202 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



its reputation was of short duration, whether from the repugnance of patients 

 to take it on account of its extreme bitterness, or from its having been found 

 inefficient, it is difficult to say ; though it may have arisen from the circum- 

 stance before adverted to, the substitution of an inferior article for the genu- 

 ine, which may really possess the high qualities attributed to it. 



Quassia is seldom given in powder, the general modes of administration 

 being in infusion, tincture, or extract. The first of these preparations has 

 the advantage over most of the other vegetable bitters, that chalybeates can 

 be combined with it without undergoing alteration. 



Quassia. — Linn. 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Sepals 5. Petals 5. Nectaries 5. Stamens 10, bearing 

 transverse anthers. Style slender, not divided at apex. 



This genus, which now consists of but one species, though at one time 

 containing the whole of the Simarubacese, was instituted by Linnseus, and 

 the name given in honour of a negro of Surinam, named Quassi, who is 

 said to have discovered the virtues of the wood in curing the malignant 

 fevers of that climate, and disclosed the secret to Governor Dalbergh, by 

 whom specimens were sent to Sweden. Linnceus the younger, reunited 

 it to Simaruba, and his example has been followed by De Candolle and 

 others. 



Q. amara, Linn. — Leaves pinnate. Leaflets opposite, sessile. Common petiole jointed, 

 winged. Flowers racemose. 



Linn., Amcen. Acad. vi. 421 ; Woodville, ii. 77 ; Stephenson and Church- 

 ill, iii. 172; Bot. Mag. xiii. 497 ; Lindley, Flor. Med. 207 ; Carson, Illus. 

 t. 20. 



Description. — A small tree or shrub, much branched, and covered with an ash-coloured 

 bark. The leaves are alternate, and consist of two pairs of leaflets, and a terminal one; 

 they are elliptic-lanceolate, entire, very smooth, two or three inches in length, and of a 

 deep green colour. The common footstalk is narrow, but winged on each side with a 

 leafy membrane, which expands towards the base of each pair of leaflets, where also it is 

 jointed or articulated. The flowers are all hermaphrodite, of a brilliant scarlet colour, 

 and are collected in long spikes, which are secund and bracteate. The bracts are lanceo- 

 late, reflexed, and of a pink colour. The calyx consists of five small, persistent sepals. 

 The corolla is formed of five lanceolate petals, which are never fully expanded, being 

 twisted in a spiral manner, and opening in an irregular manner. At the base of the 

 corolla is placed the nectary, consisting of five roundish, coloured scales. The stamens 

 are ten, slender, longer than the corolla, and bearing simple anthers, attached by their 

 middle, so as to be transverse. The ovary is ovate, 5-parted, and supports a slender 

 style, longer than the stamens, and terminated by a subulate stigma. The fruit consists 

 of five black drupes, containing a small unilocular nut, and all attached to a fleshy re- 

 ceptacle. 



This shrub is a native of Surinam, and is cultivated in Cayenne, and in 

 several of the West India islands. It is remarkable for the beauty of its 

 flowers, which appear in great profusion during November and December. 

 This furnishes the true Quassia, although the article now known under that 

 name is the product of a wholly different plant, which does not occur in Suri- 

 nam, and is a lofty tree belonging to a distinct genus, having polygamous and 

 pentandrous flowers, whilst in this the reproductive organs are hermaphrodite 

 and decandrous. 



It appears that when first discovered, the root only was used, but afterwards 

 the wood of the trunk ; this is very analogous, in its physical qualities, to 





