ON TWO NEW SPECIES OF LAURINE. 627 
lignosa. Calyx fructifer cupuliformis, vix corrugatus, margine 
integro circa 10 lin. diametro. 
The Sipiri or Bibiru tree, which latter is the Arawaak 
name, continues undivided by branches until near the top ; 
the trunk is covered with an ash-grey smooth bark, it is quite 
erect, and frequently above 50 feet in height. The flowers 
are of a yellowish-white colour, and the fruit which follows 
is somewhat obovate, globular, slightly compressed, the 
longer extension being 7} inches in circumference, the lesser 
about 61 inches. The pericarp is of a greyish-brown, 
speckled with whitish dots, hard and very brittle, and about 
aline thick; it is of a brownish colour, which extends only 
two or three lines. 
_ The Greenheart tree belongs properly to the rocky soil of 
British Guiana, 20 to 50 miles inland, and is found in abund- 
ance on hill-sides, along the rivers Essequibo, Cuyuni, 
Demerara, Pomeroon, Berbice, &c.; but though it frequently 
occurs in those regions, I have never met. with a tree of that 
description near the equator. - . 
Dr. Rodie prepared from the Bibiru (Bebeeru) bark a solu- 
tion of the sulphate of its alkali, which he has administered 
with the greatest success in intermittent fevers. Experiments 
were likewise made at the Colonial Hospital in Demerara 
with a decoction of the bark, where the only objection to its 
general use arose from the large quantity which was required, 
and which the fever-patient felt reluctant to swallow, and the 
experiments to procure the medicinal properties in a concen- 
trated state, like the sulphate of quinine, proved fruitless. 
Dr. Maclagan soon persuaded himself that any attempt 
to extract crystalline salts was out of the question. How- 
ever, he succeeded in procuring two vegetable alkaline bodies, 
one of which he called Bibirine, the second Sipirine, both 
distinct in their properties, and the latter of which is in- 
soluble in ether For the detailed account of its chemical 
Properties I refer to Dr. Maclagan’s able paper, but add 
* Subsequent experiments led Dr. Maclagan to the conclusion that there 
Was but one alkaloid which he called Bibirine. 
