Cocculus Indicus
a popular name given to a species of Menispermaceæ, which furnishes certain dried berries constituting an article of commerce.
COCHIN They are imported from the East Indies.
There is no botanical species with this exact name. The drupe resembles a round berry, the size of a pea or larger, wrinkled externally, and with a brittle husk. The kernel is intensely bitter. It contains about one-fiftieth of its weight of a powerful bitter narcotic poison called picrotoxin. C. indicus is a deadly poison, is used to give a bitter taste to beer, and is thrown into rivers to kill the fish. It has been used in form of ointment in certain skin diseases. They are commonly known in the United States as fish-berries.