Angostura Bark, the bark of galipea officinalis a South American tree of the rue family, growing on the river Orinoco, and especially on the Caroni, Venezuela. It possesses a peculiar and disagreeable smell when fresh, and a bitter and slightly aromatic taste. It is sometimes used in medicine as an aromatic tonic. By the natives it is employed to intoxicate fish, as the cinchona is in Peru. The false Angostura may be distinguished by its greater thickness and hardness, its total want of odor, and its intense tenacious bitterness, due to the poisonous alkaloid brucia. When steeped in water it does not become soft like the true Angostura. It is said to be the bark of strych-nos nux-vomica.