Coriaria ruscifolia

Coriaria ruscifolia are shrubs or small trees with bright red fruits like berries. The fruits and the leaves are very poisonous.

Common names
This species has many names in Latin America. Some of them are:
 Chile: deu, dehue-lahuen, deó, hiuque, matarratones ("kill mice"), veu.
 Peru: mio-mio, saca-saca, mio venenosa, raqui-raqui
 Ecuador: piñán, shanshi, shanchi or zhanzhi, tinta.
 Colombia: reventadera; barbasco, chanchi, mortiño borrachero.
 Venezuela: tisís, helecho de playa, helecho uvite.
 Guatemala: moco tinto, moco de chompipe.
 Mexico: helecho de tierra, tlalocopetate, tlalocopatlat.

Systematics
Coriaria ruscifolia was described for the first time by Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum (Vol. 2, page 1037), from a plant from Peru.

The species is divided in two subspecies:
 C. ruscifolia subsp. ruscifolia
 C. ruscifolia subsp. microphylla (Poir.) L. E. Skog, with two synonyms:
C. microphylla Poir. 
C. thymifolia Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.

Description
Shrub up to 4 metres high. Dark green leaves on the top and pale gray on the underside. Flowers grouped in terminal inflorescences on lateral branches, sepals are green to red, small petals, yellow or red anthers. Fruits look like berries but they are small nuts (achenes). The fruits are covered by the petals.

The number of chromosomes is 40.

The plants of C. ruscifolia subsp. microphylla can fix nitrogen from the air because they have bacteria in their roots.

Where it grows
C. ruscifolia grows in the Americas and some Pacific Islands:
 C. ruscifolia subsp. ruscifolia: Western slopes of Andes (and other mountain ranges) from Mexico to Peru, western Venezuela, and cool mountains of New Guinea and New Zealand and other Pacific islands.
 C. ruscifolia subsp. microphylla: Central and southern Chile, New Zealand and other Pacific islands.

Uses
It is a very toxic plant. Fruits are hallucinogens exciting the nervous system. The leaves have tannin and serve for tanning (making leather out of skins). It is recommended as an ornamental.

In Chile, the fruits are used mixed with bread to kill mice and rats.

References

Other websites

 Coriaria ruscifolia L. in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
 Coriaria ruscifolia in Encyclopedia of Life - EOL

Category:Cucurbitales
Category:Shrubs