200 



FLORA OF JAMAICA 



Picroena 



4. PICRjENA Lindl. 



Trees with bitter juice. Leaves alternate, pinnate with an 

 odd leaflet ; leaflets opposite, entire. Panicles axillary, corymbose. 

 Flowers greenish, polygamous. Sepals small, 4 or 5. Petals 

 4 or 5, subvalvate, not increasing in size after flowering. Disk 

 saucer-shaped in the male flower, rounded, 4-5-lobed in herma- 

 phrodite flowers. Stamens 4 or 5, inserted under the disk. 

 Ovary 2-3-lobed, lobes free ; styles 2 or 3, united below, free 

 above ; ovules solitary in each cell. Drupes 1-3, subfleshy, 

 endocarp hard and brittle. Embryo undivided. 



Species 3 or 4, natives of tropical America. 



P. exeelsa Lindl. Fl. Med. 208 (1838); Griseb. FL Br. W. 

 Ind. 140 (excl. Antigua, St. Vincent); Engl. in FL Bras. xii. 

 pt. 2, 228 (in part) ; BentL & Trim. Med. PI. t. 57 (excl. reference 



Fig. 65. Picrsena exeelsa Lindl. 



A, Leaf X j. 



B, Fertile inflorescence x J. 



C, Male flower X 5. 



D, Fertile flower x 5. 



E, Fruit, one drupe cut lengthwise 



X 2 ; e, embryo ; r, radicle. 



to other islands and figs. 9, 10). Picrania amara Wright in 

 London Medical Journ. viii. 275 (1787) & Mem. 90, 229 (without 

 description). Quassia exeelsa Sw. Prod. 67 (1788), in Vet. Handl. 

 StockJi. ix. 302, t. 8 (1788), & Fl. Ind. Occ. 742 (excl. habitat 

 Carib.). Q. polygama Lindsay Trans. R.<Soc. Edinb. in. 205, t. 6 

 (1794). Simaruba exeelsa DC. Ann. Mus. Par. xv'ri. 424 (1811) 



