Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GUACO, HUACO

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 644 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

GUACO, HUACO or Gums, also Vejuco and Bejuco, terms applied to various Central and See also:South See also:American and See also:West See also:Indian See also:plants, in repute for curative virtues. The See also:Indians and negroes of See also:Colombia believe the plants known to them as guaco to have been so named after a See also:species of See also:kite, thus designated in See also:imitation of its cry, which they say attracts to it the See also:snakes that serve it principally for See also:food; they further hold the tradition that their antidotal qualities were discovered through the observation that the See also:bird eats of their leaves, and even spreads the juice of the same on its wings, during contests with its See also:prey. The disputes that have arisen as to what is " the true guaco " are to be attributed mainly to the fact that the names of the American Indians for all natural See also:objects are generic, and their genera not always in coincidence with those of naturalists. Thus any See also:twining plant with a See also:heart-shaped See also:leaf, See also:white and See also:green above and See also:purple beneath, is called by them guaco (R. Spruce, in See also:Howard's Neueva Quinologia, " See also:Cinchona succirubra," p. 22, See also:note). What is most commohly recognized in Colombia as guaco, or Vejuco del guaco, would appear to be Mikania Guaco (See also:Humboldt and See also:Bonpland, Pl. See also:equinox. ii. 84, pl. 105, 1809), a climbing Composite plant of the tribe Eupatoriaceae, affecting moist and shady situations, and having a much-branched and deep-growing See also:root, variegated, serrate, opposite leaves and dull-white See also:flowers, in axillary clusters. The whole plant emits a disagreeable odour. It is stated that the Indians of Central See also:America, after having " guaconized " themselves, i.e. taken guaco, catch with impunity the most dangerous snakes, which writhe in their hands as though touched by allot See also:iron (B. Seemann, See also:Hooker's Journ. of See also:Bat. v.

76, 1853). The odour alone of guaco has been said to cause in snakes a See also:

state of stupor and torpidity; and Humboldt, who observed that the near approach of a See also:rod steeped in guaco-juice was See also:obnoxious to the venomous Coluber corallinus, was of See also:opinion that inoculation with it imparts to the See also:perspiration an odour which makes See also:reptiles unwilling to bite. The See also:drug is not used in See also:modern See also:therapeutics.

End of Article: GUACO, HUACO

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GUACHARO (said to be an obsolete Spanish word signi... 		[next]
GUADALAJARA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries