SIMARUBE.E. 
197 
nous, alternating with the sepals, oblong, obtuse, spreading, 
minutely puberulous externally, and 'gland uloso-punctulated. 
Stamens 5, alternating with the petals, inserted below tbe disk. 
Pistil in the centre of the disk: ovary minute : style erect: 
stigma obtuse. Disk annular, glanduloso-papillose. Carpels 
o, united to form a turbinate capsule, size of that of Acroma 
Augusta, and resembling it in form, truncated and pentangular 
at the apex, muricated externally, bursting with a spring : en- 
docarp distinct from the sarcocarp, 2-valved with the valves 
connected below the apex by a membranaceous band to which 
the seed is attached ; seeds solitary, ovate, acuminate, com- 
pressed, of a brown colour : embryo at the apex of the seed. 
As the Angustura bark is obtained from G. cusparia, it is 
possible that this species also may be possessed of medicinal 
properties. 
ORDER LI I. SIMARUBE.E. 
Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual. Calyx 4-5- 
partite, persistent. Petals 4-5, hypogynous. Sta- 
mens equal or double the number of the petals, in- 
serted on the disk, free. Ovary with as many lobes 
as there are petals: style 1, filiform, enlarged at the 
base. Carpels of the same number as the petals, in- 
serted by a joint on the axis, capsular, bivalved, inter- 
nally dehiscent, 1-seeded. Seeds exalbuminous, pen- 
dulous : cotyledons thick : radicle short, superior. 
Trees or shrubs, natives of the intertropical regions of the 
New World: bark very bitter ; juice milky : leaves alternate, 
pinnated, exstipulated. A new bitter principle, called Quas- 
si?ie, has been detected by Dr Thomson, in several members 
of this Family, particularly Quassia ajiara, and Simaruba 
officinalis. It is of a brownish yellow colour, slightly trans- 
parent, and very soluble in water or alcohol. Dr A. Palmieri 
is stated, in the Journal de Pharmacie, xviii. 652. to have em- 
ployed it with success for intermittent fever, in doses double 
those usually given of Quinine. Quassia amara, a shrub, native 
of Surinam, with beautiful crimson flowers, has been introduced, 
and is now common in our gardens. 
