Review Article

Natural Products from Ethnodirected Studies: Revisiting the Ethnobiology of the Zombie Poison

Table 1

Components of the poisons and antidotes used for zombification, as related to Davis by informants Marcel Pierre (MP) and Herard Simon (HS).

Local nameSpeciesFamily

Poison—MP
Plants
Pois-Gratter/MucunaMucuna pruriens (L.) DC.Fabaceae
Tcha-tchaAlbizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.Fabaceae
Amphibian
Cane toadRhinella marina (Linnaeus, 1758) Bufonidae
Fishes
Crapaud de merSphoeroides testudineus (Linnaeus, 1758) Tetraodontidae
Fou-fouDiodon hystrix (Linnaeus, 1758) Diodontidae

Antidote—MP
Plants
AloeAloe vera (L.) Burm. f. Xanthorrhoeaceae
Bois ca-caCapparis cynophallophora L.Capparaceae
Bois chandelleAmyris maritima Jacq.Rutaceae
Cadavre gâteCapparis sp.Capparaceae
CedarCedrela odorata L.Meliaceae
Roughbark Lignum-vitaeGuaiacum officinale L. Zygophyllaceae

Poison—HS
Plants
AvePetiveria alliacea L.Phytolaccaceae
BayahondaProsopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.Fabaceae
BresilletComocladia glabra Spreng.Anacardiaceae
Bwa pinéZanthoxylum martinicense (Lam.) DC.Rutaceae
Cana mudaDieffenbachia seguine (Jacq.) SchottAraceae
ConsigneTrichilia hirta L.Meliaceae
Maman guêpesUrera baccifera (L.) Gaudich. ex Wedd.Urticaceae
MashashaDalechampia scandens L.Euphorbiaceae
Pomme cajouAnacardium occidentale L.Anacardiaceae
Tcha-tchaAlbizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.Fabaceae
Amphibian
Hispaniolan common treefrogOsteopilus dominicensis (Tschudi, 1838)Hylidae
Cane toadRhinella marina L.Bufonidae
Fishes
FuguSphoeroides testudineus (Linnaeus, 1758)Tetraodontidae
FuguSphoeroides spengleri (Bloch, 1785) Tetraodontidae
FuguDiodon hystrix (Linnaeus, 1758) Diodontidae
FuguDiodon holocanthus (Linnaeus, 1758) Diodontidae

“Postzombification paste”—HS
Plants
Zombie cucumber/stramoniumDatura stramonium L.Solanaceae