224 ALYCIFLOR,E. 



1. Picramnia Antidesma. Majoe or Macary Bitter. 



Flowers triandrous, racemes longer than the leaf, 

 leaflets ovate or elliptico-lanceolate acuminate. 



Berberis fructu fruticoso racemose, fraxini folio alato, fructu 

 nigro dipyreno, Sloatie, II. 101. t. 208. f. 2. Picramnia fruti- 

 cosa, Browne, 123. P. antidesma, Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. 218. 



HAB. Mountain thickets.' 



FL. October, November. 



A shrubby erect tree, about 8 feet in height : branches 

 spreading, twiggy, glabrous, ash-coloured. Leaves pinnate, a 

 foot and more in length ; leaflets, the outermost the largest, and 

 elliptico-lanceolate, the nearest ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, with 

 the apex blunt, entire, nervose, venose, glabrous : common pe- 

 tiole subtriquetrous, puberulous : partial very short, subterete, 

 coloured, puberulous. Racemes 1-2 feet, slender, striated, an- 

 gulose, puberulous, pendulous, many-flowered : pedicels filiform, 

 fasciculated. $ Fl. deciduous. Calycine divisions 3, lanceo- 

 late. Petals 3, lanceolate, patent, longer than the calyx. Fila- 

 ments 3, subulate, approximating at their base, erect, rather 

 longer than the petals, white : anthers didymous, ovate, rufous. 

 Pistil O ? Fl. Of the same size as, and with the calyx and 

 corolla of the former. Ovary globular, pubescent, oblong and 

 slightly compressed (according to Swartz,) : stigmata 2-3, 

 sessile, spreading. Berry oblong, in size rather larger than the 

 common horse-bean, of a scarlet colour, 2-celled ; cells 1-2- 

 seeded. 



This shrubby tree affords a bitter, less intense than that of the 

 Quassia or Simaruba, but much more grateful. The leaves are 

 bitter, with a sweetish taste, resembling that of the liquorice, 

 and a decoction has been prepared from them. The bark, 

 however, is the part which has been principally employed in 

 medicine. It has been given with success as an alterative in 

 constitutional affections, connected with syphilis and yaws, arid 

 as a tonic in debility of the digestive organs, and in intermit- 

 tent fever. I consider that it has not received that attention 

 as a remedy, to which it is entitled. 



V. RHUS. 



Calyx small, 5-partite, persistent. Petals 5. Sta- 

 mens 5. Ovary 1, subglobose, 1 -celled : styles short, 

 3, or with three sessile stigmata. Drupe generally 

 juiceless, 1 -celled, with a bony nut, perhaps by abor- 

 tion 1 -seeded, and sometimes 2-3-seeded. Seed ex- 

 albuminous, inverted, with the funicule arising from 



