May 10, 1873.] 
881 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
CINCHONAS.* 
BY JOHN ELIOT HOWARD, ESQ. 
At a recent meeting of tlie Linnean Society the 
author referred to a former treatise in the Report of 
the Botanical Congress in London in 1866, in which 
he expressed the opinion “ that every well-defined 
region of the Andes has its own prevalent and cha¬ 
racteristic cinchonae, generally found in varied aspects, 
and incapable of being reduced to any one typical 
form.” Mr. Howard thinks that the number ol so- 
called species is already far too great, and that if 
every well-defined kind be held to be a species, the 
number of these might soon amount to hundreds at 
the very least. Moreover, it appears that these 
species produce great variety of forms from the same 
seed. This wa3 illustrated by a number of specimens 
of cinchonas from Mr. Howard’s stores. Amongst 
these two totally diverse forms were shown, which 
had originated from the seed obtained from the cap¬ 
sules of one botanical specimen from the East Indies. 
One of these was the C. Bonplandiana, var. angusti- \ 
folia , the celebrated kind which yields about 10 per 
cent, of sulphate of quinine; the other was a different 
sort of C. Bonplandiana. This could not well be the 
result of cross-fertilization, but rather of accidental 
variety. Mr. Howard showed another specimen (sent 
from the East Indies) of a supposed hybrid between 
the C. succiruhra and the C. officinalis. 
Arranged in the room were more than a dozen 
luxuriant plants grown from one small parcel of seed 
of C. calisaya sent from Mr. Broughton, in April of 
last year, exhibiting an average growth of perhaps 
two feet, and in some cases a great divergence from 
the usual form of the leaf of this species, which, how¬ 
ever, from Dr. Weddell’s account,f seems also to be 
the case in different forms of the C. calisaya in 
Bolivia. Is this the result of cross fertilization ? or 
of an innate tendency to vary within certain limits ? 
Mr. Howard thinks that the present is a favourable 
opportunity to ascertain these points. He would 
admit, as different species, only those forms in which 
there is a manifest incompatibility in the organs of 
reproduction, shown by sterility, or else by the pro¬ 
duction of true hybrids marked as such by instability, 
and a tendency to revert to one or other of the parents. 
Where there exists perfect facility of union, and 
fruitfulness in the progeny, he would regard the 
varying forms as simply different races : and con¬ 
sequently the distinctions drawn from the shape of 
the leaf ( cordifolia , ovata , and so forth) are unsatis¬ 
factory and misleading when made the basis of 
species. Mr. Howard reviewed two works recently 
published in France, one by Dr. Weddell called 
4 Notes sur les Quinquinas,’ the other ‘Nouvelles 
Etudes sur les Quinquinas,’ by J. Triana, both of 
which he considered had advanced greatly our know¬ 
ledge of the genus, and remarked, in the first of 
these, points of gradual approximation to his own 
views. 
In the course of his observations on the red bark, 
Mr. H. drew attention to some information which 
had reached him in regard to the management of this 
tree in India, and the different modes of cultivation 
* Abstract of a paper read at a meeting of the Linnean 
Society, May 1, 1873. 
f “ Lf we compare the leaves, the typical form of which 
is a very obtuse obovate-oblong, we shall find that some 
are oblong-lanceolate and pointed, or even oval or elliptical, 
and of varying consistency and colours.” 
Third Series. No. 150. 
by mossing, etc., none of which seemed able to change 
the habit of this species to produce more cinchoni- 
dine than quinine. A discussion arose in reference 
to the best method of propagation and cultivation of 
these plants in India, in which some gentlemen in¬ 
terested in the plantations took part, and the Presi¬ 
dent made some concluding remarks, in which he 
alluded to the like variability of form exhibited in 
some other trees. 
NOTES ON INDIAN SIMARUBE2E. 
BY ALFRED W. BENNETT, M.A., B.SC., F.L.S. 
Lecturer on Botany, St. Thomas's Hospital. 
{Concludedfrom p. 843.) 
3. Picrasma, Blume. 
Trees or shrubs with very bitter properties. Leaves 
unequally pinnate. Flowers small, unisexual or 
polygamous, in axillary panicles. Calyx very small, 
4-5-toothed. Petals 4-5, valvate, very often per¬ 
sistent and enlarged after flowering. Disc thick. 
Stamens 4-5, not scaly, hairy. Ovary 3-5-partite, 
free; styles free at the base and apex, but united in 
the middle; stigmas simple; ovules solitary, erect. 
Fruit of l-3‘ fleshy coriaceous drupes. Seed erect, 
albuminous. 
About six species, distributed over tropical con¬ 
tinental Asia, the Eastern Archipelago, Japan, the 
West Indies, and Brazil. 
1. P. quassioides, Benn. Plant. Jav. Rar. 198 ; 
Planch, in Hook. Jl. Bot. v. 573 ? Nima quassioides , 
Ham. Simaba quassioides, Ham. in Don FI. Nepal, 
245. A large scrambling shrub, with stout, often 
spotted, branches, and very bitter bark. Leaves a 
foot or more long, unequally pinnate ; leaflets 9-15, 
obovate, acuminate, serrate, the lowest pair much 
smaller and stipulaeform. Flowers small, green, 
polygamous, in axillary branching, pubescent panicles. 
Calyx-segments 5, small, imbricate. Petals 5, ovate 
or obovate, valvate, persistent, and much larger in 
fruit. Stamens 5 ; filaments strap-shaped, as long 
as the petals, villose. Fruit of 3-5 rather membranous 
drupes, about the size of a pea, each containing one 
erect seed. 
North-Western India; Eastern Himalayas; Nepal; 
South China. The bark is very bitter, and is used 
in native medicines as a tonic and stomachic. It is 
imported into Bengal from the hills, and is sold under 
the name of “ Bliarangi.” The root is, according to 
Royle, as bitter as the Quassia of the West Indies. 
2. P.javanica, Blume Bijdr. FI. Nederl. Ind. 247 ; 
Benn., Plant. Jav. Rar. 197, t. 41 ; Planch, in Hook. 
Jl. Bot. v. 573. A moderate-sized tree. Leaves of 
3-7 leaflets, much thicker and often larger than in 
P. quassioides ; leaflets ovate or obovate, quite entire, 
I with a thickened margin, ending abruptly in a blunt 
point. Flowers in axillary often rather dense panicles. 
Calyx-segments, petals, and stamens 4 ; the petals 
persistent, much enlarged, and greatly thickened in 
fruit. Drupes strongly reticulated. 
Eastern Bengal ; Khasia Mountains ; Malaya ; 
Java. The form from the Khasia Mountains has 
smaller leaves, and approaches more nearly to 
P. quassioides in habit. Bennett’s P. nepalensis (PL 
Jav. Rar. 201), “Brucea arbor,” Wall. Cat. 7499, from 
Nepal, is undistinguishable. This tree is everywhere 
known to the Javanese as an intense bitter ; in the 
