THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
JANUARY, 1849. 
ART. I.— ON QUASSIA EXCELSA. 
By J. Carson, M. D. 
(With a Plate.) 
The lofty Bitter-wood tree. 
Quassia excelsa. Picr^na excelsa — Lindley. Pi- 
crania amara — Wright. Simaruba excelsa — De Can- 
dolle. Quassia polygama — Lindsay. 
Sex. Syst. — Decandria monogynia. 
This plant has been made the basis of a new genus by 
Lindley, and of one by De Candolle, who has included an- 
other plant with it. Where generic characters which would 
place it with Quassia fail, it happens apparently, by abortion, 
and we have preferred to retain the old name of Swartz. 
The sexual arrangement is difficult. From the unisexual 
ilowers of both kinds produced by abortion, intermingled 
with the hermaphrodite, it should be located in Polygamia, 
Monoecia. The use of this class, however, has been aban- 
doned by most botanists, and we have specified in the ap- 
propriate place the class and order of the genus Quassia. 
Gen. Char., as given by Lindley, is the following : Flow- 
ers polygamous. Sepals five, minute. Petals five, longer 
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