1930) and the fruits of Quararibea cordata (H.&B.) Garcia- 

 Barriga and Hernandez are eaten (Hodge, 1960). A decoction of 

 the bark and flowers of Bomhax elliplicum HBK. is employed as 

 a cough remedy, and the nectar of the flowers is applied to the 

 eyes to relieve inflammation (Standley, 1930). The small stems 

 and twigs of Q. turbinata (Schwartz.) Poiret are used in many 

 parts of the West Indies and Central America as frothing sticks 

 called ''molinillos," and in some areas it and other species of 

 Quararibea are known as "swizzle stick trees". It is not unlikely 

 that the mucilages present in members of the family account for 

 this use as well as the use as a cough remedy. 



The Bombacaceae comprise 31 genera and 225 species distrib- 

 uted among six tribes (Hutchinson, 1967). Quararibea is found in 

 the tribe Matisieae along with seven other genera, including 

 Matisia. The latter genus was considered at one time to be syn- 

 onymous with Quararibea by some authors (Fisher, 1919; Garcia- 

 Barriga, 1959; Alverson, 1982); but, because of flower morphol- 

 ogy, the two are considered by others as separate genera 

 (Schultes, 1957). A possible chemotaxonomic distinction lies in 

 the peculiar odor of all parts of the plants of the genus Quarari- 

 bea, the flowers being particularly odorous. The odor can be 

 described as a cross between vanilla and linden Howers; some 

 compare it to the odor of slippery elm bark (Standley, 1930) or 

 fenugreek (Record, 1939). However it may be described, it is 



M 



Q 



cies, all of which have this odor: It is so persistent that a specimen 

 collected in 1841 was found still to possess this noticeable aro- 

 matic character (Schultes, 1957). 



There were, then, several reasons to undertake the complete 



phytochemical investigation of the flowers of Quararibea fune- 

 bris which is summarized here; experimental details will be pub- 

 lished elsewhere. 



The milled flowers were extracted first with hexane, then with 

 95% ethanol. Traditional solvent partition and chromatographic 

 methods were used to separate these extracts into several frac- 

 tions which were examined individually. The neutral hexane- 

 soluble constituents were unremarkable: a mixture of waxy 



152 



