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SIMARUBE^E. II. SIMAKUBA. III. SIMABA. 



sexes. Calyx small, cup-shaped, S-toothed. Petals 5, spread- 

 ing. Male flowers. Stamens 10, rarely 8, equal in length to the 

 petals, inserted around the base of a very minute gynophore. Fe- 

 male flowers. Ovaries 5, seated on an equal 5-lobed gynophore, 

 which is surrounded at the base by short hairy scales, or abor- 

 tive stamens. Styles 5, short, distinct at the base, but connected 

 in one at the top, crowned by a single 5-lobed stigma. Fruit 

 5, drupaceous. Trees with alternate, pinnate leaves, and alter- 

 nate, quite entire leaflets, which are shining above. Racemules 

 furnished each with a bractea-like leaf, disposed in axillary and 

 terminal panicles ; pedicels furnished with bracteas. Flowers 

 small, hoary, or greenish, with their edges sometimes purple. 

 Leaves, wood, bark, and root intensely bitter. 



1 S. OFFICINA V LIS (D. C. in annal. mus. 17. p. 424. no. 1.) 

 flowers monoecious ; male ones decandrous ; stigma 5-lobed ; 

 leaves abruptly pinnate ; leaflets on short petioles, pubescent 

 beneath. ^ . S. Native of South America, particularly in 

 Guiana, Cayenne, and some of the West India islands, in sandy 

 places. Quassia Simaruba, Lin. suppl. 234. Woodv. med. bot. 

 t. 76. Lam. ill. t. 343. f. 2. Simaruba amara, Aubl. guian. 

 t. 331. Flowers small, yellowish-white, monoecious, but some 

 authors say dioecious. The tree is known in Jamaica by the 

 names of-Bitter Damson, Mountain Damson, and Slave-mood. Si- 

 marouba or Simaruba, in Materia Medica, is the bark of the 

 roots of this tree ; it was first imported into Europe in 1713. 

 This bark, according to Dr. Wright's account of it, is rough, 

 scaly, and warted, the inside, when fresh, is a full yellow, but 

 when dry paler ; it has but little smell ; the taste is bitter, but 

 not disagreeable. Macerated in water, or rectified spirits, it 

 quickly impregnates both menstrua with its bitterness, and with 

 a yellow tincture. It seems to give out its virtue more perfectly 

 to cold than to boiling water ; the cold infusion being rather 

 stronger in taste than the decoction, which last is of a trans- 

 parent yellow colour whilst hot, grows turbid and of a reddish- 

 brown as it cools. The milky appearance, which Jussieu says 

 it communicates to boiling water, Dr. Wright has not observed 

 in the decoction of any of the specimens he has examined. 



The bark was first sent from Guiana to France in 1713, to 

 the Count de Pornchartrain, then secretary of state, as a remedy 

 of great efficacy in dysentery. In the years 1718 and 1723, an 

 epidemic flux prevailed very generally in France, which resisted 

 aH the medicines usually employed in such cases ; small doses 

 of ipecacuanha, mild purgatives, and all astringents, were found 

 to aggravate, rather than to relieve, the disease ; under these 

 circumstances, recourse was had to the cortex-simaruba, which 

 proved remarkably successful, and first established its medical 

 character in Europe. Dr. Wright says, " most authors, who 

 have written on the Simaruba agree, that in fluxes it restores 

 the lost tone of the intestines, allays their spasmodic motions, 

 promotes the secretions by urine and perspiration, removes the 

 lowness of the spirits attending dysenteries, and disposes the 

 patient to sleep ; the gripes and tenesmus are taken ofF. In a 

 moderate dose it occasions no disturbance or uneasiness, but in 

 large doses it produces sickness at the stomach, and vomiting." 



Modern physicians have found from experience, that this 

 medicine is only successful in the third stage of dysentery, where 

 there is no fever, where too the stomach is no way hurt, and 

 where the gripes and tenesmus are only continued by a weakness 

 of the bowels. In such cases Dr. Munro gave two or three 

 drops of laudanum, and found it a very useful remedy. The 

 late Sir J. Pringle, Dr. Huck Saunders, and many others pre- 

 scribed the Cortex-simaruba in old and obstinate dysenteries 

 and diarrhoeas, especially those brought from warm climates. 

 Fluxes of this sort, which were brought home from the siege of 

 Martinique and the Havannah, were completely and speedily 

 cured by this bark. Dr. James Lind, at Haslar Hospital, 



1 



says that the Cortex-simaruba produced these effects sooner 

 and more certainly than when given in such quantity as to nau- 

 seate the stomach. Dr. Huck Saunders remarks, that if the 

 Simaruba did not give relief in three days, he expected little 

 benefit from its further use ; but others have found it effica- 

 cious in fluxes, after a continued use for several weeks. Sir 

 James Smith's own experience convinces him of the efficacy of 

 this medicine, and he hopes that the Simaruba-bark will soon be 

 more generally used than it is. 



Dr. Wright recommends two drachms of the bark to be boiled 

 in twenty-four ounces of water to twelve ; the decoction is then 

 to be strained, and divided into three equal parts, the whole of 

 which is to be taken in twenty-four hours, and when the stomach 

 is reconciled to this medicine, the quantity of the bark may be 

 increased to three drachms. To this decoction some join aro- 

 matics, others a few drops of laudanum to each dose Dr. Cullen 

 says, that the virtues ascribed to Simaruba have not been ascer- 

 tained by his own experience, or that of the practitioners of 

 Scotland. Woodv. med. bot. It is given in powder, in doses of 

 half a drachm or a whole drachm ; but it is too bulky and very 

 difficultly pulverizable. It is best exhibited in decoction. Two 

 drachms of the bark may be boiled in two pounds of water to 

 one, and the decoction drunk in cup-fulls in the course of the 

 day. (Duncan, edin. disp. p. 452.) 



Officinal Simaruba. Clt. 1 789. Tree 60 feet. 



2 S. GLAU'CA (D. C. in ann. mus. 17. p. 324. no. 2.) flowers 

 monoecious ; male ones decandrous ; stigma 5-parted ; leaves ab- 

 ruptly-pinnate ; leaflets on short petioles, smooth, glaucous. 

 Tj . S. Native of the Island of Cuba, by the sea-side. 

 H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 6. p. 16. This species is 

 usually confused with the preceding. The glutinous juice of 

 the bark is exhibited in cutaneous diseases. 



Glaucous-leiLveA Simaruba. Tree 40 feet. 



3 S. EXCE'LSA (D. C. in ann. mus. 17. p. 424. no. 3.) flowers 

 polygamous, pentandrous, panicled ; stigma trifid ; leaves impari- 

 pinnate ; leaflets opposite, stalked. Tj . S. Native of Jamaica, in 

 woods on the lower mountains, and of other West India islands. 

 Quassia excelsa, Swartz in act. holm. 1788. p. 302. t. 8. Quassia 

 polygama, Wright in edinb. phil. trans, vol. 3. According to 

 the specific character, this plant will probably constitute a dis- 

 tinct genus. The tree is lofty, with a very straight trunk ; the 

 wood whitish, moderately close-grained, very bitter, frequently 

 sold by the druggists for the Quassia amara, and found useful 

 in intermittent fevers, debility of the stomach, worms, dropsy, 

 and chlorosis. The wood is also used for making cabinets, for 

 preserving insects, or other natural curiosities ; being supposed 

 inaccessible to insects and worms. Clusters panicled, bearing 

 numerous small pale- flowers, some male, the rest hermaphro- 

 dite. 



Lofty Simaruba. Clt. 1818. Tree 60 feet. 



4 S. VERSI'COLOR (St. Hil. pi. usu. bras. no. 5. and fl. bras. 

 1. p. 70.) flowers dioecious, decandrous, in loose terminal pa- 

 nicles ; leaflets elliptical-oblong, very blunt, retuse, with the 

 mid-rib pubescent. Ij . S. Native of Brazil, in the pro- 

 vince of Minas Geraes, where it is called Paraiba. Quassia ver- 

 sicolor, Spreng. syst. app. p. 163. Petals greenish- yellow, with 

 purple edges. The inhabitants of the Rio St. Francisco regard 

 the bark as very bitter. It is employed with great success 

 in curing the bites of serpents. It is also used to cure pedi- 

 culous diseases, both in men and horses. 



Party-coloured-dowered Simaruba. Tree 30 feet. 

 Cult. See Quassia for culture and propagation, p. 810. 



III. SIMA'BA (the name of S. Guianensis in Guiana). St. 

 Hil. bull. phil. 1823. p. 129. D. C. prod. 1. p. 733. Andr. 

 Juss. in mem. mus. 12. p. 515. t. 27. no. 45. Simaba et Aruba, 



