High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rotenone is an odorless chemical used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants, such as the jicama vine plant. Emmanuel Geoffroy first isolated rotenone (which he called nicouline) from a specimen of Robinia nicou, now called Lonchocarpus nicou, while traveling in French Guiana. He wrote about this research in his thesis, published posthumously in 1895 after his death from a parasitic disease. Researchers later determined that the substance that Geoffroy termed nicouline was identical to rotenone.