DRIMYS WINTERL s, 
. ivi 1 icinally they are stimulants and 
famil d probably more extensively than has been discovered. When used medicinal y they 
et The different genera constituting the order, are scattered over the world, being found in North and South 
‘Awerice, China, Japan, New Holland, and New Zealand (Royle). ‘They are conspicuous for the beauty of their 
flowers, and the fragrance, which is so decided, as in some instances to act deleteriously. 
DRIMYS WINTERI. 
FOSTER. DE CANDOLLE. 
WINTER’S BARK TREE. 
Sex. Syst.—Polyandria, Polygynia. 
Grn. Cuar.—Carpels congested, baccate, many-seeded. 't/aments thickest at the apex ; cells of the anthers sepa- 
rate. De Candolle. 
EssentiaL Cuar.—Calyz splitting unequally. Petals numerous. Stamens club-shaped, with terminal two- 
lobed anthers. Style none. Berries superior, aggregate. Seeds several, in a double row. 
Specir. Cuar.—Leaves oblong, obtuse, glaucous beneath. Peduncles simple, approximated, or very short, divided 
into elongated pedicels. . (De Candolle, Prodromus.) 
Winter’s Bark was brought before the medical profession in a paper read to the Medical Society of London, in 
1779, by Dr. John Fothergill. It is contained in the fifth volume of “ Medical Observations and Inquiries.” In this 
paper is a history of the discovery of the tree, with a botanical account of it drawn up by the celebrated Dr. Solander. 
It appears that the tree and the bark were unknown, until the return of Captain John Winter, from a voyage to the 
South Seas, in 1579. Captain Winter was the commander of the ship Elizabeth, which sailed with Sir Francis 
Drake, in 1577; but after having passed through the Straits of Magellan, on the 8th of October, of the following year, 
was obliged, by stress of weather, to return to the Straits, and remaining there some time, procured the bark, which 
Clusius, in honour of him, named Cortez Winteranus. 
Other navigators, upon visiting the Straits, noticed the tree, but nothing definite was known of its botany until in 
1691, a Mr. George Handasyd, upon his return, presented some specimens to Sir Hans Sloane, who gave a description 
and figure in the Philosophical Transactions. _ But it appears that the flowers and fruit were wanting, and a systematic 
location was impossible ; until in 1768, Captain Wallis, of the Dolphin, brought some perfect specimens, which came 
re aig of Dr. Solander, who, from these, and his observations when staying at Terra del Fuego, drew up his 
{ “ Winter's Bark Tree, Winterana Aromatica, is one of the largest forest trees upon Terra del Fuego; it often rises 
: 7 ee” feet. Its outward bark is on the trunk gray, and very little wrinkled, on the branches quite 
— . The branches do not spread horizontally, but bend upwards, and form an elegant head of an oval shape. 
ee Seed leaves en out without order, of an oval, elliptic shape, quite entire, obtuse, flat, smooth, shining, of a 
Suetalh, ed = nce, vie ee i on the upper side, of a lively deep-green colour, and of a pale bluish colour un- 
— Serneath, without any nerves, and their veins scarcely visible; they are sometimes narrower t 
o there vag margins are bent downwards. — : : “1g aed oreo eden 
__ “In general the leaves are from three to four inches long, and between one and two broad : 
| , ; they h 
footstalks, seldom half an inch long, which are smooth, concave on the upper side, and convex see ant Fo wer 
Scars of the old footstalks the branches are often tuberculated. _ Baas 
os ‘The peduncles, or footstalks for the flowers, come out of the axillse foliorum, near the extremi 
they se fas, of a pale colour, twice or three titnes shorter than the leaves, now and then su 
are : = ma the top — into three short branches, each with one flower. : 
— Cabys re e@ are oblong, pointed, concave, entire, thick, whitish, and situated aut the basis of each peduncle. 
es > Or flomer-cup, it has none, but in its place the flower 
leathery substance, green, but reddish on the side whi ee ee OO Eo tack 
ee Poe : ee = fe has faced the sun ; before this germ bursts, it is of a round 
ty of the branches : 
pport only one flower, but 
