224 
CALYCIFLORi’E. 
1 . Picramnia Antidesma. Majoe or Macary Bitter. 
Flowers triandrous, racemes longer than the leaf, 
leaflets ovate or elliptico-lanceolate acuminate. 
Berberis fructu fruticoso racemoso, fraxini folio alato, fructu 
nigro dipyreno, Sloane, II. 101. t. 208. f. 2. — Picramnia fruti- 
cosa, Browne , 123. — P. antidesma, Swartz, FI. lnd. Occ. 218. 
HAB. Mountain thickets. 
FL. October, November. 
A shrubby erect tree, about 8 feet in height : branches 
spreading, twiggy, glabrous, ash-coloured. Leaves pinnate, a 
foot and more in length ; leaflets, the outermost the largest, and 
elliptico-lanceolate, the nearest ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, with 
the apex blunt, entire, nervose, venose, glabrous: common pe- 
tiole subtriquetrous, puberulous : partial very short, subterete, 
coloured, puberulous. Racemes 1-2 feet, slender, striated, an- 
gulose, puberulous, pendulous, many-flowered: pedicels filiform, 
fasciculated. $ FI. deciduous. Calycine divisions 3, lanceo- 
late. Petals 3, lanceolate, patent, longer than the calyx. Fila- 
ments 3, subulate, approximating at their base, ei*ect, rather 
longer than the petals, white : anthers didymous, ovate, rufous. 
Pistil O* ? -F7. Of the same size as, and with the calyx and 
corolla of the former. Ovary globular, pubescent, oblong and 
slightly compressed (according to Swartz,) : stigmata 2-3, 
sessile, spreading. Berry oblong, in size rather larger than the 
common horse-bean, of a scarlet colour, 2-celled ; cells 1-2- 
seeded. 
This shrubby tree affords a bitter, less intense than that of the 
Quassia or Simaruba , but much more grateful. The leaves are 
bitter, with a sweetish taste, resembling that of the liquorice, 
and a decoction has been prepared from them. The bark, 
however, is the part which has been principally employed in 
medicine. It has been given with success as an alterative in 
constitutional affections, connected with syphilis and yaws, and 
as a tonic in debility of the digestive organs, and in intermit- 
tent fever. I consider that it has not received that attention 
as a remedy, to which it is entitled. 
V. Rhus. 
Calyx small, 5-partite, persistent. Petals 5. Sta- 
mens 5. Ovary 1, subglobose, 1 -celled : styles short, 
3, or with three sessile stigmata. Drupe generally 
juiceless, 1-cclled, with a bony nut, perhaps by abor- 
tion 1 -seeded, and sometimes 2-3-seeded. Seed ex- 
albuminous, inverted, with the funicule arising from 
