Vestia foetida
Vestia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae containing the single species Vestia foetida (syn. "V. lycioides"). Its principal common names in the Mapudungun language of its native Chile are Huevil (pron. "wayfil" and sometimes redoubled Huevilhuevil) and Chuplín. Other Chilean names include Chuplí, Echuelcún and Palqui (negro) (this last being also applied to "Cestrum parqui"), while an English common name Chilean box thorn has also been coined recently in reference to a certain similarity of the plant to some species in the "box thorn" / "wolfberry" genus "Lycium" (as referenced also in the former  specific name "lycioides", meaning ""Lycium"-like"). "Vestia foetida" is endemic to central and southern Chile, being found in an area stretching from the Valparaíso Region in the north to Chiloé Island (in the Los Lagos Region) in the south. Growing to tall by broad, it is an evergreen shrub with glossy, privet-like, mid-green leaves. In spring and summer it bears tubular yellow flowers to long, with stamens so markedly exserted (= protruding) as to recall those of certain "Fuchsia" species, followed by 4-valved, ovoid capsules to , containing small, prismatic seeds. The specific epithet "foetida" refers to the unpleasant  smell of this plant. Taxonomy. The genus Vestia was named in honour of Austrian botanist and physician Lorenz Chrysanth von Vest (1776 - 1840) in 1809 by German botanist and pharmacist Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765 – 1812). "Vestia foetida" was described by Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg, the description being published in his "Verzeichniss der Pflanzenkulturen in den Grafl. Hoffmannseggischen Garten zu Dresden und Rammenau..." [translation: "Directory of plants cultivated in the Dresden and Rammenau gardens of Count Hoffmannsegg"]: 119 (pub. Dresden 1824). Uses. A yellow dye has been extracted from the leaves and stems, and infusions of the plant have been used in  the folk medicine of Chile (with due recognition of the toxicity of the medication) to treat dysentery and appendicitis. Austrian priest and ethnologist, Martin Gusinde (1886-1969), an expert on the ethnomedicine of Chile, records the following concerning medicinal use of "Vestia" by the Mapuche and Huilliche: Huevil: "Vestia lycioides"...it is used for [medicinal] baths. It is an efficacious remedy for "chavalongo" and dysentery and also for contagious diseases. The natives today use only the term "ifɘlkoñ". [Note: The term "chavalongo" designates a Chilean disease concept which, in the past, could encompass not only typhoid and typhus but a  variety of life-threatening diseases (mostly fevers) having in common their introduction to Chile by Europeans - see page "Chavalongo" on Wikipédia España]. To the observations of Gusinde may be added further information provided by another missionary active in Chile: Capuchin friar Ernest Wilhelm Mösbach (1882-1963) who notes in his "Botánica Indígena de Chile" that "Vestia foetida" causes sneezing and has a very bitter taste. He also lists three further medicinal uses, noting that infusions of the plant possess tonic, stomachic and anthelmintic properties. [Note: there is a page 'Ernesto Wilhelm de Moesbach' on Wikipédia España] Sanchez (2001), quoting several  previous authors, supplies not only a rationale for the use of "Vestia" in medicinal baths (- as a type of topical analgesic for arthritic pain), but also an evocative definition of the folk ailment "chavalongo": Huevil: Febrifugal plant. (Cañas) See also entry "huelcún". Ruiz and Pavón say that the natives take [both] the decoction and the infusion of huévil to 'mitigate the ardour of the blood' in cases of "chavalongo" (bilious fever) and also in cases of dysentery. It is also used, in baths, in certain cases of rheumatism, both acute and chronic. (Murillo : 620). A comparison of a cluster Chilean  vernacular names used for "Vestia foetida", "Cestrum parqui" and even the unrelated, Apocynaceous "Cynanchum lancifolium" (= "Diplolepis pachyphylla") - as recorded by Gusinde, Mösbach and Sanchez - while revealing a measure of potential confusion in identification of medicinal species in the literature, demonstrate nonetheless a native Chilean grasp of similarity of characteristics and effects. Mösbach records the names "Ifelcón" and "Echuelcún" for "V. foetida". The first of these is a variant form of Gusinde's "Ifəlcoñ" (also recorded as designating "Vestia"). Toxicity: Stock Poison. Like many plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, "Vestia" is poisonous and alkaloidal. A scientific paper of  2005 noted that "V. foetida" has caused fatalities in sheep, goats and cattle which had browsed its foliage, death being attributable to hepatotoxic compounds present in the plant. The paper further noted that stock poisoning caused by "Vestia" resembles closely that caused by "Cestrum parqui" - another (closely related) Solanaceous plant native to the region (the genera Vestia and "Cestrum" both belong to tribe Cestreae of the Solanaceae - as does a third genus, Sessea). Insecticidal Properties. "Vestia foetida" exhibited modest activity in a recent investigation into the insecticidal properties of some plant species native to Chile. Extracts from "V. foetida" were  evaluated against the pest beetle species "Sitophilus granarius", the Granary or Wheat Weevil. Total extracts at concentrations of 2.5 percent w/w in diet over a period of 6 days displayed insecticidal effects, with "V. foetida" causing the mortality of 56 percent of insects (as compared with a more impressive 87.5 percent for "Drimys winteri" and 80 percent for "Lobelia tupa"). Chemistry. Toxic compounds detected in the plant include quercetin-3-diglucoside, isoquercetin, an indole alkaloid belonging to the β-carboline group and the phytosteroid sapogenin diosgenin - the last-mentioned compound better-known as a constituent of certain species belonging to  the yam genus Dioscorea, although occurring also in the Solanaceous genus "Cestrum". Another steroidal compound present both in "Cestrum" and "Vestia" is the obscure insonuatigenin. Cultivation. Although frost-hardy, the plant requires some protection from winter winds. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.