THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
FEBRUARY,  1878. 
THE  USEFUL  SPECIES  OF  VIBURNUM. 
By  John  M.  Maisck. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  January  15,  1878. 
The  genus  Viburnum,  which  belongs  to  the  natural  order  Caprifo- 
liaceae,  tribe  Sambuceae,  attracted  my  attention  more  closely  when,  in 
July  last,  a  correspondent  in  Georgia  sent  me  some  branches  of  a 
woody  plant,  stating  that  the  specimens  came  from  near  Orange 
Springs,  Florida,  where  it  was  regarded  as  possessing  valuable  medi- 
cinal properties  as  a  substitute  for  quinia  ;  the  shrub  was  said  to  bear 
a  small  black  berry,  and  to  be  called  there  black  haw,  but  it  was  men- 
tioned that  it  differed  from  what  is  known  by  the  same  name  in  other 
parts  of  the  country.  Although  the  specimen  was  not  accompanied 
by  flowers  or  fruit,  its  characters  were  such  as  to  lead  to  the  supposi- 
tion that  it  might  belong  to  the  genus  Viburnum,  and  this  was  verified 
by  comparing  it  with  the  plants  in  the  College  herbarium,  with  one  of 
which  it  entirely  agrees. 
Viburnum  obovatum,  Walt. — This  species  is  mentioned  in  Gray's 
"Manual"  and  in  Chapman's  "  Flora  of  the  Southern  United  States," 
the  latter  of  which  describes  it  as  a  shrub  or  small  tree,  while  the  for- 
mer states  it  to  be  a  shrub  2  to  8  feet  high.  It  occurs  on  river  banks 
from  Virginia  to  Florida  and  westward.  The  branches  are  opposite 
and  covered  with  a  thin  brown  or  reddish-grey  bark,  which  adheres 
firmly  to  the  white  wood  ;  in  the  youngest  branches  the  bark  is  more 
green,  but  soon  becomes  covered  with  minute  brownish,  corky  warts, 
which,  on  becoming  confluent,  give  the  older  bark  a  somewhat  irreg- 
ular striate  appearance.  A  distinct  ridge  runs  from  the  base  of  each 
petiole  downward  to  the  next  internode,  and  may  be  observed,  also,  on 
somewhat  older  branches,  but  gradually  becomes  indistinct  through  the 
development  of  the  surrounding  corky  tissue.    The  leaves  are  small, 
4 
