A R E I ' O It T 
ON THE 
ORIGIN AND THERAPEUTIC PROPERTIES 
OK 
cunduWango. 
BY 
w. s. w. ruschenberger, m. n., 
MEDICAL DIRECTOR U. S. NAVY; PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL 
SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, ETC., ETC. 
Puhlished^^ order of the Department. 
WAWlWTON: 
government printing office. 
1873. United States Naval Hospital, 
Philadelphia, December 23, 1872. 
Sir : In April last I had the pleasure to present to the Sur- 
geon-General of the Navy a report on cundurango, the mate- 
rials for which had been submitted to me some time previously 
by the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the 
Navy Department. 
'A large part of the information relating to the history of 
cundurango which is contained in that report has been derived 
from Dr. Ayers, whose herbarium and report are herewith re- 
turned. In the botanical study of the specimens I am greatly 
indebted to Dr. Joseph Carson, Professor of Materia Medica in 
the University of Pennsylvania, who is distinguished for his 
knowledge of medical botany. 
Although experience has shown that a specific remedy for 
cancer has not been found in cundurango, the merit of collect- 
ing, through the labors of Passed Assistant Surgeon Ayers, the 
information contained in the report, is not abated. The sub- 
ject has not yet lost its interest. Had the promised efficacy of 
cundurango been fully realized, the prompt effort of the Bureau 
to obtain accurate knowledge of the plant, and make it common 
to the public, would have been generally commended. 4 
LETTER. 
Under an impression that the medical profession would be 
gratified to know what the Bureau of Medicine has done in the 
premises, I beg leave to invite your attention to the report. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
W. S. W. Ruschenberger, 
Medical Director United States Navy. 
Surgeon-General 
James C. Palmer, U. S. Navy, 
Chief of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, 
Navy Department. LIST OF PLATES. 
Plate 1. Leaf and flowers of cundurango bianco. 
2. Leaves and flowers of cundurango bianco. 
3. Leaves and flowers of cundurango bianco. 
4. Fruit, seeds, bark, and stems of cundurango bianco. 
5. Leavesand flowers of cundurango de tumbo grande. 
G. Leaves and flowers of cundurango de tumbo grande. 
7. Leaves and flowers of cundurango de tumbo grande. 
8. Interior of fruit of cundurango de tumbo grande. 
9. Exterior of fruit with stem of cundurango de tumbo 
grande. 
10. Leaves of the cundurango de tumbo chico. 
11. Leaves of the cundurango de tumbo chico, and one 
of cundurango de paloma. 
12. Fruit and stems, with section of cundurango de 
tumbo chico; stem and section of cundu- 
rango cascarilla; stems of cundurango de 
platano from Malacatos and from Loja; stems 
of the cundurango de paloma from Zaruma 
and from Malacatos; stem of the cundurango 
saragosa. 
13. Echites hirsuta, cundurango de paloma. 
14. Echites hirsuta, cundurango de paloma. 
15. Gonolobus tetragonus, cundurango de paloma from 
Malacatos. 
16. Fruit and stems of Echites hirsuta and Gonolobus 
tetragonus. 6 
LIST OF PLATES. 
Plate 17. Leaves and flowers of Ecliites acuminata, cundu- 
rango de platano. 
18. Leaves and flowers of Ecliites acuminata, cundu- 
rango de platano. 
19. Leaves and flowers of Ecliites acuminata, cundu- 
rango de phitano. 
20. Leaves and flowers of Ecliites acuminata, cundu- 
rango de platano. 
21. Leaves and flowers of Ecliites acuminata, cundu- 
rango de platano. 
22. Leaves of Chinininga. CUNDURANGO. 
The attention of the medical profession and people of the 
United States was first attracted to cundurango as an efficient 
remedy for cancer through the State Department of the Grov- 
ernment of the United States. 
It is stated that Dr. Casares, of Quito, in September, 1869, 
administered cundurango in a case of cancer. The result of 
the treatment in a few days was so favorable that he brought it 
to the notice of his government, although he was unable to con- 
tinue the use of it at that time because the small quantity of it 
in his possession had been consumed. Subsequently it was 
procured in larger quantity. 
Relying upon the accuracy of Dr. Casares, the govern- 
ment of Ecuador determined to send fifty pounds of cundurango 
to scientific societies of Paris and London for analysis, and 
also a circumstantial statement of its therapeutic effects, which 
Dr. Casares was requested to make. In answer to this request, 
he reported April 28, 1870, to the Minister of the Interior of 
the government of Ecuador, several cases of cancer cured 
through the agency of this plant. The descriptions of these 
cases, published in No. 425 of El Nacional-the official journal 
of Ecuador-are somewhat obscure. In the translations issued 
here, they appear as "Extracts from the reports of Doctors 
Casares, Eguiguren," and others. In illustration of their ob- 
scurity, the following are quoted: 
"Passing to another case, I will state that it is a year since 
Jose A entered this hospital, suffering from intermittent 8 
CUNDURANGO. 
fever and scrofulous ulcers in the breast. Constant and diligent 
care did nothing toward restoring his health until I resolved 
to administer the cundurango to him together with arsenic, and 
his present condition is very encouraging. 
" I will remark that the cancers which I treated with the 
cundurango were already in the form of fungus haematodes and 
none in the state of rawness. 
"Reminding the patient of this terrible circumstance, (the 
difficulty of saving his life,) I obliged him to take the remedy 
which I alone possessed in Quito. After a few days it pro- 
duced so surprising an effect that Dr. Casares was astonished 
at the rapidity with which the cure took place, until the edges 
became cicatrized and also the bone, as if it had been a wound 
in soft parts and in a healthy subject. I caused Dr. Casares to 
be informed of the remedy which had cured him, and this 
professor appreciated a medicament of such high importance; 
and afterward, learning that a servant of my brother Manuel 
Eguiguren had cured himself some months before of an ulcer- 
ated cancer which resisted the known appliances of art, lie 
began to give it to a patient who was by chance in the hospital, 
and who would have died two or three days afterward, if this 
remedy had not been so seasonably given him, as I was assured 
by Dr. Casares, when lie took me to see him." 
The above seems to be a statement of Dr. Eguiguren. He 
asserts that he only possessed the remedy, and that he "caused 
Dr. Casares to be informed " of its efficacy. The remark that 
none of the cancers which he treated was "in a state of 
rawness" but "already in the form of fungus haematodes" is not 
consistent with the views of the progress of the disease com- 
monly entertained by surgeons 
The Hon. Rumsey Wing, the American minister near the 9 
CUNDURANGO. 
government of Ecuador, addressed Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, 
letters on the subject, dated Quito, January 5, and 25, 1871, 
in which he states, substantially, that for some time past he had 
been aware of "the recent discovery" of a specific remedy for 
cancer and other formidable diseases. He says that the dis- 
covery is ascribable to "one of those trivial incidents which 
evince oftentimes how humble are the means used by Provi- 
dence to make known the mysteries of nature and the wonders 
of science." He states that "the ignorant wife of a common 
Indian laborer, who had for some time suffered most fearfully 
from an internal cancer, concluded finally," "in perfect good 
faith and honesty of purpose, and with no sinister or malevolent 
design" "to administer eternal relief to him by the simple pro- 
cess of mixing poison in his food !" 
The agent she selected for the purpose of releasing her hus- 
band from his agony was the fruit of the cundurango, " said to 
be an active poison;" but not being able to obtain it, she ad- 
ministered instead a decoction of the wood. To her surprise, 
the man at once began to rally. She continued to dose him in 
augmented quantities, and he entirely recovered. The case 
becoming public, "further tests have established the powers of 
the wood as a remedial agent." 
The Hon. A. Flores, the minister from Ecuador to the United 
States, informed the Secretary of State, in a letter, dated 
Washington, I). C., March 14, 1871, that his government had 
forwarded for his acceptance a box of cundurango, "to which 
great medicinal qualities are attributed," as he would see in 
"the annexed extracts copied from No. 425 of the official jour- 
nal of Ecuador." Mr. Flores desired Mr. Fish, in the event of 
his receiving it, to enable him to communicate to the govern- 
ment of Ecuador "the result of the analyses and experiments" 
which might be made. 
The letters referred to above were made public. The cun- 10 
CUNDURANGO. 
durango was distributed through the Smithsonian Institution, 
and the medical departments of the Army and Navy, with a 
statement of a method of using it, communicated by the Hon. 
Rumsey Wing to the Secretary of State, which is as follows : 
"A decoction of cundurango is made out of a small piece of 
the wood beaten out flat, and a half an ounce of which is 
boiled in three tea-cups of water. 
" Of this decoction one tea-cupful must be taken in the morn- 
ing and another at night. 
"If the patient has ulcers, they should be kept very clean by 
the use of aromatic wine or simple ointment, according to the 
degree of inflammation. 
" The decoction is only to be used for fifteen days consecu- 
tively. An interval of fifteen days must then elapse, when the 
remedy may again be resumed for the same length of time. 
" Great attention must be given in order to keep the digest- 
ive organs in the best possible condition. 
"With regard to any other counsel, the general aspect of the 
patient must serve as guide. 
"In this country, [Ecuador,] the cundurango has proved itself 
to be a powerful restorative, and must eventually work a com- 
plete revolution in the treatment of cancerous, venereal, and 
ulcerous diseases. 
"Dr. Casares. 
"Quito, January 4, 1870. 
"A true translation: 
" Rumsey Wing." 
Influenced by the high authority under which it was intro- 
duced to public notice, Surgeon-General William M. Wood, of 
the Navy, immediately, May 15, 1871, instructed Passed Assist- 
ant Surgeon Joseph G. Ayers, United States Navy, then 
attached to the United States Steamer Resaca, on the coast of CUNDURANGO. 
11 
Peru, to collect botanical specimens of cundurango and such 
information relating to it as might be possible for him to 
obtain. 
The Resaca arrived at Guayaquil (latitude 2° 30z south) 
August 10, 1871. There Dr. Ayers was unable to obtain any 
cundurango, or much reliable information concerning it. He de- 
termined to visit the province of Loja, where the plant grows, and 
started August 13th, with three companions, one in the capacity 
of interpreter. On the 15th he landed at the little town of 
Santa Rosa, about ninety miles south of Guayaquil, whence he 
proceeded up the valley, over very difficult roads, toward 
Zaruma. He crossed a mountain-range 10,000 feet above the 
level of the sea, and in the morning of the 19th reached the 
scattered hamlet of Ayapamba, in the deep valley of the Calera 
River, where, for the first time, he saw the cundurango growing. 
The next day lie arrived at Zaruma, which is 4,000 feet above 
the sea and about fifty-four miles from Santa Rosa. This is 
regarded as the center of the cundurango district. 
He found here a great variety of vines, including the cancer 
remedy, of which little had been sent to the United States, 
though considerable quantities of other vines named cundu- 
rango, and among them one called Bejuco pachon, had been 
shipped. 
On the 24th of August he left Zaruma, crossed the mount- 
ains in a southeasterly direction, and the next day reached the 
small village of Cisne, whose inhabitants he found busy 
gathering cundurango from the neighboring valleys for the 
Loja market. 
The following morning he descended to the extensive plain 
of La Toma, through which the river Catamayo flows toward 
the Pacific. This plain is many miles in extent and is inclosed 
by high mountains, which at this season are bare or thinly 
covered with dry and faded grass. The appearance of this 12 
CUNDURANGO. 
region is exceedingly sterile. Except in the deep and narrow 
valleys between the mountains, and along the banks of the 
river, there is but little verdure. Cundurango grows in this lo- 
cality. 
Leaving the plain, he crossed a mountain-range at an eleva- 
tion of 9,700 feet, and through the beautiful and fertile valley 
of Loja, to the town of that name near to its eastern side. This 
valley, surrounded by mountains, is twelve miles long and 
seven wide. 
The town of Loja, (latitude 4° south and longitude 79° 24z 
west), a place of considerable wealth and refinement, is 7,400 
feet above the level of the sea, and about one hundred and 
twenty-five miles from Santa Rosa. Its population, chiefly of 
Spanish and aboriginal descent, is estimated at 4,000. 
A Dr. Keene had been here from the United States to pur- 
chase cundurango, a little of which grows within ten or fifteen 
miles of the town, but is found in the valleys of less elevation 
and more tropical temperature in the vicinity. People were 
cutting it in all the neighboring country. Several thousand 
quintals had been brought already to the city, and it was es- 
timated that there are 40,000 quintals in this part of the 
province. A quintal is a hundred pounds. 
August 31st he descended the valley of El Rio de los Andes 
to the village of Malacatos, twenty-one miles farther south. 
Nearly all the genuine cundurango sent to the United States is 
from this place. Here, as well as elsewhere, it was difficult to 
find a large plant still standing, so thoroughly had it been 
gathered for the market At the present rate of cutting it, there 
will be in a short time but little left in the province. 
Having visited Vilcabamba, La Toma, and Chapamarca, he 
returned by the way ofZaruma, and rejoined the ship Septem- 
ber 21st. Dr. Ayers, in this journey of thirty-nine days, 
collected specimens of cundurango leaves, flowers, and fruits 13 
CUNDURANGO. 
of several plants, and much information, which is embodied in 
his report. 
The collections forwarded by him to the Bureau of Medicine 
and Surgery contain specimens labeled- 
Cundurango bianco. 
Two varieties of cundurango de paldma. 
Cundurango de tumbo grande. 
Cundurango de platano. 
Cundurango de tumbo chico. 
Cundurango cascarilla. 
Cundurango saragosa. fSic.) 
Cundurango amarillo. 
A variety of cundurango growing near Guayaquil. 
Of these ten plants, called cundurango, he procured flowers 
of those only which bloom in August and September: most of 
them flower in the month of May. 
The word cundurango is probably derived from the Qulchua, 
the language of the Inca races. According to a vocabulary 
of the language before me, the word cuntur signifies vulture, 
and anca, eagle. Cuntur has become condor in the mouths of 
the Spanish conquerors, and designates a particular vulture. 
Whether the term is a compound of cuntur and anca or not, 
and signifies condor vine, as has been stated, it is worthy of 
note that some ten plants are designated in a generic sense by 
a Qufchuan name, implying that they had probably attracted 
attention of the aborigines of the region before the conquest. 
Cundurango blanco-white cundurango-is the plant which 
has recently acquired so much notoriety as a remedy for can- 
cer. Careful examination of the specimens furnished lead to 
an opinion that it has not yet been described. The materials 
at hand are not sufficient to enable us to characterize it botani- 
cally and give it a systematic name. 14 
CUNDURANGO. 
This view is sustained in a letter, dated at Guayaquil, De- 
cember 13, 1871, and addressed to the editor of "Nature," by 
Dr. A. Destruge. He says: "The cundurango belongs to the 
order Asclepiadaceay third tribe, which corresponds to Asclepi- 
adese verse, first division, Astephamr, whose characters are that 
the limb of the corolla is without scales, and the stamens with- 
out appendage or corona. 
"This division comprehends only five genera, viz: Mitostigma, 
Astephanus, Hsemax, Hemipogon, and Nautonia. In none of 
these genera can the cundurango be classed. 
"The genus Mitostigma as a distinguishing character has 
two long filaments at the end of the stigma, and this is not the 
case in cundurango. The genius Astephanus has the sepals 
acute, the carolla subcampanulate, and the stigma elongated; 
characters that do not belong to the cundurango. The genus 
Hsemax has the divisions of the corolla hooded, and other 
characters not observed in the cundurango. The genus 
Hemipogon has the sepals of the calyx acute, hard, with a 
curved extremity. The corolla is campanulate, which is not 
the case in cundurango. The genus Nautonia has the sepals 
striated and curved, which is not the case in cundurango.* 
"The flowers of the cundurango have a calyx of five divis- 
ions, obtuse, ovate, and villose in their inferior part and of 
quincuncal pre-efflorescence. The corolla is rotate, of five di- 
visions, lanceolate, hairy at the base on the inside, and 
somewhat fleshy, with a membraneous margin. Its aestivation 
is imbricated. The stamen has no appendage or corona; the 
anthers are terminated by a membrane; and the pollen-masses 
are elongated and suspended. The stigma is pentagonal and 
conical. The flowers are numerous and disposed in umbellifer- 
ous inflorescence. 
"As aforesaid, the cundurango forms a new genus." 
The fruit is a follicle, about four inches long and an inch in 
* De Candolle, Prodr. pars viii, p. 507. CUNDURANGO. 
15 
diameter, deeply ribbed longitudinally, and, in the dried con- 
dition, ash-colored. It contains numerous black seeds armed 
with long silky aigrettes imbricated on the placenta. (Plate 4.) 
Dr. Destruge has not given a name to this genus. I sug- 
gest that it be called Pseusmagennetus equatoriensis, (from 
a lie, a fraud, and yEvvrjTrj?, a parent, a producer.) 
The mature vine of the cundurango bianco is from ten to 
thirty feet in length, less than one inch in diameter, often more, 
but rarely exceeds two inches, (sections of root and stem rep- 
resented on Plate 4.) The external surface of the bark is gen- 
erally smooth, of an ash-gray color, more or less mottled with, 
greenish or blackish lichens. On the lower part of the stem it 
is frequently reddish-brown. These characters are retained in 
the dried bark. The wood is white, with a faint, yellowish tint, 
and possesses numerous minute round pores and a slender pith. 
The bark and pith contain much, but the wood very little, 
milky juice. 
The bark is prepared for market by pounding the stem with 
a mallet to detach it, and then drying it in the sun, generally 
on skins, during eight or ten days. It assumes the form of 
quills, or semi-cylindrical pieces, of from one to four inches 
long, often very much broken from pounding it into the sack 
to reduce the bulk of the package. The bark is from one- 
sixteenth to one-sixth of an inch thick. The liber is yellowish- 
white, and, in transverse section, presents numerous minute yel- 
lowish points, which, in longitudinal section, are considerably 
elongated. The bark dried upon the stick is of a much darker 
color than that which is dried after it is detached. Its taste is 
bitter and aromatic, and, when dried, without odor. 
The milky juice, which all parts of the plant contain, when 
evaporated to dryness, has a resinous appearance. 
Tins plant grows in localities from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above 16 
CUNDURANGO. 
the level of the sea, but generally at an elevation of about 
4,000 feet. 
A chemical analysis of the wood and bark by Dr. Antisell 
has been published in the Medical Record, New York, De- 
cember 15, 1871. It is as follows: 
Ratio of wood and bark. 
"Bark 49.72 
"Wood................... 50.28 
" Average of three examinations. 100.00 
" Moisture 8 parts. 
" Mineral salts 12 " 
" Vegetable matters. ... <80 " 
100 " 
"These vegetable matters were separable by the usual 
methods into the following: 
"Fatty matter, soluble in ether and partially in strong 
alcohol - 0.7 
" Yellow resin, soluble in alcohol 2.7 
" Starch, gum, and glucose. - 0.5 
"Tannin, yellow and brown coloring matter, and ex- 
tractive - 12.6 
" Cellulose, lignin, &c 64.5 
81.0 
" Constitution of bark. 
"On distillation, no volatile oil or acid was obtainable; no 
crystalline alkaloid or active principle was separable by the 
usual method of proximate analysis. Whatever medicinal 
virtues the plant may possess must reside either in the yellow CUNDURANGO. 
17 
resin or in the extractive. The former is soluble in alcohol, 
the latter in water. In the water decoction some of the resin 
is diffused; but the greater portion of resin is not extracted 
by water. The therapeutic position of the plant, judged from 
analysis, is among the aromatic bitters. 
The cundurango de tumbo grande, (big-fruit cundurango,) 
also called Bejuco pachon,* grows from twenty to fifty feet high, 
and is about an inch in diameter near the ground. Externally 
the bark on the lower part of the stem is of dark gray color 
and fissured both longitudinally and transversely, (Plate 9.) 
Toward the top it is smooth, of an ash-gray color, and closely 
resembles that of the cundurango bianco. The liber is yellow 
or yellowish white. The wood, which is pale yellow or white, 
has numerous round pores and a small pith. Ihe bark dried 
for the market is from one-sixteenth to one-sixth of an inch thickr 
in the form of quills, or semi-cylindrical, more or less irregular, 
pieces of from one-eighth to three-fourths of an inch in diam- 
eter. The greater part of the outer and dead layers are 
removed in detaching it from the stem with a mallet. The 
liber becomes dark brown or nearly black in drying, and there 
are tubercules a line or more in diameter on its external sur- 
face. The taste of the bark is moderately bitter and aromatic. 
Except the wood, in which there is little, all parts of the 
plant contain a large quantity of milky juice. 
The fruit (Plates 8 and 9) is a follicle from six to eleven 
inches long, and from about three to seven in diameter. Dr. 
* Bejuco pachon. Bejuco is a name applied in Spanish America to twining-plants 
which may he used like osiers, or as wythes. Don Jorge Juan and Don Antonio de 
Ulloa, in their Noticias Secretas de America, mention, page 571, a "bejuco," known as 
the Carthagena bean, which is esteemed as an efficacious antidote against the bite of 
every kind of viper and poisonous animal. 
Pachon signifies hunting-dog, canis venations. The word is used also to desiguate a 
man of morose temper and dull intellect; a tardy person. The significance of the term 
in connection with this cundurango is not apparent. 18 
CUNDURANGO. 
Ayers says it closely resembles a water-melon. It contains a 
large number of black seeds armed with long silky aigrettes 
which are imbricated on the placenta. 
Its flowers and leaves are represented on Plates 5, G, and 7. 
This plant grows in considerable abundance near Zaruma, 
and sparingly in the vicinity of Loja. 
Cundurango de tumbo chico (small-fruit cundurango) very 
much resembles the cundurango de tumbo grande in length, 
size, wood, and external appearance. Its bark is deeply 
grooved longitudinally, (Plate 12,) sharp ridges standing out 
from one-eighth to one-half inch betwixt the grooves. It is very 
light and friable. On the lower part of the stem its color is 
dark chestnut-brown or blackish; but near the top it is gray 
and but little fissured. The liber is white. The wood is pale 
yellow or white. All parts of the plant, except the wood, con- 
tain a large quantity of milky juice. It is difficult to 
distinguish the dried barks of the two plants (grande and 
chico) from each other. The liber of the tumbo chico is 
lighter in color; often nearly white. It has no tubercules, and 
to the touch the outside is smooth and soft, owing to the friable 
corky layer. In the tumbo grande this layer is hard-feeling 
lamime broken by transvere cracks. It has a sweetish, pleas- 
ant taste. 
The follicle of the tumbo chico (Plate 12) is from six to 
eight inches in length and about an inch and a half to two 
inches in diameter. 
It grows in the same localities as the tumbo grande, 
o o 
The leaves of this plant are represented on Plates 10 and 
11. 
Cundurango de Paloma, (pigeon cundurango.)-There 
are two plants of this name. One grows near Mala- 
catos and Loja, and the other in the vicinity of Zaruma. C UNDURANGO. 
19 
Both are small, generally less than one-half inch in diame- 
ter. Both have a porous wood and a white liber, the taste of 
which is sweet. Both plants, except in the wood, contain an 
abundance of milky juice. They grow at the same elevations 
as the other cundurangos. 
Cundurango de Paloma from Zaruma.-Echites hirsuta: 
Ruiz and Pavon., Flor. Peruv., vol. 2, page 19, tab. 136. 
Echites pavonii: Be Candolle, Prodromus, tome 8, page 463. 
This plant is fruticose, twining, and hirsute. The stem is 
branching, contorted, and striated. The branches are uniform. 
The leaves are from four to six inches in length, oblong oval, 
acuminate, densely villous below, excavated at base with one 
or more oblong glands. The petioles are round, striated, and 
curved. The racemes are axillary, solitary, and simple, longer 
than the leaves, pedicles one-flowered, tracts lanceolate-acumi- 
nate, deciduate-stipulate. Calyx in flower acute; in fruit, 
obtuse. Color, yellow. Flowers in August and September. 
Habitat in Peru. 
This plant is figured on Plates 13 and 14. 
The bark has a corky layer of pale yellow or white color, a 
line or more in thickness. It is longitudinally fissured, show- 
ing the dark-green cellular envelope beneath. 
O'-5 J- 
The stem and bark are represented on Plates 12 and 16. 
Cundurango de Paloma from Malacatos.- Gondlobus 
tetragonus: Be Candolle, Prodromus, tome 8, page 594- 
Cynanchum tetragonum: Flor. Flamin., tab. 69. 
This is a vine-like plant with pubescent branches; the leaves 
are ovate-lanceolate, subcordate, acuminate, and somewhat 
acute. Peduncles equaling the middle of the petiole ; two- 
flowered; pedicels elongated, shorter than the leaf. Sepals 
ovate, somewhat acute ; petals ovate, obtuse, smooth, and finely 
venose ; follicles ovate-acuminate, four-angled, and indentated, 20 
CUNDURANGO. 
cristate. Seeds, testadenticulate inferiorly. (Decaisne, in Prod. 
De Candolle, Asclepiadeae.) 
The bark is dark gray or brown, and on the dry stem is 
slightly wrinkled longitudinally. 
The leaves and flowers of this plant are figured on Plate 15, 
and the fruit and stems on Plates 1G and 12. 
Cundurango de Platano, plantain cundurango.-Echites 
acuminata: Ruiz and Pavon., Flor. Peruv., vol. 2, page 19, 
tab. 134; De Candolle, tome 8, page 449, Apocynem. 
A fruticose voluble, glabrous plant, the stem of which is 
very branched, long, and round. The leaves are three or four 
inches long, elliptical, obtuse at base, at the apex shortly 
acuminate, coriaceous; the limb glandular at base; branches 
axillary, shorter than the leaf; 8-10 flowered; pedicels longer 
than the calyx; the lobes of the calyx elliptical obtuse; the 
tube of the corolla quadruple the length of the calyx; the 
lobes ovate-oblong. Follicles erect, nine inches long, terete. 
Habitat in Peru. (Adolph De Candolle, in Prodr.) 
Cundurango de platano is a small vine, not often exceeding 
ten feet in length, or a quarter of an inch in diameter. The out- 
side of the bark is pale gray. The wood is whitish. It is found 
growing in small quantities near Malacatos and Chapamarca. 
The stems, two from the Malacatos and two from the Loja 
varieties, are figured on the upper part of Plate 12, and the 
leaves and flowers on Plates 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 
The sample of cundurango cascarilla consists of several 
pieces of stem, from about three-quarters of an inch to two 
inches in diameter. One of them, with a transverse section of 
it, is figured on Plate 12. The bark is comparatively thin, 
reddish gray in color, without taste, and distinguished from all 
the others by minute points of a sulphur-colored substance, 
which is probably a dried exudation. It grows near Zaruma. 
A specimen is figured on Plate 12. C UNDUE ANGO. 
21 
Cundurango amarillo (yellow cundurango) grows near 
Zaruma. The bark is reddish brown, thicker than the pre- 
ceding, comparatively rough, and nearly tasteless. 
The variety of cundurango which grows near Guayaquil is 
very light, of a pale ashy-grav color, and has a slightly bitter 
taste. 
Cundurango Saragosa is about three-eighths of an inch in 
diameter, longitudinally ribbed, of a gray color, and flattened 
as if it had been compressed while growing. When the stem 
is freshly broken, it emits a strong, sickening, herbaceous odor, 
which is very persistent. All the other cundurangos in the 
dried state are odorless. This one grows in the vicinity of 
Guayaquil, and is used as an antidote to the poisonous effects 
of snake-bites. A specimen of the stem is represented on 
Plate 12. 
The dried bark of these plants is packed in skins, and the 
wood in a coarse cloth or sacking. Each package contains 
about one hundred pounds, or a quintal. A mule carries two 
such packages. 
The cundurangos of Zaruma are sent to Guayaquil for ex- 
portation by way of Santa Rosa. rEhe journey to the latter 
place requires three days. Those of the Loja district are 
transported to Payta. The distance is much greater, but the 
roads are better. Laden nudes are nine or ten days passing 
over this route. 
Of the physiological effects of the cundurango bianco very 
little has been ascertained. Dr. Ayers ate two or three 
drachms of the bark in the course of an hour without any 
sensible effect. 
In a case under his observation vomiting and purging oc- 
curred after taking two drachms of the bark of the root; 
whether they were produced by it, he was not satisfied. The 
reports on its effects upon the lower animals are very contra- 
6 c 22 
CUNDURANGO. 
dictory. It was generally said, however, that the root and 
seeds would kill dogs. For this reason the cundurango bianco 
lias long been called mata-perro, dog-killer. 
Dr. H. Chiriboga, physician and inspector of the military 
hospital at Guayaquil, found in his own person that an infusion 
of four ounces of the stem produced a strong stimulant effect. 
A warm infusion of from two to three drachms of the bark 
in a pint of water was followed by copious diaphoresis and a 
considerable increase in the activity of the circulation, and, in 
a short time, by a notable increase of urine, which had the odor 
of cundurango. In several cases the elimination of urea was 
augmented; in some, vertigo, disturbance of vision, nervous 
agitation, and a tendency to delirium were noted. 
A patient in the naval hospital at Philadelphia, suffering 
from syphilis, took, in drachm doses three times a day, six- 
teen ounces of a fluid extract, prepared at the naval laboratory, 
New York, from the cundurango sent by Dr. Ayers, without 
any observable effects of any kind. 
Testimony on the therapeutic value of this plant is not sat- 
isfactory. 
According to his excellency Don Manuel Eguiguren, gov- 
ernor of the province of Loja, cundurango has been used from 
time immemorial as a special poison for certain animals, dogs 
and birds, but no medicinal virtues were ascribed to it until 
Manuela Sanchez, the wife of one Custodio Leon, of the parish 
of Malacatos, determined to poison him with it, as the readiest 
means of terminating his sufferings from sores which emitted 
an intolerable odor and were covered with maggots, as well as 
to release herself from the duty and fatigue of nursing a hope- 
less case. He began to improve, from the first dose, and rapidly 
recovered under its persistent administration. 
This is substantially the same tradition which is detailed by 
the Hon. Rumsey Wing, who states, however, that the patient CUNDURANGO. 
23 
was afflicted with an "internal cancer," recognized by the 
Indian wife I 
But the Archbishop Rio-frio informed Dr. Ayers that "Cus- 
todio Leon was cured of a leprosy which disfigured him." 
There is a tradition, very generally received among the peo- 
ple of Malacatos, that he was cured of syphilis of severe 
character. But whatever the disease might have been, Cus- 
todio Leon had been dead, according to the most reliable 
authority, more than forty years at the time Dr. Ayers visited 
the parish of Malacatos. 
It is asserted in Loja that cancer, rheumatism, dysentery, 
dysmenorrhoca, chlorosis, and catarrh have been successfully 
treated with cundurango. 
The following testimony is derived from Dr. H. Chiriboga, 
of Guayaquil: 
In a case of " cancer of the right breast, which was ulce- 
rated in the whole extent of the areola," an infusion of cundu- 
rango was used twenty-one days. The ulcerated surface was 
reduced one-half, the pain had disappeared, and the flexibility 
of the surrounding tissues was increased. From that time the 
doctor lost sight of this patient. 
A man eighty years of age had cancer of the tongue, in an 
ulcerated condition, for eighteen months. More than half of 
the organ was destroyed; the tissues at the base of the jaw and 
in the parotid region were extensively indurated, and in the 
latter situation ulceration had commenced. He was treated 
with an infusion of the bark and with local applications of it 
in form of paste, and was cured in about seven months. But 
some time afterward he died in a paroxysm of asthma, from 
which he suffered before he had cancer, while convalescing 
from an attack of remittent fever. 
Mrs. U , aged 55, had a cancer of the right breast six 
years, which had been in an ulcerated condition one year. 24 
CUNDURANGO. 
She was treated with an infusion of the wood, without the bark, 
of cundurango, both internally and locally, during ten months, 
without benefit. The breast had been nearly destroyed by 
ulceration; tlie glands of the axilla were indurated. Dr. 
Ayers saw this case before he went to Loja, but not after his 
return. Dr. Chiriboga informed him, however, that, having 
used one-ninth of an ounce of the bark in infusion three times 
a day for fifty days, her general condition had improved, the 
swelling of the axillary glands had diminished, the pain was 
less, and although there had been no cicatrization the ulcerated 
surface seemed more healthy. 
Mrs. A had a cancer of the left breast, which was re- 
moved by surgical operation. Two years afterward the 
disease returned in the cicatrix and axillary glands, attended 
with severe pain. It had existed in this condition a year. 
After she had used cundurango fifty-two days, taking one- 
third of an ounce of the bark in infusion and eight or ten 
grains of an alcoholic extract daily, the pain had ceased, the 
disease had nearly disappeared, and the tumor of the axilla was 
reduced to one-third of its original size. 
Dr. Chiribog'a had used cundurang-o successfully in asthma, 
and in many cases of rheumatism. 
Dr. Edward Moises Costa stated to Dr. Ayers that many 
cures had been effected with cundurango in the hands of non- 
medical persons, and that he had used it little more than a year 
in the hospital of Loja. 
A woman between twenty-five and thirty years of age had 
for a year a pustular eruption, and a large ulcer over the 
fourth and fifth ribs of the left side, and ulceration of the 
palate; and for three months a purulent discharge from the 
vagina, with pains in the thighs and back. On the fifteenth 
day of treatment the ulcer of the palate and the pains had dis- 
appeared, and the vaginal discharge was diminished. The use CUNDURANGO. 
25 
of the cundurango was suspended. Salines were administered 
on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth days. The cundu- 
rango was resumed on the seventeenth day, and continued for 
seventeen days. On the twelfth day the vaginal discharge 
ceased, and the ulcer on the ribs was healed. On the forty- 
fifth day from the commencement of the treatment the patient 
was discharged cured. 
A woman considerably emaciated, who for three months had 
a foetid vaginal discharge, was cured in twenty-five days with 
cundurango, using vaginal injections at the same time. 
Two women suffering from blenorrhagia, one during two 
years, the other during seven months, were cured; one in thirty- 
seven and the other in one hundred and five days. 
A woman, who, on admission into the hospital, had her left 
arm flexed, without power to extend it, and who moved her 
lower limbs with difficulty, was discharged cured after three 
months' treatment with cundurango. 
A man who had an ulcer on the left ala of the nose, and 
another on the anus, of nine months' duration, was cured in 
thirty days. 
A man having an ulcer on the penis was cured in eighteen 
days. 
An extensive ulceration of the right leg of severe character, 
of two years' duration, was cured in four months. 
A woman who had used mercury, and had been unable to 
cure herself of an ulcer in the throat and severe pains in her 
head and limbs, was improved in eleven days. 
A man, who had been six years unable to work, and for a 
year unable to mount a horse on account of paralysis, ascribed 
to sleeping in damp places while in the army, was notably im- 
proved after a month's treatment. 
A man; forty years old, who had a cancer in the scapular 26 
CUNDURANGO. 
region, which had been in a state of ulceration six months, 
0 7 7 
was cured. 
Dr. Jos^ M. Eguiguren had used cundurango in many cases 
of constitutional syphilis in all its stages, and obtained radical 
cures in more or less time. He used it internally in powder, 
and in infusion locally. In rheumatic affections as well as 
in many cases of leucorrhoea, amenorrhoea and ulcers in the 
vagina, the effects were prodigious. In one case of malignant 
dysentery, which had resisted all the resources of art, the effect 
of cundurango was marvelous. 
Dr. Augustine Ruiz reports that while in charge of the hos- 
pital at Loja in 1863, a negro boy, about thirteen years old, 
was admitted with a chronic swelling and suppuration of the 
lymphatic glands of the left groin, which were not of syphilitic 
origin. The suppuration was in the cellular texture around 
the glands, which remained indurated three months, assuming 
a scirrhous character. It was determined to extirpate the 
tumor. But under fear of the operation the boy left the hos- 
pital, returned to the parish of Malacatos, and took a half-pint 
of a decoction of .two ounces of the stick of cundurango in a 
pint of water, night and morning. At the end of a month he 
was perfectly well. 
In the same year a woman, aged twenty-five, was com- 
pletely cured of chronic tertiary syphilis with cundurango in 
sixty days. 
A man forty years old was cured of chronic rheumatism and 
impending paralysis in fifteen days. 
Although intelligent and reliable gentlemen of the places 
visited by Dr. Ayers were very confident of its efficacy, he is 
of opinion that the diagnosis of some of the most remarkable 
cases reported is too uncertain, and the use of the remedy has 
been too limited to establish its curative value. 
Three intelligent physicians of considerable experience in CUNDURANGO. 
27 
the use of cundurango, were of the opinion that, in the treat- 
ment of syphilis, it is of less value than the iodide of potassium, 
and the various preparations of mercury. 
Dr. A. Destruge, of Guayaquil, is of opinion that cundu- 
rango is very useful in some rheumatisms and secondary 
syphilitic disorders, but so far as his experience goes of very 
doubtful influence in cancer. 
Mr. Davidson, the house-surgeon of Middlesex Hospital, 
London, reports that he administered the decoction of cundu- 
rango in a case of ulcerated epithelioma of the roof of the 
mouth; in one of primary cancer of the penis, and secondary 
infection of the lymphatic glands of both groins; in one of 
ulcerated epithelioma of the scrotum; and in one of ulcerated 
scirrhus of the female breast. The cundurango had positively 
no effect upon the progress of the disease in these cases. * 
Several cases of cancer, occuring in private practice in 
Philadelphia, have proved fatal under the use of this article. 
Of the many trials of it made by respectable practitioners in 
different parts of the United States, none is reported success- 
ful. 
My investigation of the subject leads to a conviction that 
there is much testimony but no evidence that cundurango, 
Pseusmagennetus equatoriensis, has a curative influence in 
cases of cancer. The hope created that it would be found a 
specific has proved fallacious. The disease is as fatal as ever. 
The deaths from cancer in Philadelphia have averaged during 
twelve years 1.362 per cent, of the total mortality, less the 
still-born. It was lowest in 1865, when it was 0.923 per cent., 
and highest in 1871, when it was 1.656 per cent, of the total 
mortality, exclusive of the still-born. During the latter part of 
this year cundurango was in use. 
Besides the cundurangos, I find in the collection forwarded 
* London Lancet, American edition, February, 1872. 28 
CUNDURANGO. 
by Dr. Ayers a parcel and samples of the stems and leaves of a 
small shrub called Chinininga, which grows on the mountains 
near Malacatos. The bark of the root of this plant, which is 
intensely bitter, is said to be a remedy in fevers and skin-dis- 
eases of a syphilitic character, in doses of from eight to ten 
grains three times a day. The leaves of this plant are repre- 
sented on Plate 22. No flowers were obtained. 
At Santa Rosa, Dr. Ayers was told of the recent cure of 
several cases of phthisis by the use of a fat obtained through 
the agency of heat from the larva* of a kind of beetle. Plate 1. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada, 
CUNDURANGO BLANCO. Plate 2. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada, 
CUNDURANGO BLANCO. Plate 3. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada, 
CUNDURANGO BLANCO. Plate 4. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Ph Hada 
Fruit, seeds, bark and stems of Pseusmagennetus equatoriensis. Plate 3. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada. 
CUNDURANGO DE TUMBO GRANDE. Plate 6. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r 
Ph11 ad a. 
CUNDURANGO DE TUMBO GRANDE. Plate 7, 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r, 
Philada, 
CUNDURANGO DE TUMBO GRANDE. Plate 8. 
F- Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada. 
Interior of a follicle of cundurango de tumbo grande. Flat© 9. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
P h 11 ad a 
Exterior of a follicle, with a stem of cundurango de tumbo grande. Plate IO. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Ph ilada. 
Two LEAVES OF CUNDURANGO DE TUMBO CHICO, AND ONE OF CUNDURANGO DE I ALO Plate 11. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada, 
Three leaves of cundurango de tumbo Chico, and one of cundurango he pat Plate 12. 
Ph Hada, 
F. Gutekunst, Photng'r. 
T? F cundu^^^^^ cascarilla , 
Bruit and stems, with a section of one, of cundurango chico; stem, with section, o paloma from 
STEMS OF CUNDURANGO PLATANO FROM MALACATOS AND LOJA; STEMS OF CUNDURANG 
Zaruma and from Malacatos ; STEM of cundurango saragosa. Plate 13. 
Philada. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r 
ECHITES HIRSUTA-ClINDURANGO DE PALOMA FROM ZaRUMA. Plate 14. 
Philada, 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r 
EciIITES IIIRSUTA-CUNDURANGO DE PALOMA FROM ZARUMA. Plate 15. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada, 
GONOLOBUS TETRAGONUS-CUNDURANGO DE PALOMA FROM Z ARUM A. Plate 16. 
Gutekunst, Photog'r 
Ph i lada 
Fruit and stems of Echites hirsuta, and of G-onolobus tetragonus. Plate 17. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Philada, 
ECHITES ACUMINATA-CUNDURANGO DE PLAT ANO. Plate 18 
Philada, 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r 
ECHITES ACUMINATA-CUNDURANGO DE PLATANO. Plate 19, 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r 
Philada, 
EcHITES ACUMINATA-CUNDURANGO DE PL AT ANO. Plate 20. 
F. Gutekunst Phot''g'r. 
Philada, 
ECHITES ACUMINATA-CUNDURANGO DE PLATANO. Plate 21. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r. 
Ph ilada. 
ECHITES ACUMINATA-CUNDURANGO DE PLATANO. Plate 22. 
F. Gutekunst, Photog'r 
Philada. 
Leaves of Chinininga.