QUA 



QUE 



ing one seed. There are three species, 

 each of which we shall notice in their or- 

 der. Q. simaruba, is a tree that grows to 

 a considerable height and thickness, with 

 alternate spreading branches ; the bark 

 on the trunk of old trees is black and a 

 little furrowed, that of younger trees is 

 smooth, grey, and marked with broad 

 yellow spots"; the wood is hard, white, 

 and without any remarkable taste ; leaves 

 numerous, alternate, composed of several 

 leaflets, oblong, or nearly elliptic, sharp 

 at the end, of a deep green colour, placed 

 nltern.'itely on very short foot-stalks ; 

 flowers on branched spikes, of a yellow 

 colour. Simaruba is a native of South 

 America and the West Indies ; in Jamaica 

 it is known by the names of mountain- 

 damson, bitter-damson, and stave-wood. 

 The drug known by the name of quassia 

 is the bark of the roots of this tree, which 

 is rough, scaly, and waited ; the inside, 

 when fresh, is a full yellow ; when dry, it 

 is paler ; it has a little smell ; the taste is 

 bitter, but not disagreeable; macerated 

 in water, or in rectified spirit, it quickly 

 impregnates them with its bitterness, and 

 with a yellow tincture ; the cold infusion 

 in water is rather stronger in taste than 

 the decoction ; the latter gets turbid and 

 of a reddish brown as it cools. 



Q amara, grows to the height of sever- 

 al feet, and sends offmany strong branch- 

 es. The wood is of a white colour, and 

 light ; the bark is thin and grey. It is a 

 native of South America, particularly of 

 Surinam, and also of some of the West 

 Indian islands The root, bark, and wood 

 of this tree, have all places in the materia 

 medica. The wood is most generally used, 

 and is said to be a tonic, stomachic, anti- 

 septic, and febrifuge. 



Q. excelsa, or polygama, is likewise 

 very common in the woodlands of Jamai- 

 ca. It is a beautiful, tall, and stately 

 tree ; some of them being one hundred 

 feet high, and ten feet in circumference. 

 The trunk is straight, smooth, and taper- 

 ing, sending off its branches towards the 

 top. The outside bark is pretty smooth, 

 and of a light grey, or ash colour. The 

 bark of the roots is of a yellow cast, some- 

 what like the cortex simaruba. The in- 

 ner bark is tough, and composed of fine 

 flaxy fibres. The bark of this quassia, 

 but especially the wood, is intensely bit- 

 ter. The wood is of a yellow colour, 

 tough, but not very hard ; it takes a good 

 polish, and is used as flooring. In taste 

 and virtues it is nearly equal to the Q. 

 amara, and frequently sold for the same. 

 Besides its use in medicine, quassia is sup- 



posed to be consumed in large quantities 

 by the brewers, to give a bitterish taste to 

 the beer. 



QUAVER, in music, a measure of time 

 equal to half a crotchet, or an eighth of a 

 semibreve. The quaver is divided into 

 two semiquavers, and four demisemi- 

 quavers. 



QUERCITRON, in dying, the internal 

 bark of the quercus nigra ; it yields its 

 colour, which is yellow, by infusion to 

 water, and by the common mordants gives 

 a permanent dye. See DYING. 



QUERCUS, in botany, the oak tree, a 

 genus of the Monoecia Polyandria class 

 and order. Natural order of Amentacese. 

 Essential character: male, calyx com- 

 monly five-cleft; corolla none; stamina 

 five to ten : female, calyx one-leaved, 

 quite entire, rugged ; corolla none ; styles 

 two to five ; seed one, ovate. There are 

 twenty-six species, and many varieties ; 

 Q. robur, the common oak, attains to a 

 great size, particularly in woods ; singly, 

 it is rather a spreading tree, sending off, 

 horizontally, immense branches, which 

 divide and subdivide considerably ; the 

 trunk is covered with a rugged brown 

 bark; leaves alternate, oblong, broader 

 towards the end, the edges deeply sinu- 

 ate, forming obtuse or rounded lobes, of 

 a dark green colour, five inches in length, 

 two and a half in breadth, they are deci- 

 duous, but often remain on the tree till the 

 new buds are ready to burst. The male 

 flowers come out on aments, in bundles, 

 from the buds, alternately and singly from 

 the axils of the leaves ; they are pendu- 

 lous, cylindrical, consisting of yellow, 

 short, roundish, scattered bundles of an- 

 thers ; above the males the aments of fe- 

 male flowers come out, each composed of 

 thiee or four small reddish florets, placed 

 alternately, having at the base little red- 

 dish scales, which afterwards become the 

 cup, forming the rugged external surface 

 of it ; acorn ovate, cylindrical, coriaceous, 

 very smooth, except at the base, where it 

 appears as if rasped, one-ceiled, valveless, 

 received at bottom in a hemispherical cup, 

 tubercled on the outside; the germ is 

 three-celled, with two embryos in each 

 cell, fastened to the base. The wood of 

 the oak, when of a good sor$, is well 

 known to be hard, tough, tolerably flexi- 

 ble, not easily splintering, strong without 

 being too heavy, and not easily admitting 

 water ; for these qualities it is preferred 

 to all other timber for building ships ; it 

 would be difficult to enumerate all the 

 uses to which it may be applied. Oak 

 saw-dust is the principal indigenous ve- 



