272 ^ FLORA OP MANILA 



70. SIMARUBACEAE (Quassia Family) 



Trees or shriabs, sometimes climbing, with usually bitter bark, and al- 

 ternate, pinnate, leaves. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, racemose, 

 cymose, or paniculate. Flowers regular. Calyx 3- to 5-lobed. Petals 3 

 to 5, hypogynous. Disk annular or elongated, rarely none. Stamens as 

 many as, or twice as many as, the petals, free. Ovary superior, free, 

 1- to 6-celled, entire or deeply lobed; ovules 1 or few in each cell; styles 

 free or more or less united. Fruit drupaceous or capsular; seeds usually 

 solitary. 



Genera 32, species about 130, tropical and subtropical regions in both 

 hemispheres, 8 genera and about 12 species in the Philippines. 



Somewhat climbing, armed with short spines; petioles not winged; flowers 



small, white ~ 1. Harrisonia 



Erect, unarmed; petioles and leaf-rachis winged; flowers large, red. 



2. Quassia 

 1. HARRISONIA R. Brown 



Erect or somewhat climbing, spiny, glabrous or pubescent shrubs. 

 Leaves odd-pinnate. Flowers perfect, racemose or cymose. Calyx sipall, 

 4- or 5-fid. Petals 4 to 5, longer than the calyx. Stamens twice as many 

 as the petals, the filaments with small scales at the base; ovary globose, 

 4- or 5-lobed, 4- or 5-celled; ovules solitary. Fruit berry-like, fleshy, glo- 

 bose. (In honor of J. Harrison, an English horticulturist.) 



Specifes 3 or 4, tropical Africa and Asia through Malaya to Australia, 

 2 in the Philippines. 



1. H. perforata (Blanco) Merr. (H. paucijuga Benn.). Asimao, Laiya, 

 Mamiquil (Tag.). 



Somewhat climbing or nearly erect, 2 to 4 m high, the branches armed 

 with short sharp spines. Leaves 5 to 10 cm long, slightly pubescent or 

 nearly glabrous; leaflets oblong-ovate, 1.5 to 3.5 cm long, entire or crenate, 

 acute or obtuse. Racemes 3 to 6 cm long, terminal. Flowers white; petals 

 about 6 mm long; filaments villous at the base. Fruit globose, fleshy, 

 glabrous, 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. pi. 23 Fagara piperita.) 



In dry thickets near Fort McKinley, fl. Apr .-June; of local occurrence 

 in the Philippines. India to China and Malaya. 



2. QUASSIA Linnaeus 



A glabrous erect shrub, intensely bitter. Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate, 

 the petiole and rachis winged. Flowers large, perfect, in tenhinal simple 

 racemes or panicles. Calyx small, 5-partite. Petals 5, elongated, erect, 

 not spreading. Stamens 10, inserted at the base of the large columnar 

 torus. Ovary S-lobed. Drupes 5 or fewer, spreading. (Named after 

 Quassi, or Coissi, a negro slave in Surinam who used the plant for 

 medicine.) 



A monotypic genus of tropical America. 



1. Q. AMAEA L. Cor ales (Sp.-Fil.) ; Quassia. 



A glabrous shrub 2 to 3.5 m high. Leaves alternate, about 20 cm long, 

 the petiole and rachis broadly winged; leaflets 5, sessile, elliptic-oblong, 



