Botanical Description

Cocos nucifera is an unbranched monoecious plant of the PALMAE family. It grows to 30 m tall, with a crown of 25-35 pari-pinnate leaves, producing 12-16 new leaves per year. There is a central bud, which if cut off, leads to the death of tree. The trunk is 

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These results seemed to establish with certainty that the active component of tube curare is derived from Chondrodendron tomentosum, but the matter again became doubtful when King reported that in the stems of a carefully authenticated specimen of the plant, collected at Tarapoto in Peru, he had found 1-curine and Z-tubocurarine chloride. This is the first recorded natural occurrence of the latter and seems to indicate either that the alkaloidal components of the plant are not constant in character, or that the botanical description of Chondrodendron tomentosum covers two species containing the dextro- and Icevo- quaternary alkaloids respectively. 

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