RUT AGE yE. 



447 



febrifugal &r& also used in Brazil as substitutes for the true Angos- 

 tura or cinchonas. 



The bitterness becomes more decided and noticeable in the 

 Quassias. Quassia amara: (figs. 4G4-467), or Bois de Surinam, is 

 perhaps the best known of all the bitter drugs in common use ; it 

 owes its numerous properties as a tonic, aperient, febrifuge, anti- 

 hysteric, &c, to a crystallizable principle named quassiue. 3 The 

 stem is not large enough to be used in making those goblets which 

 cause water placed in them to become bitter after a short time ; 

 these are made from the larger trunk of Picreena excelsa 4 (fig. 472), 

 which has the same properties. The wood, and particularly the bark 

 of the fibrous and greyish root of Simafuba officinalis? a native of 

 Gruiana and the Antilles, are used as a bitter, tonic, antidysenteric, 

 and as a febrifuge. In Brazil, S. versicolor, 6 Quassia suaveolens, 

 foribunda, 7 and j err ugina f in India and the Mascareigne Islands Set- 

 mandura is used for exactly the same purposes. 9 Q. Cedron™ (fig. 4G8) 

 is principally valued in its native country, that is to say Columbia, 



1 Mart., Nov. Gen. et Spec, t. 233. — 

 Rosenth., op. cit., 8S0. — Foodia febrifuga 

 A. S. H., in Bull. Soc. Phil. (1823), 129; Fl. 

 Us. Bras., n. 4; Pl. Rem. Bres., i. 149; Fl. 

 Bras. Mer., i. 79.— DC., Prodr., i. 724, n. 5.— 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., 210 (vulg. Trcs folhas ver- 

 inellas, Laranjerio do Maid). It furnishes the 

 Angostura bark of Brazil, or China Piaoi. 



2 L. fil., Suppl., 235; Amcen. Acad., vi. 

 421, t. 4.— Lodd., Bot. Cab., t. 172. — Lindl., 

 Fl. Med., 207.— Guib., Drog. Simpl., ed. 6, 

 iii. 561, fig. 729.— Turp., in Diet. Sc. Nat., 

 Atl., t. 125.— Rosenth., Syn. PI. Diaph,, 870. 

 — Ret., in Bot. Med. du xix e Steele, iii. 154, t. 

 153.— Moq., Bot. Med., 13.— Berg. & Scmr., 

 Off'. Geiv., ii. t. 11 d, — H. Bn., in Diet. 

 Fncycl. Sc. Med., ser. 3, i. (Quina de Cayenne, 

 Bois a mer). 



3 Gr quassite (C°H 12 C 6 ). 



4 Lindl., Fl. Med., 208. — Guib., Prog. 

 Simpl., ed. 6, iii. 563. — Quassia excelsa Sw., 

 in Act. Holm. (1788), 302, t. 8. — Q. polygama 

 Weight (ex DC., Prodr., i. *733).— Simaruba? 

 excelsa DC, in Ann. Mas., xvii. 323. — Pi- 

 crasma? excelsa Pl., in Hook. Pond. Journ., 

 v. 57(4. — Bittera febrifuga Belang. (ex. Guib , 

 loc. cit.). — Rosenth., op. cit., 873 (Bois 

 de Quassia jaune, Q. de la Jama'ique, Bitter 

 Ash). 



5 Simaba amara Aubl., Guian., 860, t. 331, 

 332.— Ltndl., Fl. Med., 207. — S. officinalis 

 DC, in. Ann. Mus., loc. cit., n. 1 ; Prodr., i. 

 733, n. 1.— Guib., Drog. Simpl., ed. 6, iii. 563, 

 fig. 730.— Macfad., Jam., i. 198. — Moq., Bot. 



Med., 70, fig. 20. — S. guianensis Rich, (ex 

 Rosenth., op. cit., 871). — Quassia Simaruba 

 L., Suppl., 234.— Lamk., Ill,, t, 343, fig. 2. 



5. amara Hatn. (S. medicinalis Endl. — 

 Quassia Simaruba Wright, nee L.), yielding 

 the Simaruba root in Jamaica, has been specifi- 

 cally distinguished from the preceding, perhaps 

 wrongly. The autonomy of S. glauca (DC, 

 loc. cit., n. 2) is also doubtful. The properties 

 are always absolutely the same. 



6 A. S. H., PI, Us. Bras., n. 5 ; Fl, Bras. 

 Mer., i. 70. — Rosenth., op. cit., 871. — 

 Quassia versicolor Sfreng. {cortex et folia 

 Paraibce Off.) Is this species really distinct 

 from Simaba amara Aubl. ? 



7 Simaba suaveolens et ftoribunda A. S. H., 

 in Bull. Soc. Phil. (1823), 129.— DC, Prodr., 

 i. 734, n. 4, 5. — Rosenth., op. cit., 872. 



8 Simaba ferruginea A. S. H., loc. cit. — 

 Rosenth., op. cit., 872. — Picrodendron Ca- 

 lunga Mart. (Ca'unga). 



9 Especially S. indica (Samannera indica 

 GiERTN. ; — Nicta pentapetala Lamk.; — Witt- 

 mannia elliptica Vahl) madagascariensis (A. 

 Juss. Mem. Rutac., t. 27, fig. 46 ; — Biporeia 

 Dup.-Th., Gen. Nov. Jladag.,14; — Niotatetra- 

 pelaln Lame.), plmts as bitter as Quassia. The 

 Picrasmas have the same properties, especially 

 P.javanica Bl. 



10 H. Bx., in Diet. Fncycl. Sc. Med., xiii. 

 539 ; in Adansonia, x. 317. — Simaba Cedron 

 Pl., in DZoolc. Keio Journ., ii. 566. — Seem., 

 Toy. Her. Bot., 95. — Guib., Drog. Simpl., ed. 



6, iii. 561. — Rosenth., op. cit., 872. 



