brucea

Updated: May 27, 2025

We were fortunate enough to make it first known as a new genus distinct from the cinchona, and belonging to the family of meliaceae, or of zanthoxylus. This salutary drug of South America was formerly attributed to the Brucea ferruginea which grows in Abyssinia, to the Magnolia glauca, and to the Magnolia plumieri.

Alexander von Humboldt - Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3

This false Angostura, or Angostura pseudo-ferruginea, comes, it is said, from the Brucea antidysenterica; it acts powerfully on the nerves, produces violent attacks of tetanus, and contains, according to the experiments of Pelletier and Caventon, a peculiar alkaline substance* analogous to morphine and strychnine.

Alexander von Humboldt - Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3