CROTON. 



entire, silvery and scaly on the under side, bright green and smooth on 

 the upper, except a few scattered minute scurfs ; about twice as long 

 as their scurfy silvery taper petioles. Racemes axillary, quite simple, 

 covered with ferruginous scurf, monoecious. Flowers all 5-sepalous and 

 5-petalous; males with 10-15 stamens. A very distinct species from 

 C. Eleuteria, and according to Deppe beyond all doubt the true Qtdna 

 blanca or Copalchi of the druggists of Xalapa, and in his opinion pro- 

 bably the plant yielding the Cascarilla of Europe. Another bark is 

 also called Copalchi in Mexico, which according to Virey and Guibourt 

 is furnished by Strychnos Pseudo Quina. Professor Don considers it 

 quite certain that this C. Pseudo-China is what furnishes the Cascarilla 

 for Apothecaries' Hall ; and he proposes to shift the name of C. Cas- 

 carilla to it; a proposition which is inadmissible: firstly, because there is 

 no end to such changes, and secondly because Mr. Pereira has satis- 

 factorily shown that Professor Don is wrong in his statement. I 

 however regard the admitted fact of the bark of this species being 

 extremely like true Cascarilla as an additional reason for referring that 

 bark to C. Eleuteria, because the two species are very similar, and for 

 not referring it to C. Cascarilla, which is a totally different species. 

 Mr. Pereira has traced the importation of this bark and shown that it 

 resembles Ash Cinchona bark in appearance, and very different in many 

 respects from the officinal Cascarilla of this country. Med. Gaz. xx. 850. 



363. C. Tiglium Lam. encycl. ii. 208. Roxb.fi. ind. iii. 682. 

 S. and C. i. t. 4. C. Jamalgota Hamilt. in Linn, trans. 

 xiv. 258. Continent of India, Ceylon. 



A middle-sized tree. Young branches terete, smooth, shining, a 

 little furrowed towards the ends. Leaves oval-oblong, acute and 3-5- 

 nerved at the base, acuminate at the point, with shallow glandular ser- 

 ratures ; thin, membranous, with 2 glands at their base, covered when 

 young with extremely minute stellate scattered hairs ; petioles chan- 

 nelled, about i the length of the leaf, when quite young furnished with 

 stellate hairs, but soon losing them. Racemes terminal, erect, male at 

 apex, female below. Flowers downy ; <. Calyx 5-cleft; petals 5, 

 lanceolate, woolly ; stamens 15, distinct. $ . Calyx 5-cleft perma- 

 nent. Styles long, bifid. Capsules oblong, obtusely triangular, the 

 size of a hazel nut, closely covered with minute stellate hairs ; the cells 

 completely filled with the solitary seeds. Skin of the seeds pale dull 

 brown, overlaying a harder dark integument. This is one of the plants 

 from which the violently drastic substance called Croton oil or Oil of 

 Tiglium is prepared. The seeds are the part used. Dr. Francis 

 Hamilton has indeed shown that the original Grana Dilla, or Grana 

 Tilli, or Grana Tiglia were produced in all probability by a different 

 species, C. Pavana, arid he proposes to do away with the name of 

 C. Tiglium, substituting the latter and C. Jamalgota for it. I do not how- 

 ever see the necessity for the alteration. Dr. Hamilton admits that 

 many, and it is probable that most, of the Botanists who have spoken 

 of C. Tiglium meant his C. Jamalgota, and therefore with that species 

 the name can without inconvenience remain. It is clearly the plant of 

 Roxburgh, and 1 know, from Ceylon specimens, that it is the C. Tiglium 

 of that island. 



364. C. Pavana Hamilt. in Linn, trans, xiv. 259. Granum 

 MoluGCum Rumph. iv. t. 42. ? Ava, North-eastern parts of 

 Bengal ; Amboyna ? 



181 N 3 



