QUASSIA AMARA.

Gruinalis.

BITTER QUASSIA.

Class X. DECANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA.

Gen. Char. Calyx, five-leaved. Petals, five. Nectary, five-leaved. Pericarp, five, distant, each having one seed.

Spe. Char. Flowers, bisexual. Leaves, unequally pinnate. Leaflets, opposite, sessile. Petiole, jointed, winged. Flowers, in race

mes.

The Bitter Quassia is a small tree or shrub, rising several feet in height, and sends off many strong branches; the wood is white and light; the bark is thin, and of a grey color; the leaves are placed alternately upon the branches, and consist of two pair of opposite pinnæ, with an odd one at the end; all the leaflets are of an elliptical shape, entire, veined, smooth, pointed, sessile, on the upper pagina, of a deep green color, on the under, paler; the common foot-stalks are articulated and winged, or edged on each side with a leafy membrane, which gradually expands near the base of the pinnæ; the flowers are all hermaphrodite, of a bright red color, and terminate the branches in long spikes; the bracteæ, or floral, are lance-shaped, or linear, colored, and placed alternately upon the peduncles; the calyx is small, persistent, and five-toothed; the corolla consists of five lance-shaped equal petals, at the base of which is placed the nectary, or five roundish colored scales; the filaments are ten, slender, somewhat longer than the corolla, and crowned with simple anthers, placed transversely; the receptacle is fleshy and orbicular; the germen is ovate, divided into five parts.