Malambo or Matias Bark.
Malambo or Matias Bark.—A bark received from South America by Alex. Ure, under the name of matias bark, was found to have the characters of the malambo bark, which is held in high esteem in Colombia, where it is produced. According to H. Karsten, it is derived from a hitherto undescribed species of Croton, which he names Croton Malambo Karst. (Fam. Euphorbiaceae). (See Florae Colombiae Terrarum que adjacentium Specimina Selecta.) This is a small tree or shrub, growing on the coast of Venezuela and Colombia. (P. J., 1859, 321.) It has an aromatic odor and a bitter, pungent taste, and yields these properties to water and alcohol. Its active ingredients appear to be a volatile oil and a bitter extractive matter. According to Mackay, it has been used successfully in intermittents, convalescence from continued fevers, hemicrania, dyspepsia, and other cases in which tonic remedies are useful, and also as an adjuvant to diuretics. It is probably nothing more than an aromatic tonic. Ure has administered it with good effect as a substitute for Peruvian bark. (P. J., iii, 169.)
Under the name of Winter's bark, a considerable quantity of malambo bark was at one time imported into the United States from South America.
