368 Mr Don on the Plant which yields 



Dr Wright considered the Eleutheria and Cascarilla barks as 

 the produce of Ci'oton Eluteria^ and this opinion is now pretty 

 generally adopted by pharmaceutical writers ; but I am disposed 

 to regard them as derived from two distinct species, and I rather 

 incline to the opinion of Boulduc, Spielmann, and others, that 

 the cascarilla bark is a production of the Spanish Main, for it 

 does not appear that it ever was obtained from Jamaica, or even 

 from the Bahama Islands (from one of which the appellation 

 Eluteria or Eleutheria is derived) ; and it is now ascertained, 

 from the recent observations of Messieurs Schiede and Deppe, 

 that a bark, agreeing in every particular with the cascarilla 

 bark of the shops, is collected extensively in the vicinity of Ja- 

 lapa, at Actopan, and in the district of Plandel Rio, in the pro- 

 vince of Vera Cruz, Mexico, where it is known by the names of 

 Copalche or Quina Blanca. These gentlemen considered the 

 plant at the time to be identical with the Croton Eluteria, but 

 although closely related, it is nevertheless essentially distinct 

 from that species, diifering in its broadly cordate, 5-nerved leaves, 

 which are slightly peltate at their insertion, and of a more co- 

 riaceous texture. In Croton Eluteria the leaves are ovate-ob- 

 long or elliptical, furnished with a solitary midrib, having ob- 

 liquely transverse ramifications, and the base either obtuse or 

 somewhat attenuated, but neither cordate nor peltate. The in- 

 florescence is racemose, and in other respects nearly similar in 

 both species. The tree grows to the height of 2o or 30 feet, is 

 much branched, and clothed with a profusion of broadly cor- 

 date leaves, silvery underneath, and numerous clusters of white 

 flowers. The bark is exteriorly of a grey colour, pale brown 

 within, of an even fracture, possessing a strong aromatic flavour, 

 and an agreeable bitter taste, and in other respects accords with 

 the Cascarilla bark of the shops, for I have carefully compared 

 samples of the bark sent by Messieurs Schiede and Deppe, 

 with others from the Apothecaries' Hall, and I think there can- 

 not be a question as to their identity. To the Mexican species 

 I would recommend the application of the name of Croton Cas- 

 carilla, that of Pseudo-China given to it by Professor Schlech- 

 tendal, in his recent treatise on the subject, being in many re- 

 spects objectionable, and leaving to the Croton Cascarilla of 

 Linnaeus the more recent epithet of linearis, applied to it by 



