EUPHORBIACE^. 



resemblance, and might almost as well have been intended for C. Eleu- 

 teria ; in fact I dp not see how any argument can be sustained by 

 reference to so wretched a figure. Admitting however that it was 

 intended for the plant it is universally quoted for, still I cannot look 

 upon it as evidence of much value, for Catesby was not an observer 

 upon whose testimony implicit reliance could be placed, in Botany at 

 least. This Croton Cascarilla is undoubtedly the wild Rosemary bush 

 of Jamaica, and is common in other West India islands, as St. Domingo; 

 yet Dr. Wright, a gdod authority, distinctly asserts that it has none of 

 the sensible qualities of Cascarilla. Then Sloane, an excellent observer, 

 says nothing about its bark being of any use ; and again the elder Jacquin, 

 who described it under the name of C. lineare, and who was a close 

 enquirer into the uses of plants, is equally silent ; he says indeed 

 "tota planta aromatica et odorifera, " but this would be true of a 

 large part of the genus Croton. The evidence therefore that Casca- 

 rilla bark is furnished by C. Cascarilla Linn, is reduced to the single 

 testimony of Catesby. Opposed to this we have the comparatively 

 recent and equally direct evidence of Woodville, who has figured a 

 plant from specimens sent from the Bahamas as those of the tree 

 supplying Cascarilla, and this plant he rightly determined to be C. Eleu- 

 teria, thus confirming the account of Dr. Wright that the C. Eleu- 

 teria of Jamaica also yielded Cascarilla. For these reasons, and for 

 another mentioned under C. Pseudo-China, I am obliged to dissent 

 from the very high authority of Mr. Pereira, and to give my opinion in 

 favour of those who assign the bark to the next species. While how- 

 ever it seems certain that at all events the College of Physicians have 

 erred in taking C. Pseudo- China for the officinal bark of this country, 

 is not M. Guibourt right in suggesting that several different species 

 may produce it ? I observe that in the bills of entry quoted by Mr. 

 Pereira, two imports came from Lima ; now so far as we know none of 

 the species here named have been found in Peru. 



361. C. Eleuteria Swartz.fi. ind. occ. ii. 1183. Wbodv. suppl. 

 t. 211. copied in S. and C. t 150. (Sloane ii. t. 174. f. 2.) 

 Thickets in Jamaica and other West India Islands. 



A small tree. Branches and twigs angular, rather compressed, 

 striated, downy, ferruginous. Leaves stalked, alternate, ovate, with a 

 short but obtuse point, quite entire, slightly nerved, green on the 

 upper surface, with a few scattered leprous dots, beneath silvery and 

 densely downy/about 2 inches long ; petioles scarce A inch long, scurfy. 

 Racemes axillary and terminal, branched or compound ; the branches 

 short, divaricating, covered with numerous, closely parted, subsessile, 

 monoecious flowers. Males uppermost and smallest ; females lowest, 

 few, and on short stalks. Filaments 10-12. Capsule roundish, mi- 

 nutely warted, scurfy, not much bigger than a pea, with 3 furrows, 

 3 cells and 6 valves. I have already stated why I consider it certain 

 that this species is the true origin of Cascarilla Bark, as has been af- 

 firmed by Drs. Wright and Woodville. 



362. C. Pseudo-china Schlecht. in Linn. v. 84. C. Casca- 

 rilla Don in Edinb. new phil. Journal xvi. 368. Near Plan 

 del Rio, and Actopan, in the hot country of Mexico. 



Young shoots covered with a close brown scurf. Leaves large (4 in. 

 X 3.) cordate-ovate, obtusely acuminate, 3-5-nerved, nearly or quite 



180 



