Picroena SIMAEUBACE^ 201 



(excl. hab. Carib.) ; Mac/. Jam. i. 198, Picrasma excelsa Planch, 

 in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. v. 574 (1846) (excl. Antigua); Engl. 

 in Engl.-Prantl Pflzfam. in. pt. 4, 222, /. 129, a-g ; Urb. Symh. 

 Ant. V. 378. ^schrion excelsa Kuntze Bev. Gen. PI. i. 103 (1891) ; 

 Small in N. Amer. Fl. xxv. 233. JEt. excelsa var. microcarpa Kr. 

 <& Urb. in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xv. 306 (1892). (Fig. 65.) 



Bitter Wood, Jamaica Quassia. 



Wright ! Macfadyen ! McNab ! Shafton, Westmoreland ; Guys Hill, 

 St. Mary ; Purdie ! Moneague, Prior ! March ! Old England, Blue Mts. ; 

 Gordon Town; Hope, 700 ft. ; near St. Ann's Bay; Harris 1 Fl. Jam. 5458, 

 7017, 9984, 10,363.— Hispaniola. 



Tree 40-60(-80) ft. high. Leaflets narrowly elliptical or oblong-elliptical, 

 unequal-sided, mostly cuneate or acute at the base, 6-12 cm. 1. Panicles 

 with long peduncles. Flowers greenish. Sepals -6- "7 mm. 1. Petals of 

 male flower oblong-elliptical, 2 mm. 1. ; of hermaphrodite flower oblong- 

 lanceolate, 3 mm. 1. Stamens about 4 mm. 1. in the male flower, 2-2 • 5 mm. 

 1. in the hermaphrodite flower. Drupes globular or obovoid-globular, black, 

 6-7 mm. 1. 



The wood is largely exported from Jamaica, and is the "quassia" of 

 commerce. Locally the wood is used for ceilings, bedsteads, and presses, 

 as it is objectionable to insects. Quassia wood is a pure bitter tonic and 

 stomachic. It is a valuable remedy in atonic dyspepsia, in debility, and in 

 convalescence after acute diseases. " Bitter Cups " are manufactured from 

 the wood. The wood is sometimes used by brewers as a substitute for hops. 

 (Bentley and Trimen.) 



Note to Picrania amara in " Medicinal Plants in Jamaica " by 

 Dr. Wm. Wright in London Medical Journal viii. 275 (1787) by the editor. 

 Dr. S. F. Simmons : — 



In 1772 Dr. Wright discovered the tree which yields the simarouba of 

 the shops, and the year following sent a botanical account of it to the late 

 Prof. Hope at Edinburgh, under the title of Quassia Simarouba. At the 

 same time he sent specimens of it to the late Dr. Fothergill, who trans- 

 mitted them to the celebrated Linnaeus at Upsal. The latter communi- 

 cated this discovery to Prof. Murray at Gottingen, who has mentioned it 

 in the third volume of his Apparatus Med. p. 458 (German edition, Arzney- 

 vorrath iii. 522). 



P. antillana {Rhus antillana Eggers Fl. St. Croix and Virgin Is. 41 

 (1879) ; Picrasma antillana Urb. Symb. Ant. v. 378 (1908) ), Bitter Ash, 

 of the lesser Antilles, included by Swartz and other authors in the above 

 species, has drupes about 1 cm. 1., and leaflets with obtuse or rounded base. 



5. PICRAMNIA Sw. 



Shrubs or trees, often intensely bitter. Leaves alternate, 

 pinnate with an odd leaflet ; leaflets usually alternate. Spikes 

 or racemes opposite the leaves, pendulous. Flowers dioecious, 

 sometimes polygamous, small, in clusters, racemes, or panicles. 

 Calyx 3-5-cleft, imbricate. Petals 3-5, rarely none, narrow, 

 imbricate. Stamens of the male flower 3-5, opposite the petals, 

 inserted under the disk ; of the female flower reduced to linear 

 staminodes. Pistil generally wanting in the male flowers. 

 Ovary 2-3-celled; style short, 2-3-cleft. Ovules 2, collateral, 

 near the apex of the cells. Berry 1-2-celled, cells 1 -seeded. 

 Embryo undivided. 



