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P L A T E CCCCLXXXL
CINCHONA CARIBtEA.
JVesl India Bark-tree.
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C I. A s s V. o Px D E R IL
PENTAND RIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointai.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX, Periantliium moiiophylhim, superum,
campanulauim, 5-dentatura, persistens.
COROLLA monopetala, intundibiüilbrmis, 5-
partita.
STAMINA. Filamenta 5, minima: antherae oblongae,
intra faucem corollae.
PISTILLUM. Germen subrotundum, inferurn.
Stylus longitudine corollss, Stigma crassitisculiim,
oblongnm, simplex.
PERICARPIUM. Capsula oblonga, bipartita, ca-
Ivce coronata, in duas partes dehiscens :
paries interiores dehiscentes, dissepimento
parallelo.
SEMINA plura, oblonga, compressa, marginata.
SPECIFIC
CINCHONA foliis »alternalis, ovatis, acuminatis,
integerrimis, glabris, venosis ; inter folia
stipula parva, cauli adpressa : floribus axillaribus,
simplicibus, aibicantibus, glabris,
odoratissimis. Kami alternati, oppositi.
Habitat in Caribseis : succedaneum cortici Pera-
\ iano.
EMPALEMENT. Cup one-leafed, above, bellshaped,
five-toothed, and remaining.
BLOSSOM one petal, funnel-shaped, and fiveparted.
CHIVES. Threads 5, small : tips oblong, within
the mouth of the blossom.
POINTAL. Seed-bud nearly round, beneath. Shaft
t h e length of the corolla. Summit thickish,
oblong, and simple.
SEED-VESSEL. Capsule oblong, in tvvo parts,,
crawned by the cup, the two parts cleaving
together ; the inner parts gaping, with equal
dissepiment.
SEEDS many,
ginated.
oblong, compressed, and emar-
C H A R A C T E R .
CINCHONA with alternate leaves, sharp-pointed,
entire, smooth, and veined : between the
leaves there is a small stipula pressed to the
s t e m : flowers axillary, and single, of a
whitish colour, smooth, and very sweetscented
: branches alternate, and opposite.
Native of the Cariba;an Islands: as bark, substituted
for the Peruvian species.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower spread open.
2. The empalement , seed-bud, and pointal.
3. A capsule.
THIS specimen of the Cinchona Caribsa, or Jesuits Bark of Jamaica, was communicated to the
author by A, B. l.ambert, esq. who raiseil it from seed, and with whom it has flowered for the first
time in this kingdom. Opinions are various as to tlie time and means by which the medicinal virtues
of the Peruvian^bark were first discovered; but as the discovery of most very useful things is generally
t h e effect of chance, Geoffrey's account of it (as given in the Medical Botany of Dr. Woodville) is
certainly the most natural, who states it to have been occasioned by some Cinchona trees having been
blown into a pool of water, and lying there till the water became so bitter that nobody would drink it,
till one of the neighbouring inhabitants being seized with a violent paroxysm of fever, and having no
other water, drank of 'this, and was perfectly cured. He prevailed on some of his friends, who were
ill, to make use of the same remedy, and it proved successful. But the use of it was little known till
the year J638, when a signal cure being performed on the Countess del Cinchón, the lady of a Spanish
viceroy at Lima, (from whom it derives ils generic title) it came into general use, and a large
quantity of the bark was by that lady distributed amongst the Jesuits, in whose hands it increased in
reputation, and was by them first introduced into Europe. The Caribaean species is said to be an excellent
substitute for the Peruvian bark, and therefore a most valuable acquisition to us , as Mr . Lambert,
in his description of the genus Cinchona, informs us that well grounded fears are entertained
of the Peruvian species being some day lost to us, as, from the extreme decortication they have experienced,
tliey are nearly extinct in those parts where they were formerly most abundant.
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