22 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
former editions and to Browne and Sloane, and in his appen- 
dix also to Terebinthus Americana polyphylla, Commelin. 
Hort. I. 149, and to the Gum elemi tree of Catesby. On 
the visit paid by Jacquin to the West Indies some years af- 
terwards, he examined the roots of this Bursera, and found 
'that they furnished a bark differing widely from the Simaruba. 
In 1773, Dr. Wright, who paid much attention to the 
plants of Jamaica during his residence there, found on exami- 
nation that it was derived from a species of Quassia, and under 
this name sent specimens of the fructification preserved in 
spirits, to Dr. Hope, Professor of Botany at Edinburgh, ac- 
companied with the bark of the roots. The following year 
he also transmitted analogous specimens to Dr. Fothergill 
of London, by whom they were communicated to Linnjeus, 
who acknowledged the correctness of Dr. Wright's observa- 
tions by adopting this name in the Supplement to his Syst. 
Veg. ' 
Dr. Wright, from whose paper in the Transactions Royal 
Soc. Edinburgh, ii. 73, much of the above is derived, states 
that in Jamaica, this tree is universally dioecious, though most 
modern botanists are of opinion that it is polygamous. The 
synonymy of this species appears to be as follows. Quassia 
simaruba, Lin. Supplem. 234. Willd. Spec. ii. 568. Poiret. 
Diet. Method, vi. 25. Lamarck. Illustrat. t. 343, f. 2. Wood- 
ville. Med. Bot. ii. p. 211, t. 76. Simarouba. Aublet, 
Act. Paris. 1776. Simarouba amara. Aubl. Guian. ii. 
859, t. 331, 332? S. officinalis. Decandolle. Syst. S. 
Guyanensis. Richard. Elem. Hist. Nat. ii. 786, &c. 
R. E. G. 
