pareira
(pəˈrɛərə)
[ad. Pg. parreira vine trained against a wall; whence parreira brava wild climbing vine, the name given to the Brazilian plant.]
A drug made of the root of a Brazilian shrub, used in disorders of the urinary passages. Originally understood to be the root of the climbing shrub Cissampelos Pareira or ‘Velvet-leaf’, the parreira brava of the Portuguese, whence the name: now said to be that of a different shrub, Chondrodendron tomentosum; the ‘Velvet-leaf’ being distinguished by some as Spurious Pareira.
(The fact is that, historically, the latter is the real pareira, ‘pareira’ of pharmacy being a misnomer.)
| 1715 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 365 The Pareira Brava is a Root which comes to us from Brazil by the way of Lisbon. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. (ed. 6) 721 Pareira Brava is a climbing shrub indigenous in Brazil. 1880 Garrod & Baxter Mat. Med. 187 Pareira is a bitter tonic, like calumba, but scarcely ever used as such; it is thought to act as a diuretic. 1887 C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 514 Pareira brava (Cissampelos Pareira) Velvet-leaf or spurious Pareira. |