368 NOTES ON THE ECONOMIC APPLICATION OP BARKS. 



root is considered the most valuable, and commands a much higher 

 price than that from the stem. In Germany the bark is collected in 

 the spring from the stem and larger branches, and folded and dried in 

 bundles for medicinal purposes. In appearance the root bark is usually 

 somewhat darker than that from the stem ; but both are of a fibrous tough 

 and limp nature, of a brownish corrugated exterior, with a yellowish or 

 whitish cottony ajjpearance on the inner surface. It is found in com- 

 merce in strips several inches long. The taste of the bark when chewed 

 is sweetish, changing to an acrid burning flavour. 



Croton Ekuteria, Sw. — From this, and probably other allied species, 

 the bark known as Cascarilla is procured, but much confusion exists 

 as to the identity of the plants producing it. The name of Cascarilla 

 has been given by the Spaniards to several varieties of Cinchona barks, 

 but when found in our Pharmacopoeia is always intended for the bark 

 furnished by the genus Croton. The first notice of Cascarilla appears 

 to have been made in the year 1692 by a Spaniard named Vincent 

 Garcias Salat, soon after its introduction ; it was thought to be produced 

 either by a species of cinchona, or frankincense (Boswellia), but Catesby, 

 in 1754, in his Nat. Hist, of Carolina, described the plant, stating it grew 

 abundantly in the Bahamas. From this and other sources botanists 

 were enabled to determine the genus as that of Croton and the species 

 probably Ekuteria, but it is very probable that the Cascarilla bark, 

 as found in commerce, is the produce of other species as well as this. 

 The Croton Ekuteria is a small tree or shrub growing in some parts only 

 4 to 6 feet high, but to a height of 20 feet in Jamaica, where it is found, 

 as well as in the other West Indian Islands, growing abundantly in 

 thickets. The chemical properties of the bark are stimulant, tonic and 

 febrifugal. It has been employed as a substitute for cinchona, but is 

 chiefly used in dyspepsia and general debility. In Germany it is largely 

 employed for various complaints, as low and intermittent fevers, 

 dysentery, diarrhoea, &c. The bark as met with in commerce is in small 

 quills, a few inches long, of a dull brown exterior, but nearly covered 

 with a whitish cuticle, the inside being of a dull cinnamon brown. It 

 has a brittle resinous fracture. 



Croton pseudo-China, Schiede. — From this species the Copalchi 

 bark of Mexico is said to be obtained. It has been asserted that the 

 Croton Cascarilla of Linnaeus yields both the Copalchi bark of Mexico 

 and also a bark known in Chili and Peru as " Natra." But there ap- 

 pears little doubt that the true Copalchi bark is produced by the former 

 species, that is if we take the small variety of Copalchi as the true 

 bark, for it comes in two distinct forms — viz., in small and slender 

 quills of an ashy colour, and also in quills of five or six times the 

 circumference, with a thickish and somewhat cork-like epidermis. 

 This latter has been referred to Croton Suberosum, H.B.K., but with 

 doubt. The medicinal properties of this bark resemble those of Casca- 

 rilla. In Mexico it is in great esteem as a tonic, and largely used as a 



