498 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. x. no. 10 



are as follows: Quassia simaruba, Quassia excelsa, Quassia polygama, 

 Pitcarnia excelsa s. amara, Picraena excelsa, Picrasma quassioides, 

 Picrasma eilantoides, Ailanthus excelsa, Sirnaruba amara, Simaruba 

 cedron, and Simaruba versicolor. There is hardly a question, however, 

 that some of these are derived from the same source.^ 



According to Fliickiger and Hanbury (13),^ quassia was introduced 

 commercially into Europe about the middle of the eighteenth century. 

 At first it was obtained entirely from Quassia amara, but later, owing 

 to the great demand, it was obtained largely from Picrasma excelsa, the 

 Jamaica quassia, a much larger tree than Quassia amara. 



Dujardin and Egasse (6) state that Simaruba amara was introduced 

 into France in 17 13 as a remedy for dysentery. One of the earliest 

 writers to mention quassia as an insecticide was Brande (3), who, in 

 1825, stated that it was an effectual stomach poison for flies when used 

 in the form of an infusion sweetened with brown sugar. 



As early as 1779 Paarmann (31) wrote a review on quassia and its 

 uses. With respect to the anthelmintic properties of the bitter princi- 

 ple, he concurs in the opinion of others that its action on intestinal 

 worms is due to a stimulation of the intestinal secretion which prevents 

 their development rather than to any directly poisonous effect. He also 

 performed some experiments on the extraction of quassiin by various 

 methods. 



In 1794 Lindsay (21) published an account of Quassia polygama 

 which he claimed had long been used in Jamaica as a useful medicine 

 in "putrid fevers." All parts of the plant except the pulp of the fruit 

 are bitter. At that time large quantities were being exported to Eng- 

 land for use in the brewing of ale and porter. 



In 1796 Trommsdorff (45) conducted a series of experiments from 

 which he concluded that the best way to extract quassia is to soak the 

 finely chipped v/ood for some time in cold water and then boil it three 

 times, each time with 12 portions of fresh water. In 181 1 Pfaff (34) 

 compared the wood and bark of Pitcarnia excelsa s. amara, and con- 

 cluded that the bark is much more bitter than the wood. He found 

 that cold water extracts the bitter principle entirely and that if the 



1 Several of these names are synonyms; others were incorrectly given in the papers cited. Picrasma 

 excelsa Planch. (1846) and Picraena excelsa Lindl. (1838) are names of the tree described originally as Quassia 

 ezcelSa Swz., which is now referred to the genus Aeschrion, established by Vellozo at an earlier date (1827), 

 and becomes Aeschrion excelsa (Swz.) K.untze./Quassia simaruba L. f. is a sjTionym of Simaruba amara 

 Aubl. /Quassia polygama Lindsay is referred to Aeschrion excelsa (Swz.) Kuntze. "Pitcarnia excelsa s. 

 amara,'' pubHshed by Pfaff, is an error in the paper cited. There is no genus Pitcarnia; Pitcaimia, for 

 which it may have been intended, is the name of a bromeliaceous genus allied to the pineapple, having 

 nothing in common with the famih^ Simarubaceae, to which the quassia-yielding plants belong. The 

 author may have intended the name for Picraena excelsa, and the supposed synonym amara for Simaruba 

 amara. Picrasma quassioides Benn. is a vaUd name; P. ailanthoides (Bunge) Planch, (not P. eilantoides 

 as given in the paper cited) is supposed to be a synonym of it. Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. is the vahd name 

 of an Asiatic tree delightlully aromatic and very different from our ill-smelling Ailanthus glandulosa Desf . 

 Simaruba cedron is an erroneous name, intended for Simaba cedron Planch. Simaruba versicolor St. Hilaire 

 is a valid name. — W. E. Safford, Economic Botanist, Bureau of Plant Industry. 

 ^Reference is made by number to "Literature cited," p. 528-531. 



