282 ON THE CASCARILLA BARK, ETC. 



ovoid seeds, is about half the size of the common pea. The pericarp, of 

 an orange-yellow hue, is rugous, and thickly studded with stellate hairy 

 scales. The fruit ripens in May and June. Similar to the preceding 

 species, the entire plant, when rubbed between the hands, imparts a 

 pleasant aromatic fragrance, which continues for some time. The cortical 

 layers of the bark are of a greyish-brown colour, and of an agreeable 

 bitter flavour, but do not possess the warm aromatic aroma of those of 

 the Croton Eluteria, Benn., and are also much inferior in quality to the 

 cortex of the C. Cascarilla, Benn. According to Swartz, the leaves 

 become more largely developed in the inland districts, than in those ad- 

 j oining the seacoast. Sloane, in his ' History of Jamaica,' first noticed 

 this plant under the description of " Ricino offinis odorifera fruticosa 

 major rosmarird folio ;" and Patrick Browne, in his work on Jamaica, by 

 that of Croton fruticulosm. In the fifth volume of the 'Amoenitates 

 Acadenncse' of Linnjeus, it was termed Clutia Cascarilla. Jacquin, 

 however, conferred upon it the more appropriate title of Croton lineare, 

 having both described and figured it in his work on American plants. 

 By many authorities this species has been confounded with the Croton 

 Cascarilla of Bennett, a product widely dissimilar in every respect, not 

 only as regards the habit, arborescent stem, but in the distinctive cha- 

 racter of the petiolate, lanceolate and sharp-pointed leaves of the latter. 

 Wright, in the ' London Medical Journal,' has incorrectly referred it to 

 the C Cascarilla of Linnseus, which designation Mr. Bennett has clearly 

 pointed out was originally founded on Catesby's representation of the 

 Bahama specimen. Woodville has also committed the same mistake, 

 and erroneously delineated it under the name of Croton Cascarilla, in 

 his ' Medical Botany.' Under the article Croton, in ' Rees's Cyclopaedia,' 

 the diagnoses of these two species has, however, been clearly defined, as 

 would appear by the following statement : — " Lamarck was justified, by 

 well preserved specimens, in the herbarium of Jussieu, that this plant 

 (C lineare) was speci6cally distinct from the preceding (C. Cascarilla), 

 t hough they have been confounded by Linnteus. The author of ' Hortus 

 Kewensis ' (Aiton) appears to have been of the same opinion, by his ex- 

 cluding the synonyms of Catesby and Plunder." Grisebach, the most 

 recent authority on this subject, however, describes this plant as a mere 

 variety of the C. Cascarilla, Linn. 



Under the form of an infusion or decoction, different portions of this 

 Croton appear to have been employed as medicinal agents by European 

 colonists at an early date. Barham considered the dried leaves in powder, 

 to constitute a specific in colic, and to equal in ^virtue, as a stimulant 

 and stomachic, those of our common Bosemary. The young branchlets 

 and leaves, under the form of a decoction, were used as fomentations in 

 painful tumours, neuralgia, and muscular rheumatism, and likewise 

 entered as a principal ingredient into the composition of the warm medi- 

 cated baths in popular usance. During my residence in New Providence, 

 I was informed that an infusion of this plant was deemed a successful 



