CORTEX RUBER, or RED BARK. 293 
‘The flowers begin to appear at the commencement of 
the rainy feafon in beautiful tufts, upon pannicles branch- 
ed out in threes andfours. I have never feen that {pecies 
defcribed by Jacquin and found at the Havannah, pedun- 
culis unifloris. 
Before the corolla is fully expanded, and the ftamina 
make their appearance without the tube of the corolla, 
the flower is white, but it afterwards turns toa beautiful 
purple. Then dropping off, the germen enlarges to the . 
fize of an hazle-nut, oblong and round. It gradually 
dries, burfts in two, and fcatters the feeds, which fall to 
the ground and again take root. 
The wood of the tree is light, fpongy, and fit for no 
-ufeful purpofe. It has not the bitter tafte of the bark. 
The leaves are very bitter, and the flowers, feeds, &c. 
feem to poffefs the bitternefs and aftringency in a more 
eminent degree. 
An ounce of the bark in fine powder infufed in a quart 
of cold water for twenty-four hours, and the infufion af- 
terwards filtered, appears higher coloured than a decoction 
made with doubie the quantity of the old bark. The co- 
lour which it ftrikes with the t7f?. flor. martial. and fal 
martis, is likewife of a deeper black. The fpirituous 
tinGture is of a deep red colour, and ftrikes a deep black 
by the addition of the preparations of iron. 
The tafte of the Cinchona Caribxa is manifeftly more 
aftringent than the tafte of the old bark; an inference may 
therefore, 4 priori, be made, that its tonic powers are 
greater. 
The quantity of refin which it yields is much more 
confiderable, and an extract made with both fpirits and 
water, feems to poflefs the whole virtues of the bark. 
Pp To 
