108 RUTACE^. 



Brazilian tree belonging to the same natural order. Maisch ^ was the 

 first to draw attention to this " new false Angostura hark." It is at 

 once distinguished by being devoid of aromatic properties ; its taste is 

 purely bitter. 



FOLIA BUCHU. 



Folia Buceo; Buchu, Bucchu, Bucha or Buka Leaves; F. Feuilles de 

 Bucco; G. Bukubldtter. 



Botanical Origin — The Buchu leaves are afforded by three species 

 of BarosTYia? The latter are erect shrubs some feet in height, with 

 glabrous rod-like branches, opposite leaves furnished with conspicuous 

 oil-cells on the toothed margin as well as generally on the under 

 surface. The younger twigs and several parts of the flower are also 

 provided with oil-cells. The white flowers with 5-partite calyx, and 

 the fruit formed of five erect carpels, are often found, together with 

 small leafy twigs, in the drug of commerce. 



The leaves of the three species referred to may be thus distin- 

 guished: — 



1. Barosma crenulata Hook. (B. crenata Kunze). — Oblong, oval, 

 or obovate, obtuse, narrowed towards the base into a distinct petiole ; 

 margin serrulate or crenulate; dimensions, | to 1^ inches long, /„ to 

 y% of an inch wide. 



2. B. serratifolia Willd. — Linear-lanceolate, equally narrowed to- 

 wards either end, three-nerved, apex truncate always furnished with 

 an oil-cell; margin sharply serrulate; 1 — 1^ inches long by about ^o of 

 an inch wide. 



3. B. hetulina Bartling. — Cuneate-obovate, apex recurved; margin 

 sharply denticulate, teeth spreading; i to f of an inch long by yV to 

 yV wide. Substance of the leaf more harsh and rigid than in the pre- 

 ceding. 



B. crenulata and B. hetulina grow in the Divisions of Clanwilliam 

 and Worcester, north and north-east of Cape Town, and the former even 

 on Table Mountain close to the capital; B. serratifolia is found in the 

 Division of Swellendam farther south. 



History — The use of Buchu leaves was learnt from the Hottentots 

 by the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope. The first importatioiLs of 

 the drug were consigned to the house of Reece & Co., of London, who 

 introduced it to the medical profession in 1821.^ The species appears 

 to have been B. crenulata. 



Description — In addition to the characters already pointed out, we 

 may observe that buchu leaves of either of the kinds mentioned are 

 smooth and glabrous, of a dull yellowish-green hue, somewhat paler 

 on the under side, on which oil-cells in considerable number are per- 

 ceptible. 



The leaves of B. crenulata vary in shape and size in different parcels, 

 in some the leaves being larger and more elongated than in others, pro- 

 bably according to the luxuriance of the bushes in particular localities. 



'^ Am. Journ. of Pharm. 1874. 50; ^ R. 'Reece, Jifonthly Gazette of Health ior 



also Yearbook of Pharm. 1874. 91. Feb. 1821. 799. 



^ From ^apm, heavy, and oani], odour. 



