In 1748, British ethnobotanist and physician John Ryan, collecting in the West Indies and central Americas, sent back samples of a shrub from the Flacourtiaceae family to botanist M. Vahl, who, as per custom, named the genus Ryania (Figure 1). We do not know whether Ryan’s interest was captured by its glossy leaves and faint cinnamon aroma, or by the fact that natives used stem extracts to prepare poisoned arrows and, sometimes, to euthanize enfeebled members of their tribes. Little is known about him except that he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1798...