QUASSIA 259 



PYRETHRUM (Pyrethrum, Pellitory Root) 



Official in 1820, 1828, and in the New York edition of 1830. 

 It was dropped altogether from the Philadelphia edition of 1830. 

 From 1840 to 1870 it was demoted to the Secondary List. From 

 1880 to 1910 it has been official. 



Pellitory, or Spanish chamomile, Anacyclus Py- 

 rethrum, is a widely distributed plant, known under 

 different names in different countries. According to 

 Pliny (514) it was the herb used by the ''Magians" 

 under the name Parthenium against intermittent fevers, 

 and according to Dioscorides (194) it is the plant that, 

 under the name Anthemis, was used in the same manner. 

 It is found throughout European Turkey, and according 

 to Forskal, southward to the mountains of Yemen, 

 where it is called mceniat. According to De Candolle 

 (122) its introduction into Britain was perhaps before 

 the coming of the Romans. The European colonists 

 carried it, according to Josselyn (345) to Northeast 

 America before 1669, where it is to be found both under 

 cultivation and, having escaped therefrom, as a wild 

 plant. Once a popular remedy in agues, its use is now 

 practically discontinued, even in domestic medicine. 

 Physicians as a rule now neglect it, although it is 

 employed by them in a few exceptional instances. 



QUASSIA (Quassia) 



Official in all editions of U. S. P., excepting 1830, New York. 

 The U. S. P., 1910, officializes the wood of Picrasma excelsa 

 (Jamaica Quassia of commerce), or of Quassia amara (Surinam 

 Quassia of commerce). 



Quassia amara takes its name from a slave of Surinam 

 named Quassi, (see article "Quassia Amara," Western 

 Druggist, (679a), Chicago, Jan. 1897), who used the 

 plant as a secret remedy with great success in the treat- 



