C 5°7 ] 
XXVIII. Defer iption and Ufe of the Cabbage-bark ’fret 
of Jamaica. By William Wright, M. D.; commu- 
nicated by Richard Brocklefby, M. D. F. R. S- 
Read May i, ^TT^HE Cabbage-bark tree, or Worm-bark 
I777. i 
tree, grows in moft parts of Jamaica, 
and particularly abounds in the low Savannahs of St. 
Mary and St. George. It rifes to a con fider able height, 
but no great thicknefs, fending off branches towards the 
top of a ftraight, fmooth trunk. The leaves are, when 
young, of a light-green hue; when full-grown, of a 
dark-green colour; and before they drop, of a rufty ap-; 
pearance. 
The flower-fpike is long and beautifully branched. 
The flowers are numerous ; their calyces of a dark pur- 
ple ; their petals of the colour of the pale-rofe ; the nec- 
taria muft contain much honey, as thoufands of bees, 
beetles of various kinds, butter- flies, and humming-birds, 
are continually feeding thereon. 
The pericarpium is a green, hard fruit, of the fixe of 
the fmaller plumb. The fkin is of the thicknefs of a 
crown-piece ; and taftes very auftere. The kernel is 
covered with a brown fkin like that of other nuts ; it is 
Very hard, and taftes aftringent. 
U u u a 
The 
