ON THE CASCARILLA BARK, ETC. 275 



II. The Jamaica, or Caribbean Cascarilla. 

 (Croton Sloanei, Benn.) 



Mali folio arbor, artemiesse odore et flore, Shane, Jamaica, vol. ii. 

 p. 30, t. 11 A, Jig. 2. 



Clutia Eluteria, Linn. Amoznit. Academ. vol. v. p. 411. 



Croton 1'ruticosum ; foliis subrotundo-ovatis, subtus subincanis alter- 

 nis, spicillis alaribus ? Browne, Hist. Jamaica, p. 348. 



Croton Eluteria, Swartz,Flor. Ind. Oc. p. 1183. 



Croton Elutheria, Wright, Lond. Med. Jour., vol. viii. p. 3. 



Cluytia Eluteria, Woodville, Med. Botany, 1 ed. t. 211, f. I. p. 2. 



Croton Eluteria, Sw. Nees v.Esenbeck, Plantos Medicinales, Band 1. 



Croton Eluteria, Sw. Hayne, Getreue Darstellung and Beschreibung 

 der in der Arzneykunde, etc., vol. xiv. t I. p. 1. 



Croton Eluteria, Sw. Guibourt, Histoire Nat. des Drogues, ed. 4. vol. 

 ii. p. 340. 



Croton Eluteria, Sw. Pereira, El. Mat. Medica, ed. 4, vol. ii. part 1, 

 p. 412. 



Croton Eluteria, Wood 8p Baclie, Dispensatory of United States, ed. 

 11,/). 198. 



Croton Sloanei, Benn. Journ. Proceed. Linn. Soc. vol. iv. p. 30. 



This plant appears to be indigenous to Jamaica, and has not hitherto 

 been discovered in any of the Bahama islands. It was introduced into 

 notice by Dr. Wright, who not only confounded it with the Clutia Elu- 

 teria of Linneeus (C. Eluteria, Benn.), but also stated that it constituted 

 the source from whence the Cascarilla bark of the shops was obtained. 

 His remarks are as follow : " This tree is common near the sea-shore, 

 and rises to about twenty feet. The leaves are from two to three inches 

 long and of a proportional breadth. On the upper side they are waved 

 and of a rusty colour, on the under, ribbed and of a fine glossy or silvery 

 appearance. From the axillse they have numerous small spikes, with a 

 great quantity of white, small, and fragrant flowers. The capsule is 

 tricoccous like other Crotons. The bark is the same as the Cascarilla 

 and Elutheria of the shops." Pereira, however, proved the fallacy of 

 several of these statements ; for on an examination of the customs' 

 entries, he ascertained these imports were brought from the Bahamas, 

 and that the two supposed distinct barks retailed in the shops were in 

 fact identical, and procured from the same plant. He also observed that 

 two circumstances threw great doubt over the validity of Dr. Wright's 

 conclusions — viz., that it was very unlikely that Cascarilla and Eluteria 

 barks should be vended as distinct substances, if they were identical, 

 and that it was possible they might be, or were nearly allied, but their 

 identity was impossible ; moreover, if Cascarilla was the produce of 

 C. Eluteria, how was it that none of the bark was imported from 

 Jamaica, where, as Dr. Wright stated, the tree was very common 1 

 Nevertheless both this and the Bahama species (C. Eluteria, Benn.) were 



