596 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



surface, covered with a scaly down beneath ; 2 — 3 glands at base, hidden by the yellow- 

 ish tomentum. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 1424; Willdenow, Sp. PI. iv. 531,; Lindley, Fl. Med. 

 179 ; C. lineare, Jacquin, Amer. 256, t. 162, f. 4. 



This species, which is a native of the West Indies, was generally supposed 

 to yield Cascarilla bark ; but it has been clearly shown by Dr. Lindley that 

 such is not the case ; in this opinion he is supported by Dr. Wright, who 

 states that this species is a native of Jamaica, and that it has none of the sen- 

 sible properties of Cascarilla. It may be stated, in addition, that neither 

 Sloane nor Jacquin notices any bitter aromatic qualities in the present plant. 

 My own observations in the West Indies coincide with these. But although 

 Cascarilla is not the product of this species, it is likely, as Guibourt sug- 

 gests, that it may be obtained from more than one of the others ; it certainly 

 is by the following. 



2. C. eleuteria, Swartz. — A small tree. Branches angular, somewhat compressed, 

 downy, ferruginous, striated. Leaves petiolated, alternate, ovate, with a short, obtuse 

 point, entire, faintly nerved, green above, with a few scattered grayish dots, silvery, and 

 very tomentose beneath; petioles short, scurfy. Racemes axillary and terminal, with 

 numerous subsessile flowers ; sterile above, fertile below. Stamens 10 — 12. 



Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. ii. 1183 ; Stephenson and Churchill, 150; Lindley, 

 Fl. Med. 180 ; Pereira, Mat. Med. ii. 229 ; Royle, Mat. Med. 534. 



A native of many of the West India Islands, and furnishes the Bahama 

 Cascarilla. This bark, according to Pereira, was first mentioned by Stisser 

 in 1686 [De Machin. fumiduct.), it being at that time mixed with tobacco for 

 smoking. Royle states it was made known by Garcias in 1692, since which 

 it has always maintained a place among the legitimate articles of the Materia 

 Medica. As found in the shops, it is either in rolled.fragments of various sizes, 

 having a whitish or whitish-gray epidermis, beneath which it is of a brown 

 colour, the inner surface being of a chocolate tint; or it may be in very thin 

 fragments, not covered by an epidermis, and often with laminse of wood ad- 

 hering to the inner surface, as if the bark had been removed from the plant 

 by means of a sharp instrument. This variety is probably the product of 

 another species ; the first agrees with the bark identified by Dr. Lindley as 

 produced by the C. elentheria ;* may not the second be obtained from C. 

 micans, which is stated by Nees to yield Cascarilla? 



This bark has a peculiar aromatic odour, which is much increased by fric- 

 tion, or by the action of heat, and a warm, spicy, bitter taste. From an ana- 

 lysis by Mr. Duval, it appears to contain Albumen, Tannin, a Bitter, crystal- 

 lizable substance, which he terms Cascarilline, Red colouring matter, Volatile 

 oil, Resin, &c. (Royle, Mat. Med. 534). The Cascarilline is white, odour- 

 less, bitter, sparingly soluble in water, but readily so in alcohol and ether; 

 The bark yields its properties to alcohol, and partially so to water. It is a 

 stimulating tonic, and was at one time much employed as a substitute for 

 Cinchona, but is now mainly restricted to cases where a more stimulating 

 article is required, as in dyspepsia, and chronic diseases of the bowels. It is 

 in some instances a useful addition to the more purely tonic bitters. The 



* Dr. Lindley (Veg. King. 279) says the question is now set at rest, from the receipt 

 of authentic specimens, with the following note from Mr. Lees, Chief Judge in the Ba- 

 hamas : " The plant is scarcely known here by the name of Cascarilla, but is commonly 

 called Sweet-wood Bark, and often Elcuthera Bark, because it is chiefly gathered on the 

 island of Eleuthera. It is the only bark receiving the name of Cascarilla exported from 

 the Bahamas." 



