACEÆ - Moonseed Family: 25. Cocculus. |page=100 |accessdate=June 9, 2012}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2007832}}
Category:Medicinal plants of Asia