English: Pigeonberry; Guinea henweed; Gully root; Anamu; Guiné; Apacin; Mucura; Guine.
French: Feuilles ave; Herbe aux poules; Petevere a odeur ail.
Names: Mapurite.
Clades:
Petiveriaceae.
Region: Florida, Texas, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, tropical South America; introduced in Benin, Nigeria.
Habitat: disturbed areas; maritime, mesic, prairie, tropical hardwood hammocks, shell mound; in corn, coffee and apple plantations.
Content: benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, benzyl 2-hydroxyethyl trisulphide, coumarin, isoarborinol, isoarborinol acetate, isoarborinol cinnamate, isothiocyanates, polyphenols, senfol, tannins, and trithiolaniacine; cysteine sulfoxide derivatives, S-phenylmethyl-L-cysteine sulfoxides, petiveriins A and B, S-(2-hydroxyethyl)-L-cysteines, 6-hydroxyethiins A and B; several thiosulfinates, S-(2-hydroxyethyl) 2-hydroxyethane)thiosulfinate, S-(2-hydroxylethyl) phenylmethanethiosulfinate, S-benzyl 2-hydroxyethane)thiosulfinate, S-benzyl phenylmethanethiosulfinate (petivericin); phenylmethanethial S-oxide.
Use: bat and insect repellent; teas, extracts, capsules.
BotanyHerb to shrub; perennial; spiky; garlicy-smell; up to 1 m tall.
Root: deep.
Leaves: simple; alternate; pinnate in the first order, netted the second order; strong acrid, garlic-like odor which taints the milk and meat of animals that graze on it.
Inflorescences: determinate.
Flowers: small; greenish; piccate.