768 



Salutary drug of South America was formerly 

 attributed to the brucea ferruginea, which grows 

 in Abyssinia, to the magnolia glauca, and to 

 the magnolia plumieri. During the dangerous 

 disease of Mr. Bonpland, Mr. Ravago sent a 

 confidential person to the missions of Carony, to 

 procure for us, by favor of the Capuchins of 

 Upata, branches of the tree in flower, which we 

 wished to be able to describe. We obtained 

 very fine specimens, the leaves of which, eight- 

 een inches long, diffused an agreeable aromatic 

 smell. We soon perceived, that the cuspare 

 (the indigenous name of the cascarilla or corteza 

 del Angostura) forms a new genus ; and on 

 sending the plants of the Oroonoko to Mr. Will- 

 denow, I begged he would dedicate this plant to 

 Mr. Bonpland. The tree, known at present by 

 the name of bonplandia trifoliata, grows at the 

 distance of five or six leagues from the eastern 

 bank of the Carony, at the foot of the hills that 

 surround the missions Capapui, Upata, and 

 Alta Gracia. The Caribbee Indians make use 



Hortus Berol.; vol. i, p. 71.) The abbe" Cavanilles, in dedi- 

 cating this genus of the family of the polemoniaceous plants to 

 Mr. Bonpland, had no knowledge of the memoir on the 

 cortex dngosturce, which Mr. Willdenow had presented to the 

 Academy of Berlin- The term angostura as a generic name 

 js altogether inadmissible. Would a plant be named roma, 

 which, without growing in the vicinity of that city, had be- 

 come an article of trade among the Romans ? 



