ABSTRACT
This chapter is a comprehensive compilation of acute insect poisons from higher plants. There are relatively few nonecdysteroid triterpenes reported to be insect toxicants. Mankind has been using plant products to control insects for many centuries. While some plant products have probably acted as repellents, others have been immediately toxic to the insect. The use of plant parts and extractives as insecticides is covered in numerous texts, general reviews, and chemically specialized reviews. Historically, the most important class of alkaloids for insect control has been the nicotinoids. The biological data for pure constituents of the pyrethrum extract are much more sparse than for the other principal natural insecticides, nicotine and rotenone. There are many examples of insect control chemicals in nature. The major classes have been covered well in prior reviews; however, one particularly interesting correlation is evident from the compilation, the apparent correlation between cytotoxicity and insect toxicity.
