30 MEDICAL BOTANY. 
them. The medical properties are those of a tonic and roborant, but in the colony, accordin 
on the authority of Mr. Lanae, Quassia-wood is no longer used as a medicine, being thought t 
along with its intense bitter. ; 
Piate XXI.—Represents the plant in flower, and the fruit. 
§ to Lindley’s statement, 
o have some bad properties 
QUASSIA EXCELSA. 
SWARTZ. 
THE LOFTY BITTER-WoOOD TREE. 
PIcRENA EXCELSA.—Lindley. P. amara.— Wright. Simarvpa Excetsa.—De Candolle. 
Sex. Syst.—Decandria, Monogynia. 
This plant has been made the basis of a new genus by Lindley, and of one by De Candolle, including another 
uassia fail, it happens, apparently, by abortion, 
arrangement is difficult. From the unisexual 
intermingled with the hermaphrodite, it should be located in Polygamia, 
) » has been abandoned by most botanists, and we have specified in the 
appropriate place the class and order of the genus Quassia. The 
Gen. Cuar., as given by Lindley, is the following. Flowers polygamous. Sepals five, minute. Petals five, longer 
than the sepals. Stamens five, abo 
on a round, tumid receptacle. Style three-cornered, trifid ; stz 
two-valved drupes, which are d 
Srecir. Cuar.—A tree fifty 
_ alternate, impari-pinnate ; leaflets opposite, short 
venose, glabrous. Racemes towards the ends of the 
dichotomously branched, spreading, 
pale, polygamous. Filaments of the male flower much la 
the male merely the rudiments of the pistil; in the fertile, 
trifid. Drupes three, but only one coming 
€ smooth, grayish, sometimes silvery bark. It is white, pine 
t from exposure. The taste is intensely bitter. It contains the bitter p 
The medical effects are those of a Pure bitter, tonic and roborant, and as such Quassia-wood is used in convalescence, 
dyspepsia, &. The mode of e 
nee! Ap eos ce 
xhibition is in cold infusion, made from the chips or raspings, or in tincture. aw 
it is a Practice to have cups turned from the wood, and to allow water to stand in them until it becomes 1m 
the active principle. 
PLate XXII. 
—Represents the Plant in flower, the Slower and fruit. 
CALYCIFLORA. 
Plants possessing a calyx and corolla. Petals usually distinct. Stamens perigynous. 
