MASSOI BARK. 41 



Dr. Joseph Bancroft, in his " Contributions to the Pharmacy 

 from Queensland"* p. 11, states that the tree grows in the rich 

 scrubs to the north of Brisbane. Its grev, rough bark, reddish- 

 brown internally, has a strong aromatic adour and pleasant 

 astringent taste, and is frequently used by bushmen to improve 

 the flavour of their tea. The bark, according to Staiger, affords 

 about 2 per cent, of volatile oil heavier than water and 9 per cent, 

 of tannin. Professor Fliickiger remarks that a fine sample of the 

 bark, supplied to him by Mr. E. Merck of Darmstadt, agrees to 

 some extent in its microscopic structure both with the bark of 

 Cassia lignea and Sassafras. It is as much as half an inch in 

 thickness and shows the same exfoliation due to secondary cork 

 bands (rhytidoma) as the bark of Sassafras. On the other hand, 

 it is much more fibrous than either of the above-named barks ; its 

 tissue being very rich in long, thin fibres, and in its outer layer 

 there are scattered, not in large number, sclerenchymatous cells, 

 having comparatively thin walls. The oil ducts of Beilschmiedia 

 bark are neither very numerous, nor considerably large. 



Massoi Bark. 



This aromatic product has long been known as an article of 

 commerce in the Malay Archipelago.f It is derived from a tree 

 of the Laurel family {Laurinece) which is indigenous and ap- 

 parently confined to the forests of Southern Xew Guinea. The 

 botanical determination of the species has long been desired, 

 and, during the voyage of H.M.S. ' Challenger,' Mr. H. !N". Moseley, 

 one of the naturalists attached to the expedition, succeeded in 

 obtaining specimens of the bark and the fruit, both of which were 

 deposited in the Kew Museum. 



Subsequently, during his travels in Xew Guinea, D'Albertis 

 made a small collection of plants which were examined by the 

 distinguished traveller and botanist, Beccari. The difficulty of 

 identifying the so-called " true Massoi bark " was undertaken by 

 the curator of the museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of 

 London. J The attention of that able botanist was then called by 

 the Director of the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, to the " Kew Gardens 



* Colonial and Tndian Exhibition, 1886. 

 + Kew Gardens Report for 1880. 

 JPharm= Journ. [.3] xix., p. 465. 



