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Deguelia utilis
Also called Cube, Timbo, Lancepod
Barbasco (Deguelia utilis) is a shrub in the pea family from wet tropical forests of Peru, Brazil and Guyana, grown mainly for its roots, which yield the insecticide rotenone. It is rarely grown as an ornamental and needs warm, humid, frost-free conditions.
Deguelia utilis, syn. Lonchocarpus utilis (cubé, (common) lancepod or barbasco) is a species of shrub in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the tropical forests of Peru, as well as of Brazil and Guyana, growing from 100–1,800 m (330–5,910 ft) above sea level.
Cubé resin, the root extract from cubé and from barbasco (Lonchocarpus urucu), is used as a commercial insecticide and piscicide (fish poison). The major active ingredients are rotenone and deguelin. Although "organic" (produced by nature) rotenone is no longer considered an environmentally safe chemical.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Deguelia utilis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
