} 
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 
BU G.2.T.0N 
OF 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, 
No. 1.] (1904. 
I—SOAP BARK TREE OF CHILI. 
(Quillaja saponaria, Molina.) 
The Quillai or Cullay of the Chilians is the Soap-bark of 
English commerce. The plant yielding it is an evergreen tree 
often 30 to 50 feet high, with small, smooth, shining, holly-like 
leaves. The flowers grow four 0 r five together; the calyx is 
furnished with a star-like fleshy disk having five notched lobes; 
the petals are spathulate and white. The fruit is star-shaped, with 
five single cells containing ened winged seeds in two rows. 
The plant belongs to the natural order Rosace@ and is allied in 
essential characters (though very sidtersnt in appearance) to the 
Spirzas, of which the common meadowsweet is the most familiar 
example. The tree is found on “the outer slopes of the Chilian 
Andes,” It also extends to the southern part of Peru. In Chili 
it is said to be rather common in wooded valleys between 31° and 
38° S. lat. It reaches, in some cases, elevations of nearly 6,000 feet 
above the level of the sea. The timber of large trees is very hard 
and durable, and it is in great request in mines. The chief 
economic value lies, however, in the bark, which has of late years 
formed the basis of a considerable industry. The bark is exported 
in fairly large quantities, the amount reaching this country being 
about 5,000 bales annually. 
As may be gathered from the situations in which it is found, 
the tree should thrive in the climate of the South of Europe, also 
on mountain slopes in many parts of India, Ceylon, the eae 
Indies, and in South Africa and many parts of Australia. Owin 
to its ‘valuable economic properties, a good deal of interest ‘oan 
taken a few years ago by Kew in the introduction of the tree to 
India and to other British Possessions where it was likely to 
thrive. As will be shown later, « measure of -artstr ot ae 
its cultivation in the Nilgiris, and it has also been grown in South 
Australia, the West Indies, and in the South of Eaaws, aie portion 
of cg stem of a tree raised from seed fares from Kew and 
y Sir Thomas angen | K.C.V.0., at La Mortola was 
aaa in ike Kew Museum in 1884. 
1375 Wt89 4/06 D&S 29 24261 A 
