GREENHEART, or BEBEERIT, Nectandra Radial, a tree of the natural order kuracete, a native of Guiana, of great value as a timber-tree, and also yielding- a valuable medi cinal bark. The timber is commonly called greenheart; the hark is better known as Mara (otherwise beebeeru, bibiri, etc., and sipiri or sipeira), and the alkaloid to which it chiefly owes its properties is called bebeerine (q. v.). The tree grows chiefly in British Guiana, and in the greatest perfection on the low hills immediately behind the alluvial lands; it rises with an erect, slightly tapering trunk to a height of 40 or 50 ft. without a branch, attaining a height of 8U or 90 ft. in all, and a diameter of 3 or even 4 feet. Tile wood is extremely strong and hard, and is imported into Britain, to be used chiefly by turners for the same purposes as lignum vitm, which it much resembles. It takes a high polish. It is so heavy as to sink in water. It is remarkable for its dura
bility, and for being almost exempt from the attacks of the white ants on land, and of the teredo in water. It is used in Guiana for ship-building, and for all the most impor tant purposes for which timber is required.—The bark is hard, heavy, and brittle, with a fracture resembling that of sandstone, has a white epidermis, and is of a bright cinna mon color within. It has a very bitter, somewhat astringent taste. Its tonic and fehri fugal properties resemble those of cinchona bark. Instead of the bark itself, the sulphate of bebeerine is generally used in medicine.
South America produces a number of species of nectandra. N. puchury yields the seeds called pitehurim beans, which are astringent, are regarded as febrifugal, and are prescribed in dysentery, diarrhea, etc., and the oil of which is used as a substitute for chocolate.