PICRiENA. 



rufescent, downy. Flowers small, pale, polygamous. Filaments of the, 

 male flower much larger than the petals : in the fertile, of the same 

 length. In the male, merely the rudiments of the pistil : in the fertile 

 ovaries 3 : style longer than the stamens, 3-quetrous, 3-fid. Drupes 3 

 but only one coming to perfection, size of a pea, black, shining fixed 

 on a hemispherical receptacle : nut solitary, globose, with the shell 

 fragile. The intensely bitter timber furnishes the Quassia chips of the 

 shops, so extensively employed on account of their tonic stomachic 

 properties. It has been used as a substitute for hops in the manufac- 

 ture of beer. An infusion of the chips is employed to poison flies. 



Mons. Adr. De Jussieu has long since shown that this plant is not a 

 Simaruba. It appears better at once to give it a name than to let it 

 remain as a spurious species in a genus to the character of which it 

 does not answer. 



NIMA. 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx 5-parted, permanent. Petals 

 5, oblong. Stamens 5, with the filaments dilated at the base. 

 Ovaries 5, united, hairy, placed on a thick receptacle bearing 

 the petals at the base. Styles 5, united, distinct and revolute 

 at the apex. Capsules 5, or by abortion 2-3, roundish, 1 -seeded. 

 Embryo large, without albumen. A. de J. 



428. Nima quassioides Hamilt. A. de J. rutac. 134. — Si- 

 maba quassioides Don. prodr. 248 Nepal, Himalaya Moun- 

 tains. 



Leaves unequally pinnated, in 4 pairs ; leaflets oblong, acuminate, 

 serrated. Flowers in corymbose panicles. — As bitter as the Quassia 

 of South America. Royle essay, §c. p. 8. 



RUTACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed, 2. p. 130. 



RUTA. 



Calyx 4-partite, at length deciduous. Petals 4, longer than 

 the calyx, unguiculate : the limb vaulted, usually waved or 

 jagged. Stamens 8, longer than the petals : filaments subulate, 

 glabrous : anthers ovate, obtuse. Receptacle usually broader 

 than the ovary, marked round with 8 nectariferous pores, bear- 

 ing the petals and stamens at the base. Carpels 4, partly com- 

 bined by means of the central axis into one 4-lobed ovary : 

 ovules 6-12 (or rarely 2 collateral), in each cell. Styles 4, dis- 

 tinct at the base, where they spring from the inner angle of the 

 carpels above the common axis, united upwards into a single 

 209 p 



