304 
OBSERVATIONS ON SASSY BARK. 
long and from one to one and a half wide, alternate, smooth, en- 
tire, sometimes slightly repand, and varying from three to five or 
six on a side, one being terminal. The bark of the younger 
branches and twigs, which is dark gray, is covered with light 
colored dots, which extend to the receptacles on the raceme. 
The legume (6) is from two to four inches long, and from one to 
two wide, violin shaped, of a dark chestnut color, coriaceous, com- 
pressed, obtuse at both ends, bivalved, containing from two to five 
seeds attached by short funiculi, and dehisces by the dorsal 
suture. The legume contains considerable tannin. The seeds 
have an oblong oval, flattened form, are black except the hilum, 
which is brown, smooth and covered with a dry gummy trans- 
parent substance, analogous to cerasin, which is dissolved by 
boiling water, and forms a colorless solution, from which it is pre- 
cipitated by subacetate of lead, sesqufrchloride of iron and alcohol. 
The seed has a hard, horny episperm, and a tough, horny, light 
grey albumen (d), nearly surrounding the cotyledons, and composed 
of a bassorin-like substance, which swells in boiling water, and be- 
comes translucent like tragacanth. The (c) cotyledons are large, 
compressed, indurated, and yellowish green colored. They have 
a disagreeable taste, contain chlorophylle and fixed oil, in small 
quantity, but no starch, nor has this principle been found in any 
part of the plant.* 
The tree must be large, as the section of a branch three inches 
in diameter exhibited the bark but one-sixteenth of an inch thick, 
grey colored, while the bark used for poisoning is from three to 
five-eighths of an inch thick. The young wood has a greyish 
white color, and is not very dense. 
Sassy bark is taken from the trunk and larger branches. The 
specimens last sent by Dr. McGill are from a younger tree than 
those first received. The former was in pieces from four to ten inches 
long, all more or less curved, and exhibiting the mark of the knife 
at the ends, with some indication of dried sap on the cut surface, 
and about four lines thick. The exterior is slightly fissured lon- 
gitudinally, and has lichenoid matter attached. The older bark 
has the epidermis removed in most of the pieces, and has a dark 
brown ferruginous color. The internal structure of the bark it 
* In the figure there are several defects committed by the artist. The bark 
should be grey colored with light colored dots, the leaflets should have been rather 
larger in proportion to the petiole. The large leaves spoken of in the text are 
attached at the base of the shoots to which the leaves are attached in the figure. 
