As long ago as 1862, adventurer Don Ramon Paez described a Venezuelan poison,
guachamaca, which the indigenous peoples used to lace sardines as bait for herons and cranes. If the head and neck of a bird so killed was cut off, the remainder of the flesh could be eaten safely. Paez also described the attempt of a
Llanero woman to murder a rival to her lover's affections with guachamaca and unintentionally killed 10 other people when her husband shared his food with their guests. It is probable that the plant was
Malouetia nitida or
Malouetia schomburgki. The genus
Malouetia (family
Apocynaceae) is found in both
South America and
Africa. The botanist Robert E. Woodson Jr comprehensively classified the American species of
Malouetia in 1935. At that time, only one African species of
Malouetia was recognized, but the following year Woodson described a second:
Malouetia bequaertiana, from the Belgian Congo. In 1960, scientists reported the isolation of
malouetine from the roots and bark of
Malouetia bequaertiana Woodson by means of an ion exchange technique. Optimization of the aminosteroid nucleus led to a sequence of synthesized derivatives, ultimately leading to
pancuronium bromide in 1964. The name was derived from p(iperidino)an(drostane)cur(arising)-onium. A paper published in 1973 discussed the structure-activity relationships of a series of
aminosteroid muscle relaxants, including the
mono-quaternary analogue of pancuronium, later called vecuronium. ==Society and culture==