Oa 
Quassra AMARA. BitTER QuassiA. 
: 
se 
SEAS EE TE TERETE ae eae ah aaa 
Cla/s and Order. 
Decanpria Monoeynia.- 
Generic Charaéer. 
Cal. 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Ne&arium 5-phyllum. Pericarpia 
_ § diftantia, 1-fperma. in , 
Specific Charader and S YHONYNS 
QUASSIA amara, floribus hermaphroditis, foliis impari-pin- 
natis: foliolis oppofitis feffilibus, petiolo articulato 
alato, floribus racemofis. Linn. Supplem. p. 235. 
Syft. Veget. Murray, p. 401. Linn, Spec. Plant. 
edit. Willdenow. tom. 2. p. 567. 
This beautiful fhrub is a native of Surinam, and both in its 
_ foliage and’ long racemes of fine fcarlet flowers growing from 
the extremities of the branchés, is a great ornament to the 
flove. It blofioms tolerably freely, and continues flowering — 
during great part of the fummer. The corolla is never fully — 
expanded, but the petals having a fpiral twift, they curl round 
one another and open-in an irregular manner. All the figures 
of this plant hitherto publifhed we believe have been drawn 
_ from dried {pecimens, and the corolla being expanded by art, 
a flower has been made totally different from the natural 
appearance. The bark, the wood, and the root, are all in- 
tenfely bitter, and may on that account be ufeful in medicine ; 
but the Lignum Quafliz, which has been imported in con- 
fiderable quantities, not only for pharmaceutical purpofes, but 
_ asa fubftitute for hops, though formerly fuppofed to belong 
to this fpecies, we are informed by later obfervers is the produ& 
of another, the Quaflia excelfa. As a native of a warm 
_ climate, it requires the common treatment of ftove plants. Is 
increafed by cuttings in the early part of the year. It was 
_ moft probably introduced fince the publication of the Hortus — 
_ Kewenfis in 1789, as no mention is made of it in that work, 
