32 
Red  Bark. 
j  Au;..Tour.  Piiai  ui. 
(       Jan.,  18i?i'. 
Oil  my  niiiid  very  strongly  the  in(|uiry,  cai  bono,  as  to  any  information  I 
am  giving  now  and  might  be  able  to  render  hereafter. 
I  refiect,  however,  that  amongst  the  private  cultivators  there  are  some 
who  gladly  avail  themselves  of  the  best  scientific  information  they  can 
obtain,  and  who  will  tind  in  the  end  that  they  have  done  well  to  attend  to 
the  careful  discrimination  of  the  species,  and  in  giving  their  attention  to 
the  cultivation  only  of  those  most  adapted  to  their  purpose. 
From  the  observations  of  Mr.  Spruce,  I  do  not  suppose  that  it  is  easy  for  - 
an  unpractised  eye  to  discriminate  between  these  species  when  not  in 
flower ;  but  Mr.  Cross  writes  to  me  that  he  alone  saw  the  tree  in  its  native 
habitaf,  iiud  collected  the  plants  at  the  foot  of  a  precipice  when  in  com- 
pany with  the  son  of  a  cascarillero.  It  is,  at  all  events,  rather  late  now  to  ' 
attempt  any  separation.  The  seed  of  the  different  species  has  been  put  by 
the  collectors  into  the  same  bags,  so  that  all  is  uncertainty.  The  Jamaica 
sort  seems  to  me  to  reiDresent  very  perfectly  the  sul)pubescent  type  of  the 
true  C.  sucelriibra,  according  to  the  specimen  described  by  Klotzsch.  It 
is,  moreover,  richer  in  alkaloid  than  the  average  Red  Bark  of  the  East 
Indies,  which,  for  the  most  part  (but  not  without  exception  of  better  qual- 
ities), must  belong  to  the  glabrous  type. 
I  have,  now  growing,  a  plant  of  a  kindred  sort,  the  car.  pubescens  of 
Mclvor,  and  am  not  disinclined  to  think  that  it  may  be,  after  all,  one  of 
the  cognate  species  as  mentioned  above,  instead  of  a  hybrid.  If  I  can  suc- 
ceed in  getting  it  to  flower  I  shall  perhaps  be  able  to  solve  the  question. 
Prof.  Trinien,  Director  of  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Ceylon,  says  in 
Keport  for  1880  : 
"I  have  also  received  from  the  Government  Plantation  at  Nediwuttum, 
Nelgiris,  a  Wardian  case  with  some  young  plants  of  the  kind  called^  C. 
officinalis,  var.  pubescens  by  Mr.  Howard,  but  considered  a  hybrid  by  the 
late  Mr.  Mclvor.  Owing  to  the  remarkably  careless  packing  these  were 
nearly  all  dead  on  arrival,  but  a  few  have  survived  and  are  doing  well. 
They  possess  much  the  appearance  of  C.  succirubra  at  present." 
I  am  informed  by  a  private  cultivator  in  Ceylon  that  it  forms  a  hand- 
some tree,  differing  in  its  mode  of  growth  from  C.  succirubra.  (See 
Appendix.) 
Another  planter  tells  me  he  has  of  this  sort,  which  he  identities  with  the 
tree  in  my  possession,  not  less  than  300,00*)  plants  in  various  stages,  froni 
which  he  expects  great  results. 
I  must  now  draw  to  a  conclusion  this,  I  fear,  rather  prolonged  paper  by 
suggesting  as  a  subject  for  discussion.  What  is  the  difference  in  therapeutic 
efficacy  between  pharmaceutical  preparations  of  C.  succirubra  aud  C.  offici- 
nalis ? 
It  is  probable  that  in  future  these  will  almost  exclusively  be  made  from 
the  barks  grown  in  India,  and  at  present  the  former  seems  to  be  the  most 
reconmiended. 
I  cannot  believe  that  the  medicinal  effect  will  be  the  same  in  both  cases. 
I  have  before  stated  that  the  astringent  principle  shows  an  entire  diverg- 
1  I  simply  suggested  it  being  called  "  car.  jpn^'escens,'''  looking  imon  it  as  a  hyhrid.  It  is  quite  unlike 
a.  "JficiiKdis.    It  would  be  better  to  call  it  (simply)  "  Howard's  sort." 
