?J. HO TIT us JAMAICENSIS. bitte* 



pent. In the French isliinds this tree is called gommier hiavc', and an infusion oi tliQ 

 buds and young leaves is recommended there in disorders ol' the breast. 



BiuD Peppeii See Guinea Pxppf.ii. 



BIRDS FOOT. ORXITHOPUS. 



Cl. 17, OR. 4. Diadclpiiia decandria. N.^t. or. Papilionacece. 



This name is derived from a Greek word for birds foot, the legumes or pods growing' 

 several together, in the manner and shape of birds claws. 



Gen. ch.\R. The calj'x of the umbel is simple ; the perianth one-leafed, five- 

 toothed ; corolla papilionaceous ; the stamina have sim])!e filaments and antbers ; 

 the j)istillum a linear germen, bristle-siiaped style, tiie stigma a terminating dot ; 

 the pericarpium an awl-shaped legume, round, bowed, jointed ; seeds solitary, 

 roundish. One species of this geivas is a native of Jamaica. 



TETRAPHYLLOUS. FOUR-LE.WEP. 



^uadrifo/itim crectumjlore luteo. Sloane, v. 1, p. 186, t. 116, f. 3. . 

 Leaves in fours, flowers solitary, , 



This rises to about a foot high, being erect, branched, and having twigs set thick 

 jvith leaves alternatively, on petioles three-quarters of an inch long, there being con- 

 stantly, as far as I could observe, four on the same footstalk ; each of them are small, 

 and have a small snip or defect on their further ends, whore they are largest, being of 

 a j'ellowish green colour and smooth, with a prominent mid-rib on the lower surfacal 

 The flowers are yellow, solitary from the upper axils. Sloane, 



BiRTHWORT See CONTRAYERVA. 



BITTER WOOD. QUASSIA. 



Cl. 10, OR. 1. Decandria mnnngynia. Nat. or. Gruinale^. 



This was so named by Linneus, in memory of Quassi, a negro slave, who fonnd and 

 <3iscovered to Rolander the wood of one of tlie species. 



The class and order of the bitter wood do not appear to be well ascertained ; they are 

 surely not decandria mojiogi/nia. Mr. John Lindsay's chai^actei-s are very correclj and 

 as follow : 



Gen. CHAR- Male flower : calyx a small inferior perianthium, composed of four 

 squammose leaves, oval, persistent ; the corolla four-petals, obtuse, equal, ses- 

 sile, sub-erect ; the nectarium is four hairy, ovate, squamma;, inserted at the 

 base of the filaments ; the stamens are four, five, or six filiform, sub-erect, equal, 

 longer than the corolla, and inserted into the receptacle ; the anthers simple and 

 erect. Hermaphrodite flower on a different tree : calyx and corolla as in the male, 

 but the filaments scarcely longer than the corolla ; the pistillum has a fleshy, 

 roundish, elevated receptacle ; germen sub-ovate, composed of two, three, rarely 



* four. 



