Flora Medica

EUPHORBIACE.E:.resemblance, and might almost as well have been intended for C. Eleuteria; in fact I do not see how any argument can be sustained byreference to so wretched a figure. Admitting however that it wasintended for the plant it is universally quoted for, still I cannot lookupon it as evidence of much value, for Catesby was not an observerupon whose testimony implicit reliance could be placed, in Botany atleast. This Croton Cascarilla is undoubtedly the wild Rosemary bushof Jamaica, and is common in other West India islands, as St. Domingo;yet Dr. Wright, a good authority, distinctly asserts that it has none ofthe sensible qualities of Cascarilla. Then Sloane, an excellent observer,says nothing about its bark being of any use ; and again the elder Jacquin,who described it under the name of C. lineare, and who was a closeenquirer into the uses of plants, is equally silent ; he says indeed" tota planta aromatica et odorifera, " but this would be true of alarge part of the genus Croton. The evidence therefore that Cascarillabark is furnished by C. Cascarilla Linn, is reduced to the singletestimony of Catesby. Opposed to this we have the comparativelyrecent and equally direct evidence of Woodville, who has figured aplant from specimens sent from the Bahamas as those of the treesupplying Cascarilla, and this plant he rightly determined to be C. Eleuteria,thus confirming the account of Dr. Wright that the C. Eleuteriaof Jamaica also yielded Cascarilla. For these reasons, and foranother mentioned under C. Pseudo-China, I am obliged to dissentfrom the very high authority of Mr. Pereira, and to give my opinion infavour of those who assign the bark to the next species. While howeverit seems certain that at all events the College of Physicians haveerred in taking C. Pseudo-China for the officinal bark of this country,is not M. Guibourt right in suggesting that several different speciesitmay? I observe that in the bills of produce entry quoted by Mr.Pereira, two imports came from Lima ;now so far as we know none ofthe species here named have been found in Peru.361. C. Eleuteria Swartz.fi. ind. occ. ii. 1183. Woodv. suppl.t. 211. copied in S. and C. t. 150. (Sloane ii. t. 174. f. 2.)Thickets in Jamaica and other West India Islands.A small tree. Branches and twigs angular, rather compressed,striated, downy, ferruginous. Leaves stalked, alternate, ovate, with ashort but obtuse point, quite entire, slightly nerved, green on theupper surface, with a few scattered leprous dots, beneath silvery anddensely downy,'about 2 inches long ; petioles scarce inch long, scurfy.Racemes axillary and terminal, branched or compound ; the branchesshort, divaricating, covered with numerous, closely parted, subsessile,monoecious flowers. Males uppermost and smallest ; females lowest,few, and on short stalks. Filaments 10-12. Capsule roundish, minutelywaited, scurfy, not much bigger than a pea, with 3 furrows,3 cells and 6 valves. I have already stated whyI consider it certainthat this species is the true origin of Cascarilla Bark, as has been affirmedby Drs. Wright and Woodville.362. C. Pseudo-china Schlecht. in Linn. v. 84. C. CascarillaDan in Edinb. new phil Journal xvi. 368. Near Plandel Rio, and Actopan, in the hot country of Mexico.Young shoots covered with a close brown scurf. Leaves large (4 in.X 3.) cordate-ovate, obtusely acuminate, 3-5-nerved, nearly or quite180