90 



SILVA OF NORTH A3IEEICA. 



SIMARUBE^. 



bark of S. versicolor is valued bj tlie Brazilians for tlie treatment of fevers^ and as a remedy for sn 1- 

 bites. The wood of this species is reputed to be so bitter that insects will not attack it.^ 



The generic name Simaruba is formed from Slmarouha, the Carib name of the species descrih f] 

 by Aublet.^ 



1 Lindley, Fl. Med. 208. 



^ The generic name was written Simarouba by Aublet, and this 

 form was used by the early authors who mentioned the tree. (Eti~ 

 onymusfructu nigro tetrayono vulgo Simarouba, Barr6rc, France Equi- 

 noxiale, 50. — Ze Simarouba vet Bois amer. Des Marchais, Voyages 

 en Guine'e ei a Cayenne, ii. 124.) Simaruba appears to have been 



first used by Linnseus in the Materia Medica (188) to desiguate a 

 species of Burscra, and again in the first edition of the Species Plan- 

 tarum, as the specific name of his Pisiacia Simaruba, the Bnrsera of 

 Jaequin. Endlicher and all subsequent authors have followed the 

 Linmean sncllinir of the word. 



