THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
APRIL,  1885. 
PINCKNEYA  PUBENS,  Michaux. 
(Georgia  Bark.) 
Natural  order ^  Rubiaeece  ;  sub-order^  Cinehoneoe. 
By  Edgar  Herman  Naudain  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
Michaux  discovered  tins  plant  in  1791,  along  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Mary's  River,  Florida,  and  described  it  as  follows:  It  grows  in  bogs 
along  the  banks  of  streams  from  Florida  to  South  Carolina,  near  the 
coast,  sometimes  attains  a  height  of  twenty  feet,  though  as  it  throws 
up  many  stems  from  the  same  root,  it  retains  a  shrub-like  appearance. 
It  has  the  general  botanical  characteristics  of  the  Rubiacese,  the  leaves 
are  large,  oval,  and  acute;  downy  on  the  under  surface  as  are  the 
flower-clusters  which  are  borne  at  the  end  of  the  branches.  These 
consist  of  several  five-flowered  fascicles  of  purplish  spotted  flowers. 
C-alyx  short,  three-lobed,  one  of  the  lobes  being  expanded  into  a  large 
ovate  rose-colored  leaf,  which  is  more  showy  than  the  flower  itself. 
The  plant  is  closely  related  to  the  cinchonse,  and  is  one  of  the  many 
that  have  been  proposed  as  a  substitute  for  Peruvian  bark.  From  re- 
ports of  physicians  living  in  States  where  it  grows,  it  appears  to  have 
decided  anti-periodic  properties,  though  slower  in  its  action  than  cin- 
chona bark.  The  genus  was  named  in  honor  of  Gen.  Charles  Pinck- 
ney,  of  South  Carolina. 
Considerable  difliculty  was  experienced  in  securing  a  sample  of  the 
bark,  but  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  G.  J.  Luhn,  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  a  small  quantity  was  obtained,  together  with  several 
leaves  and  a  cluster  of  fruit.  The  bark  was  in  quills  about  two 
inches  in  length,  from  ^-^  to  ^  inch  in  thickness ;  externally  of  an  ash 
gray  color,  and  somewhat  warty ;  internally  brownish  white,  of  a  dis- 
tinctly bitter  taste,  and  breaking  with  a  short  corky  fracture. 
A  portion  of  the  bark  was  exhausted  by  repeated  digestion,  with 
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