200 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



two or three drachms of the bark to a pint of boiling water, the dose of which 

 is from one to two ounces when used as a tonic. 



A. St. Hilaire discovered another species in Brazil, perfectly identical in 

 its properties with the S. amara, and which he has called S. versicolor. 



Picr^ena. — Lindley. 



Flowers polygamous. Sepals 5, very small. Petals 5, longer than the sepals. Sta- 

 mens 5, longer than the petals. Ovaries 3, on a tumid receptacle. Style trifid. Fruit 

 globose, 1 -celled, 2-valved. 



The solitary species on which this genus is founded has, generally been 

 included in Quassia. The differences were first pointed out by Dr. Wright, 

 who separated it, under the name of Picrania ; but it had been previously 

 noticed by Brown, and afterwards by Long. These writers call it Xylopia, 

 but without assigning sufficient characters to establish its generic rank. 



P. excelsa, Lindley. — Leaves pinnate ; leaflets opposite, petiolated. 



Quassia polygama, Lindsay, Trans. Roy. Soc. Fdin., iii. 205 ; Q. ex- 

 celsa, Swartz, Prod. Ind. Occ, ii. 742 ; Stephenson and Churchill, iii. 173 ; 

 P. excelsa, Lindley, Flor. Med. 208 ; Carson, IUustral., t. 21. 



Common Names. — Lofty Quassia, Bitter-wood, Bitter Ash. 



Foreign Names. — Frene amer, Fr. ; Unchte Quassie, Ger. 



Fig- 105. Description.— A tall 



tree, frequently attain, 

 ing a height of 100 

 feet, with a straight, 

 tapering stem, often 

 10 feet in circumfe- 

 rence. The branches 

 are given off near the 

 top, and both they 

 and the trunk covered 

 with a smooth, gray 

 or ash-coloured bark ; 

 that of the roots is of 

 a yellowish colour, not 

 unlike that of the Si- 

 maruba. The wood 

 is of a pale yellow 

 hue, tough, but not 

 very hard, though 

 susceptible of a good 

 polish. The leaves are 

 pinnate, and compos- 

 ed of from 4 to 8 pairs 

 of nearly opposite, el- 

 liptical, pointed, en- 

 tire, smooth leaflets, 

 on short footstalks. 

 The flowers are in co- 

 rymbose clusters, nu- 

 merous, small, of a 

 yellowish-green, some 

 male, and the rest 

 hermaphrodite in the 

 same cluster. The 

 calyx is very small, 

 with five equal, ovate, 

 pointed sepals. The 

 corolla consists of 5 



P. excelsa. 

 1. Male flower. 2. Flower expanded. 3. Fertile flower. 



4. Drupe. 



