Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Apocynaceæ

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Indian Medicinal Plants (1918)
Kanhoba Ranchoddas Kirtikar and Baman Das Basu

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4543109Indian Medicinal Plants — Natural Order Apocynaceæ1918Kanhoba Ranchoddas Kirtikar and Baman Das Basu

N. 0. APOCYNACEÆ.

747. Carissa carandas, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 630 ; Roxb. 231.

Sans. : — Karamardaka.

Vern. : — Karaunda, garinga, karroná, timukhia, gotho (H.) ; Kurumia, karamchá, karenja, bainchi, tair (B.) ; Timukhia (N.-W. P.) ; Gotho (C. P.) ; Karinda, baranda, karwand (Bom.) ; Karavanda, boronda (Mar.) ; Karamarda, timbarran (Guz.) ; Kendakeri, kerendo kuli (Uriya) ; Kalaka, kalapa(Tam.) ; Kalivi kaya, waaka (Tel.) ; Karekai, heggarjige (Kan.).

Habitat :— Cultivated for its fruit throughout the drier sandy or rocky soils of India. Parts used :— The fruit and root.

A large erect evergreen shrub or small tree. Bark yellowish brown, peeling off in square scales. Wood white ; heartwood irregular greyish or orange yellow, streaked, hard, smooth, close- grained, (Gamble). Branches many dichotomous rigid, spreading; axils and nodes with 2 straight sharp simple or forked thorns sometimes 1-2 in. long. Leaves subsessile, 1½— 3 by 1 — 1½ in., oblong-oval or oblong-lanceolate, rather thinly coriaceous, glabrous, base rounded or retuse, apex obtuse, rarely mucronate. Flowers fragrant white or pale rose-coloured in threes, shortly stalked in cluster at end ef short axillary and terminal peduncles ; bracts small, linear, pubescent. Calyx-segments subulate lanceolate, acute, puberulous and ciliate. Corolla-tube ¾ in., glabrous or puberulous with swollen throat and lobes pubescent ; lobes lanceolate, acute, about half as long as the tube, spreading. Ovary glabrous, cells 4-ovuled. Fruit a drupe ½ — 1 in. long, boardly ovoid, bluntly pointed, shinking, blackish or reddish purple with pulp of the same colour or pinkish white, with white sticky juice on the epicarp. Seeds 2-4 seldom more.

Uses :— The unripe fruit is astringent, and the ripe fruit is cooling, acid and useful in bilious complaints. The root has the reputation of being a bitter stomachic, " Used in Concan, pounded with horse urine, lime-juice and camphor as a remedy for itch." (Dymock.)

In Cuttack the decoction of the leaves is very much used at the commencement of remittent fever. (Surg. -Major P. N. Mukerji.)

The fruit has been reported by several medical officers to possess antiscorbutic properties. (Watt, II. 165.)

" The roots were air-dried, reduced to powder, and digested with 80 per cent., alcohol. The alcohol-free extract was mixed with water, dilute Sulphuric acid added, and agitated with benzole, which separated an oil of the consistence of honey at 75° P., and partly soluble in absolute alcohol with acid reaction. A trace of volatile oil was also present, with an odour similar, to that of Piper Betle leaf oil. During agitation with benzole a mass of dark-yellowish resin separated, which caked. The liquid containing the separated resin was next agigated with ether. The ether extract was not more than a trace, and contained Salicylic acid. The insoluble mass of resin was now separated, and the aqueous solution rendered alkaline and agitated with ether. The ether extract contained an alkaloid which gave marked precipitates with the usual reagents. The dark brown yellowish resin, insoluble in ether and benzole, was wholly soluble in ammonia, and on spontaneous evaporation left a brittle residue. The ammoniacal solution when freshly made was yellow, but on standing became green, and on spontaneous evaporation the solid residue was brownish." (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 420.)

748. Rauwolfia serpentina, Benth. h.f.b.i., iii. 632.

Syn. : — Ophioxylon serpentinum, Linn., Roxb. 233.

Sans. :— Sarpagandhá ; Chundrika.

Vern. :— Chota-chánd (H.) ; Chandra; Chota-chánd (B.); Chandra, chota-chand, karavi, harkai, (Bomb.) ; Harkaya (Mar.) ; Pátala gandhi, pátala garuda (Tel.) ; Chuvanna-avilpori (Malay.).

Habitat : — Tropical Himalaya and plains near the foot of the hills, from Sirhind and Moradabad to Sikkim. The Khasia Mountain and in the Deccan Peninsula along the Ghats to Travancore.

A small, erect, glabrous shrub, 6-18in., rarely 2-3ft, in a rich soil, climbing (Roxb). Bark white, rarely lenticilate. Leaves 3-7 by l½-2½in., very pale beneath, elliptic lanceolate, or obovate, acute or acuminate, nerves 8-12 pair, petiole ⅓in. long, penduncle 2-5in., stout, branches and pedicels ¼-⅓in.. Flowers white or pinkish, nearly lin. long, arranged in terminal or lateral corymbose cymes. Calyx small, bright red ; bracts minute, lanceolate. Calyxlobes 1/10in. long lanceolate. Corolla about ½in. long ; tube slender, shortly globosely inflated above the middle, often curved, margins of lobes of Calyx undulate. Disk membranous ; lobed. Drupes in pair or single, black, ¼in. diam, broadly obliquely ovoid ; endocarp slightly rugose.

Parts used : — The root, leaves and juice.

Uses : — It is held in high esteem by the natives as an antidote to snake-bites, but reliable evidence of its utility is wanting. It is also valued as a tonic and febrifuge. Horsefield. (Asiat. Journ., vol. viii., p. 148) states that the root yields a strong bitter infusion, and that its sensible properties indicate considerable activity. According to the same authority, it is employed by the Javanese as an anthelmintic. Dr. Pulney Andy reports that a decoction of the root is employed in labours to increase uterine contractions (Ph. Ind.). " But we have no evidence of its efficacy in such cases." (Dymock).

According to Rumphius, the juice of the leaves is instilled into the eyes by the natives of India and Java, as a remedy for the removal of opacities of the cornea.

In Bombay, most of the labourers who come from the Southern Concan keep a small supply of the root, which they value as a remedy in painful affections of the bowels. In the Concan, the root with Aristolochia indica is given in cholera, in colic, 1 part of the root with 2 parts of Holarrhena root and 3 parts of Jatropha curcas root is given in milk. In fever the root with Andrographis, ginger and black salt is used. The dose of the combined drugs in each case is from 3 to four tolas (Dymock;.

The authors of the Pharmacographia India write : —

The roots examined by us reduced to fine powder lost 7.18 per cent., when dried at 100° C. The ash amounted to 7.89 per cent, and was of a light chocolate colour containing a marked amount of iron and a trace of manganese. On analysis the following results were obtained.

Petroleum ether extract ... ,.. .64 per cent.

Ether „ ... ... .346

Alcoholic „ ... ... 3.936

Aqueous „ ... ... 11.38 „

The petroleum ether extract was oily, yellow, and possessed an odour like that of a mixture of cedar and musk. On standing arborescent crystals separated ; in alcohol the extract was partly soluble with acid reaction the insoluble residue was oily and contained a trace of a wax. The extract afforded marked indication of the presence of an alkaloidal principle.

The ether extract was hard and had the same odour as the petroleum ether extract, but in a less marked degree. Treated with water a slightly bitter solution was obtained, which gave no reaction with ferric salts ; by the action of dilute sulphuric acid an intensely bitter solution was obtained which contained an alkaloid. A yellow resin was also present.

The alcoholic extract was brittle, yellowish brown and intensely bitter. A solution in alcohol exhibited a very marked greenish fluorescence. In cold water the extract was partly soluble with slight fluorescence, and very bitter : forric salts gave no colour reaction. The alcoholic extract was treated with dilute sulphuric acid and the turbid acid solution agitated with chloroform after separation of the chloroform, the liquid was rendered alkaline with ammonia, and agitated first with chloroform, ether, and finally with amylic alcohol. The three extracts exhibited fluorescence when dissolved in alcohol, but the appearance was most marked in that obtained by chloroform acting on the acid solution. The chloroform extract deposited a yellowish granular mass on standing, which was non-crystalline; in taste the extract was extremely bitter : it afforded marked indication of the presence of an alkaloid, but was not wholly soluble in diluted Sulphuric acid. The ether-chloroform extract was non-crystalline, it was also bitter, but the bitter taste Was associated with some astringency ; it was wholly soluble in dilute sulphuric acid, and afforded marked indications of the presence of an alkaloid.

The amylic alcohol extract was of a dark colour, and wholly soluble in dilute sulphuric acid and very bitter : it also gave marked alkaloidal reactions. With sulphuric acid, none of the extracts afforded crystalline salts.

The aqueous extract had a bitter taste; it reduced an alkaline copper solution on boiling : with ferrocyanide of potassium and acetic acid a faint turbidity was produced. The residue insoluble in water contained a large amount of starch.

At present we do not offer any opinion as to whether the alkaloidal principles we have referred to in the various extracts are identical or not. We are also at present unable to state whether these alkaloids are new or merely principles which have already been described as occuring in other plants of the same natural order. An analysis of the root of ophioxylan Serpentinum by W. Bettink has been published in Haaxman's Tijdschrift, (Jan. 1888), where no alkaloid is reported to have been found, but a crystalline body related to juglone. We feel convinced that the drug examined by Bettink was not authenticated. Prof. Eykman has recorded the discovery of an alkaloid in an Indian Species of Ophioxylon and later, still (l890), M. Geishoff has found an alkaloid giving a veratrine reaction with Frohde's reagent, thus substantiating our analysis. It is probable that as the root resembles Plumbago root, Prof. Bettink's ophioxylin was only plumbagin.

[Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 415—417.]

749. Cerbera odollam, Gœrtn. h.f.b.i., iii. 638 ; Roxb. 232.

Vern. : — Dabur ; Dhakur (B.) ; Sukanu (M.) ; Kada mal ; Katarali ; Kadaralai ; Kadu (Tam.) ; Odallam (Mal.).

Habitat : — Salt swamps, or on the Coast of India, common in the South Concan.

A moderate-sized, evergreen tree or large shrub, wholly glabrous. Wood grey, very soft, spongy. Branchlets whorled, very stout, marked with leaf-scars, twigs thick, shining. Leaves large, alternate, rather closely placed at end of year's growth, 5-12in., linear-lanceolate or slightly obovate, much tapering to base-rather suddenly accuminate, subacute, glabrous, pale beneath, rather thick, venation pellucid, lateral veins numerous, horizontal, connected by an intermarginal one. Petiole l-l½in. long. Flowers large, on a stout erect peduncle, white, with throat yellow, sweet scented, in ample terminal cymes or flat topped panicles ; bracts ½-lin. long, oblong, acute deciduous. Calyx segments ¾-⅞in. linear-oblong, acute, recurved, glabrous, deciduous. Corolla-tube ¾in., lower third narrow, upper part dilated, throat nearly closed by 5 pubescent projecting wings ; lobes lin. Ovule, obtuse, oblique ; filaments very short (Trimen). Ovary of 2 distinct carpels united by a single style. Fruit (from the abortion of one carpel) a drupe, 2-4in. long, flattened on one side, with a fibrous endocarp. Seed usually one, oily, albumen (Brandis).

Uses: — The whole plant is full of an acid milky juice. Emetic and purgative properties are assigned to the milky sap and to the leaves, but their use is to be condemned (Ph. Ind.).

The nut is narcotic and poisonous. The green fruit is employed to kill dogs (Balfour) .

The fruit combined with Datura is a part of remedy given by native physicians for hydrophobia (Pharamcographic Indica, Vol. II, p. 410.

The bark is purgative (Watt).

The kernel of the fruit is an irritant poison, producing, when taken internally, vomiting and purging, soon followed by collapse and death (Surgeon-Major Houston, in Watt's Dictionary.)

Cerebrin C₂₇H₄₀O₈ occurs in the seeds. It forms colourless, odourless crystals, with a bitter taste, turns yellow at 180—185°, and melts at 191—192° (corr.). It disparts of the solvent at 16-21°,— Chloroform 8.83 ; alcohol 90 per cent. 12.43, absolute, 12.89, 75 per cent. 27.27 ; isobutyl alcohol, 14.7 ; amyl alcohal, 14.87 ; ether 178.5, benzene, 544.7; carbon tetrachloride, 813; water, 5555 (at 100°, 4974); carbon bisulphide, 12, 487 ; light petroleum (sp. gr. 0.675), 36, 730. It has the following values of specific rotation : [a]_D ; in 90 per cent, alcohol— 74.61°; in ether— 64.76° ; in chloroform, 74.82°; in acetic acid— 80.81'. Analysis and molecular weight determinations lead to the formula C₂₇H₀₄O₈ ; but its properties show that it is not identical either with the taughinin of Arnaud or with the the thevetin of De Yrij. It exhibits the following colour reactions : I. Yellow coloration, when warmed with dilute sulphuric, hydrochloric, or nitric acid. II. Polychroic solution (orange-yellow-violet-blue) in concentrated sulphuric acid. III. A quickening, emphasising, and sometimes a characteristic modifying, of colour reaction II, when to the sulphuric acid are added small quantities of (a) phenols (thymol, a-naphthol, cresol, or glycocholic acid), or (b) aldehydes (furfuraldehyde, cane-sugar, vanillin, heliotropin, &c.). Reaction III (a) seems to indicate that cerebrin is a glucoside, III. (b) that it is a phenol. As a matter of fact, cerebrin is hydrolysed when heated with alcoholic sulphuric acid for two hours, and yields a small quantity of sugar, probably glucose, and 62 per cent, of cerberetin C₁₉H₂₆O₄ (?), a lemon-yellow, amorphous powder, which melts at 85.5° (corr.), is optically inactive, and is precipitated from its solution in alcohol by the addition of water ; the alcoholic solution has, even when diluted to 1 : 5000, a perceptible yellow color. Like cerebrin, it is a poison. Observations of the physiological action of cerberin agree with those of Zotos (Dissertation Dorpat, 1892); it has the advantages, without the disadvantages, of digitalin. J. Ch. S. 1893 A.T. p. 487.

The seeds are very poisonous, and were found by Plugge in 1893 to contain cerberin, a heart poison. The seeds yield 55 per cent, of a bland fixed oil, of a pale yellow colour, which is used for burning and for anointing the head. The specific gravity at 15.5 is 0.919 ; it affords 955 per cent, of fatty acids,melting at 34°. (Hooper.)

750. Rhazya strieta, Decaisne, h.f.b.i., hi. 640.

Vern. : — Sunwar (H.) ; Wena ; Gandera (Pb.) ; Sehar, Seewur (Sind.); Wargalion ; Vargalum (Pushtu) ; Ishawarg (Mushree).

Habitat :— Sind, Salt-range and Peshawar.

A small, glabrous, very stout, erect, sparingly branched, leafy shrub, gregarious. Leaves alternate, lanceolate or oblanceolate acute, coriaceous, 2-4in., by ½-¾in., yellowish when dry, sessile. Flowers in short, axillary, stoutly branched cymes, shortly and stoutly pedicelled ; white ; tube ⅓in., upper half inflated ; lobes ovate, mucronate, short. Ovary of two distinct carpels. Style filiform, top broad, thickened; stigma sometimes furnished with a reflexed membrane. Ovules numerous, 2-seriate in each carpel. Fruit of 2 erect follicles, 2-3 by ¼in., thinly coriaceous, slightly compressed ; seeds numerous, flat, with short membranous wings at two ends, ⅓in. long Embryo straight, in a fleshy albumen.

Uses : — The juice of the leaves is given with milk to children for eruptions, and an infusion of them is very useful for sorethroat, low fevers and general debility. The leaves, which are very bitter, are sold in the bazars in Sind, the natives using them in the preparation of cooling bitter infusions. Dr. Stocks describes the infusion as a good and peculiar bitter tonic, and recommends it for trial (Ph. Ind., p. 139).

The fruits and leaves are considered efficacious in cases of boils and eruptions (Stewart).

In Afghanistan, the roots, stem, leaves and flowers, are dried and used in infusion for the treatment of syphilis, in all its stages, and of chronic rheumatism, old joint affections and pains of every kind (Duthie, in Watt's Dictionary).

The leaves are reputed to be a bitter tonic for fevers and general debility, and they have been reported as poisonous. The leaves contain a large quantity of alkaloids, one of which is volatile and has the odour of conine, the alkaloid of hemlock. The non-volatile alkaloid resembles in some particulars one of the bases of Aspidiosperma ; it dissolves in sulphuric acid with a red colour, changing to purple, and contains 8'01 per cent of nitrogen.

751. Vinca rosea, Linn, h.f.b.l, iii. 640.

Vern. : — Ainskati (Uriya) ; Rattanjot (Pb.) ; Sadapûl (Mar.) ; Billa-ganeru (Tel.).

Habitat : -- A West Indian plant, much cultivated about pagodas, &c, in India.

Leaves obovate, flowers white, rosy or pink, axillary, l½-2in. diam., grown here in Andheri, and in my Thana and Ratnagri gardens, with four varieties : — (1) vinca alba, plain white, with a cream coloured throat ; (2) vinca alba, with the throat green ; (3) vinca alba, with throat deep crimson ; (4) Pink throated or deep crimson throated vinca rosea (K. R. Kirtikar). This is what Asa Gray says :— Tropical, erect, somewhat woody, at base: flowers produced at all seasons. House and bedding plant from West Indies, with oblong-petioled veiny leaves, and showy Corolla, with slender tube and very narrow orifice, rose-purple or white, with or without a pink edge (Field, Forest and Garden Botany, New York, p. 275, 1868.)

Use :— The juice of the leaves is employed in Orissa as an application to wasp stings (Surgeon-Major P. N. Mukerji, in Watt's Dictionary).

752. V. pusilla Murr, h.f.b.i., ill. 640.

Syn. :— V. parvifiora, Retz. Roxb. 242.

Sans. : — Sangkhi ; Sangkhapuli.

Vern. : — Kapa-vila (Malay.).

Habitat : — Western Himalaya ; Garhwal, and Upper Gangetic Plain ; common throughout the Deccan.

An erect, pale-green, annual herb, l-2ft. high, erect, glabrous, branched from the base. Stem and branches acutely 4-angled. Leaves 1½-2½ by ⅓-¾in., lanceolate, acuminate, membranous, margins minutely scabrid, stipular, glands subulate. Petiole ¼in., or less, slender. Flowers very small, subsessile, ⅓in. long, on short pedicels, white. Sepals filiform. Corolla-mouth narrow, hairy, throat glabrous, thickened. Follicles 2-3in., very slender, diverging, straight membranous. Seeds 1/10in., linear-oblong, cylindric, rounded at both ends ; testa black, many-ribbed, ribs rough. Except for the Corolla this has all the appearance of a gentian.

Use : — A decoction of the dried plant, boiled in oil, is rubbed on the loins in cases of lumbago (Ainslie).

Dr. W. Burns, Economic Botanist, Agricultural College, Poona, has had cases of cattle-poisoning from this plant, reported to him. (K. R. K.).

753. Plumeria acutifolia, Poiret., h.f.b.i., iii. 641.

Syn.: — P. acuminata, Roxb. 248.

Vern.: — Gulachin, goburchamp, golainchi, chameli (H.); Gorur champa (B.) ; Kát chámpa (Uriya); Gulanj baha (Santal.) ; Champa puugar (Gond.) ; Khair-champâ, dolochápá, khad- champo, gulachin, chameli (Bomb.); Rhuruchápha ; Khair champâ (Mar.) ; Rhadachampo (Guz.) ; Váda ganneru (Tel.) ; Kanagala ; Ganagalu ; Go Sampige. (Kan.).

Habitat : — Cultivated and naturalised in many parts of India. A small, deciduous tree, with crooked trunk arid thick fleshy branches, full of tenacious milky juice. Bark, with a smooth peppery outer layer, grey, shining, exfoliating in small flakes. Wood yellowish-white, soft. Branches swollen and dichotormous. Leaves alternate, lanceolate or oblanceolate acute at both ends, spirally arranged at the ends of branches, 15in., petiole l-l½in., 1-glandular at the top. Secondary nerves numerous, straight, transverse, joined by straight intramarginal veins. Flowers fragrant, large, white, slight crimson, streaked without, pale yellow within, near the centre, in compound pedunculate cymes, usually when the tree is leafless. Fruit very seldom seen in India, follicular. Seeds winged. Corolla deciduous, before the anthers are mature "and the ovary is mature enough to receive the pollen. I found a pair of follicles Din. long each, and about lin. broad, in Satara, on a tree, in March 1898, in one of tire cantonment-gardens. I had the honour of presenting one of them to Emeritus Professor Woodrow of the College of Science, Poona. The follicle, figured in the Litho plate of this work, is from a drawing made for me by Mr. J. Berri man- Years of Ratnagiri of the original follicle now in my possession. I have grown in pots in my garden a variety of this plant, with flowers deep crimson outside and orange, yellow within." (K. R. Kirtikar).

Parts used : — The bark, leaves, juice, branches and flower- buds.

Uses : — Mir Muhammad Hussain describes the tree under the name of A'Chin, and states that the root bark is a strong purgative, and also a useful remedy in gonorrhœa and for venereal sores. He recommends butter milk to be given in cases of excessive purgation after its use. Plasters made of the bark are said to be useful in dispersing hard tumors (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 421.)

Dr. Hove, in 1787, found the tree growing abundantly on Malabar Hill, and mentions that the inhabitants used it for intermittents, as we do cinchona. S. Arjun (Bombay Drugs) writes that the leaves, made into a poultice, are used to dispel swellings ; the milky juice is employed as a rubefacient in rheumatism, and the blunt-ended branches are introduced into the uterus to procure abortion. According to Dymock, the bark is given in the Konkan, with cocoanut, ghi, and rice, as a remedy for diarrhœa ; the flower- buds are eaten with betel leaves in ague, and the juice, with sandalwood oil and camphor, is employed as a cure for itch.

" Sap mixed with cocoanut is used as a remedy for itch (Talbot)."

Campbell states that in Chutia Nagpur the leaves and root are used medicinally, but that the part best known to the forest tribes of Manbhum is the core of the young wood, which is given to lying-in women, to allay thirst, and for cough. In the Baroda Durbar Catalogue of Medicinal Plants, at the Col. and Ind. Exhb., it is stated that the bark is purgative and used in cases of leprosy.

" This plant is known as Dalána phula in Northern Bengal, where its milky juice has been tried and found to be an effectual purgative. The dose is as much as a grain of parched rice (khai) will absorb, the grain being administered as a pill." (Surgeon-Major C. T. Peters, M. B , in Watt's Dictionary).

Dr. A. J. Amadeo (Pharm. Journ; April 21st, 1888,) has the following account of its medicinal uses in Porto Rico :«— " In small doses (8 to 12 grains) given in emulsion, the milk produces abundant bilious watery stools. The bark is a favourite remedy with the country people for gonorrhœa and gleet. Two ounces of the fresh powdered bark is placed in 8 pints of eau sucree and exposed to the sun for four days, being shaken occasionally. A wine, glassful is administered four or five times a day, together with refreshing and mucilaginous drink's, and the use of tepid baths. The action of the drug is at first purgative, afterwards diuretic. An extract of the bark may be used beginning with 3—4 grains daily to be gradually increased to 14 or 15 grains, or a wine (loz.tol litre) may be given in liqueur glassfuls three times a day. The decoction of the bark is a powerful antiherpetic.

A crystalline, bitter principle C₆₇H₇₂O₃₃+ 2 H₂0, obtained by evaporation of the alcoholic extract, melts at 157-158° and forms a colourless solution in concentrated sulphuric acid, which, on warming, turns yellow, reddish -yellow, brownish-red, or black. Its solution in concentrated nitric acid is also colourless, but becomes yellow on warming, and, similarly, the solution in sodium hydroxide turns yellow on boiling. This substance cannot be identical with plumieride, which has been isolated by Boorsma.— J. Ch. S.A.I. ,1897; p. 167. The plumeride, isolated by Boorsma from the bark of Plameria acutifolia appears to be identical with the substance obtained by Merck from the same source, although the former investigator stated that it did not melt, whereas the latter gave its melting point as 157-158°. A. P. N. Franchimont finds that the substance melting at 157° is the hydrated form of plumieride ; when crystallised from dry ethylic acetate, it separates in the anhydrous condition, and then has no definite melting point. A molecular weight determination by the cryoscopic method gave numbers varying from 537 to 572 ; these values are approximately half those obtained by Merck, who used the ebullioscopic method. Plumeride is a glucoside, for, when boiled with 5 per cent, hydrochloric acid, it is hydrolysed, yielding glucose and an insoluble, amorphous, brown substance. An acid, named plumieridic acid, is produced by dissolving plumieride in aqueous potash and allowing the solution to remain for some time ; the solution, when acidified with dilute sulphuric acid yields the new compound, which is sparingly soluble in water. This acid is slightly soluble in methylic alcohol and insoluble in ethylic alcohol, ether, chloroform, or benzene ; it decomposes at temperatures above 200° ; its dilute aqueous solution is laevorotatory. The potassium salt crystallises from water. Plumieridic acid is also a glucoside, for, on boiling with 5 per cent, hydrochloric acid, it behaves like plumeride, yielding glucose and an amorphous, brown substance. Plumieride seems also to be identical with agoniadin, obtained by Peckolt (Arch Pharm 1870, ii, 142, 40) from P. Jancifolia, for the latter substance behaves similarly on hydrolysis, and melts at 155°.— J. Ch. S. 1899 A. I. 933.

{{larger}754. Alstonia scholaris, Brown,}} h.f.b.l, iii. 642.

'Sans. : — Sapta-parna ; Viśâltvak ; Bribattvaka.

Vern. : — Chatwan, Chhatin, Chatiun (R.) ; Satiûn, chatiûn, satwin, satni (H.) ; Chhatnia (Uriya) ; Chatin, bomudu (Kol.) ; Chatiwan (Nepal); Purbo (Lepcha) ; Satvin (Mar.); Ezhilaip-pâlâi, wodrase (Tam.); Edakula-pála, palagaruda, édá kula-ariti, édákula-pouna (Tel.) ; Janthalla, Mudhol, Kodale, Madale, Kadu- sale, hale. (Kan.)-

Habitat: — Drier forests of India; in the tropical region of the Western Himalaya, from the Jumna eastwards to Assam, and southwards to Ceylon.

A large, evergreen tree, up to 60 feet or more in height, with bitter milky juice. Stem tall, base often tufted or buttressed. Branches spreading, in tiers of whorls. Bark dark-grey, some-what rough, lenticilate. Wood white, soft, even-grained, seasons hardly and soon gets mouldy and discoloured, if allowed to season in log (Gamble). Leaves in whorls of 4-7 ; 4-8 by 1-1½in., glabrous, coriaceous, shining above, dull and pale-green beneath, oblong or ovate-oblong, elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate, subsessile or narrowed into a short petiole, ¼-½in. long ; lateral nerves numerous, straight, terminating in an intramarginal vein. Flowers greenish-white in compact umbellately corymbose pubescent, pedunculate cymes; the umbels whorled. Peduncle l-2in. long. Calyx small, 1/10-⅛in. long, pubescent 5-lobed lobes 1/12in , oblong, ciliate. Corolla ⅓-½in. diam., villous inside ; tube 1/6-⅓in. long ; constricted in the middle, hairy on both sides; lobes rounded, spreading, twisted in bud. Stamens above the middle of the Corolla-tube, included, anthers acute. Ovary of two distinct carpels. Fruit of two long slen-der follicles, over a foot long, slender, flattened, peltately attached ; densely ciliate, with long hairs all round (Kanjilal).

The tree has obtained the trivial name scholaris from the facts of its planks covered with a layer of sand being used as school-boards on which children trace their letters, as in the Lancastrian system. The natives have a superstitious fear of it, and say, it assembles all the trees of the forest once a year to pay homage. (Graham.)

Uses : — It is officinal in the Pharmacopoeia of India. The bark of this is medicinally used as an astringent tonic, anthelmintic, alterative and antiperiodic. It is a valuable remedy in chronic diarrhœa and the advanced stages of dysentery. It is also useful in catarrhal fever. The milky juice is applied to ulcers, and, mixed with oil, in ear-ache. "The tender leaves, roasted and pulverised and made into poultices, act as a useful local stimulant to unhealthy ulcers with foul discharges" (Surg. Thompson, Madras).

"The bark of this tree contains a bitter principle, known as dâtain, which has been reported to be equal to quinine, while free from its secondary effects. Largely used in the hospitals of Manilla, but never been experimented within India."

In the Concan, the bark is given in leprosy, an extract being prepared from the fresh bark and given in milk ; it is also prescribed in dyspepsia as an anthelmintic ; and the juice of the leaves with that of fresh ginger root or zedoary is administered to women after confinement. (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 387.) The following is from the second report of the Indigenous Drugs Committee (p. 19.) : —

Way to use it.— Administer in doses of 10—60 minims (of the tincture.) (i) in cases of fever as an antiperiodic. (ii) in convalescence after fever as a tonic, (iii) in cases of diarrhœa and dysentery.

Remarks.— The natives of India have considerable faith in Alstonia bark. They use it in fevers and in dysentery : they also use it in skin diseases, ulcers, etc., and for a number of other complaints. Possibly it may be found better as a tonic after quinine than in the place of quinine.

Dr. Dymock has found the tincture of the bark to act in certain cases as a very powerful galactogogue ; in one case, the use of the drug was purposely discontinued at intervals and on each occasion the flow of milk was found to fail (Phormacographia Indica, Volume II, page 387).

The following statements are made in the report on the Continental Exhibition presented to the American Pharmaceutical Association (Transactions, 1877) about the use of this drug and its alkaloid, ditain, in Manilla :— " Equal doses of ditain and of standard quinine sulphate have had the same medicinal effects ; besides having none of the disagreeable secondary symptoms such as deafness, sleeplessness and feverish excitement, which are the usual concomitants of large quinine doses, ditain attains its effects swiftly, surely and infallibly. *****. The results arrived at by ditain in our Manilla Hospitals and private practice are simply marvellous. In our Military Hospital and penitentiary practice, ditain has perfectly superseded quinine." (Pharmacographia Indica, Volume II, page 388.)

Experiments have already been made for the Indigenous Drugs Committee, but are not conclusive ; and more evidence must be collected. Captain Stewart, I. M.S., who used one drachm doses, reported that in mild cases of fever it was as effective as quinine. Drs. W. D. Innes and Ditta Mall Dhingra did not find it as good as quinine in fever cases. Major Hare and Dr. C. Bancroft found it serviceable in dysentery.

The first Report of Proceedings of the Central Indigenous Drugs Committee of India (published Calcutta 1901) contains records of results of observations by Medical Officers serving in different provinces of India. The consensus of their observations seems to show that the drug is useful in diarrhœa and dysentry, but that its effect as a febrifuge is not lasting. According to Lieut.-Colonel H. A. F. Nailer, Acting District Medical and Sanitary Officer of Tanjore, who used the drug in 14 cases of ague,

" In all of which it caused the temperature to fall steadily to normal in a short time : no perspiration was induced, but the urine was observed to be increased and high colored. In one case of pyrexia, 104°, it reduced the temperature to 96° in three days. The drug was then omitted, when the temperature rose to 104°. The drug was again administered, when temperature again fell to 96°. It was then stopped and Quinine in 5 gr. doses was given, which checked the periodicity of the fever. Of the 14 cases of ague, 8 were in-patients, whose cases were carefully noted ; 6 were out-patients. Of these, it is recorded that they did not come after the first day, perhaps because the fever had declined ; 4 of the patients had enlarged spleen, but no effect in that organ was detected."

Dr. Chas. Bancroft, Civil Medical Officer, Garo Hills, who used the Tincture, reported it.

"A valuable remedy in diarrhœa and dysentery : in the latter disease it proved very beneficial in advanced cases, and was found most efficient as a " stomachic " in restoring alimentary tone in convalescence and debility, following malarial fevers."

"In the form of a mixture only, combined with Tincture of Opium (m. x) in dysentery, and with the Infusion of Gentian in bowel complaints (diarrhœa), and with official bitters (chiretta), orange peel and Nux-Vomica, as an alterative and tonic.

Doses.— In dysentery 3i doses with Tinct. of Opium, m. x made up with Peppermint water, thrice daily.

In diarrhœa 3 SS close with Spts. Chloroform and Infusion Gentian, every 4 hours.

As alterative tonic 3 i doses, combined with orange peel, Nux-Vomica and Aqua Chloroformi.

Chemical composition. — In 1875, Jobst and Hesse exhausted the powdered bark with petroleum ether, and then extracted, by boiling alcohol, the salt of an alkaloid, which they called Ditamine. After the evaporation of the alcohol, it is precipitated by carbonate of sodium and dissolved by ether, from which it is removed by shaking it with acetic acid. Ditamine as again isolated from the acetate forms an amorphous and somewhat crystalline, bitterish powder of decidedly alkaline character ; the bark yields about 0.02 per cent, of it.

From the substances extracted by means of petroleum ether, as above stated, Jobst and Hesse further isolated (I) Echicaoutchin, C²⁵H⁴⁰O² 2 , an amorphous yellow mass ; (2) Echicerin, C⁵²H⁴⁵O² , forming acicular crystals, melting at 157° C. : (3) Echitin, C⁵²H⁵²O² , crystallized scales, melting at 170° ; (4) Echitein, C⁴²H⁷⁰O² which forms rhombic prisms, melting at 195°, ; (5) Echiretin, C³⁵H⁵⁶O² , an amorphous substance, melting at 52°C.

Echicaoutchin may be written thus : (C⁵H⁸)⁵O² , echicerin (C⁵H⁸ )⁵O². echiretin (C⁵H⁸ )⁷O² ; these formulæ at once point out how nearly the three last named substances are allied. They are probably constituents of the milky juice of the tree. ( Pharmacographia, 2nd Ed., p. 422.)

Hesse has since separated from Dita bark two other bases, Echitamine and Echitenine. He now reports that Ditamine exists in the bark in the proportion of 0.04 per cent. It is readily soluble in dilute acids, and differs from the alkaloids associated with it in being precipitated from its acid solutions by ammonia. Its formula deduced from the analysis of its platinochloride, is C¹⁵H¹⁹NO² . Echitamine is obtained from the liquor from which the ditamine has been extracted. On neutralizing this liquor, concentrating it by evaporation, and then adding hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride, impure echitamine hydrochloride is precipitated. The base isolated from this precipitate, and then purified, crystallizes iu thick vitreous prisms, answering to the formula C²²H²⁸N³O⁴ +4H²0. When dried in vacuo these part with three molecules of water, leaving a strong base of the formula C³²H²⁸N⁴O² +H²O, or C²²H³⁰ N²O⁵, which the author calls echitamine hydrate, or echit-ammonium hydroxide. If in drying the heat be raised to and maintained at 150° C, another molecule of water is given off ; but the anhydrous echitamine thus left is a much weaker base, and is reconverted into the original alkaloid by dissolving it in hydrochloric acid, and decomposing the hydrochloride. In consequence of the decided loss of basic properties accompanying the elimination of the last molecule of water, the author prefers to regard the monohydrated base as the normal form. The latter is a powerful alkaloid ; it neutralizes acids perfectly, and yields well defined crystallizable salts.

Echitenine. — This base is prepared from the mother liquors of echitamine hydrochloride, by precipitating with mercuric chloride, decomposing the precipitate with sulphuretted hydrogen, and then shaking with chloroform. It exists in the bark to the extent of only 001 per cent. Its composition corresponds to the formula C 20 H* 7 NO 1 . It is markedly bitter, of a brownish colour, and fuses above 120° C. With strong sulphuric acid it forms a reddish- violet, and with nitric acid a purple solution, the latter of which changes to green and ultimateley to yellow. Its salts are amorphous. Tn the author's opinion all these alkaloids belong to one series :

Ditamine C 16 H 19 NO 2

? C' 9 H J3 N0 3

Echitanine C 30 H 2 ' NO 4

Echitamine Hydrate (Echit-ammonium Hydroxide)... C ,? H S0 N 2 O 5

(Liebig's Annalen, cciii., 144) in Year-Book of Pharmacy for 1881.)

(Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, pp. 389—391).

755. Holarrhena antidysenterica, Wall., h.f.b.i., in. 644.

Syn. : — Echites antidysenterica, Roxb. 245 ; Wrightia antidy- senterica, Graham.

Sansh : — Kutaja (the bark) and Kalinga (the seeds). Giri- malli ka, Vatsaka (cow tree), Sakra Sakhin (Indra's tree), Sakra- Sana (Indra's food). The tree is fabled to have sprung from the drops of amrita which fell on the ground from the bodies of Rama's monkeys which were restored to life by Indra. (Phar- macographia Indica II, p. 392).

Vern : — Kureya, kaureya, karra, kaura, kora, karchi, dud hi (Hind.) ; Kurchi (Beng.) ; Pandhra kuda, dowla kiida (Bom.); Lasanulaasfirul-murr (Arab.) ; Zabâne-kunjaskhe-talkh (Pers.) ; Kulappalai-virai, veppalei (Tam.); Amkuduviitum (Tel.) ; Kood-saloo, Korchu (Kan). Letonkgyi (Burm.). The seeds are called Kadwá-indarjow (Hind, and Bomb.) ; Tita-indarjab (Beng.) ;

Habitat: — Tropical Himalaya, from the Chenab westwards and throughout the drier forests of India to Travancore.

A small, deciduous tree, glabrous, pubescent or tomentose. Bark ¼in. thick, brown, rough, exfoliating in irregular flakes. Wood white, soft, even-grained. Leaves nearly sessile, 6-12 by l½-5in. elliptic or ovate-oblong, obtusely acuminate, subcoriaceous ; secondary nerves 10-16 pairs, strong, arched ; petiole 0-¼in. Flowers white or cream-coloured, slightly scented, 1-1½in. across, puberulous, in terminal corymbose cymes which are 3-6in diam. J. D. Hooker says, " the flowers are quite inodorous." Calyx deeply 5-partite, lobes small, lanceolate acuminate, with glands inside at their base. Corolla-tube ⅓-½in. long, slender, cylindrical, swollen at the base round the anthers, throat contracted, naked ; lobes as long as the tube, oblong, spreading, everlapping to the left. Anthers subsessile, inserted near the base of the Coralla-tube. Cells rounded at the base. Carpels 2, distinct ; ovules numerous ; style short, filiform ; stigma oblong. Fruit of 2 distinct, divaricate follicles, 8-16 by 1/5-2/5in., spreading and incurved, smooth, usually with white specks. Seeds numerous, ½in. long, narrowly linear-oblong, glabrous. Coma 2in., silky, brownish grey, l½-2in. long.

" Sir D. Brandis remarks that in Peninsula specimens the style is much longer than in those of Northern India, and the anthers are attached to the middle of the corolla tube instead of at the base." (Duthie).

Uses : — Kurchi bark is medicinally used as a tonic and febrifuge ; but it is chiefly esteemed for its antidysenteric properties. That it is always a sure remedy for dysenteric affections, has been borne out by the statements of many medical practitioners, both Native and European. Sub-Assistant-Surgeon A. C. Kastagiri publishes a case in the Indian Medical Gazette, vol. I, p. 352, and says that he treated a child, 15 months old suffering from dysentery, with the decoction of the bark and met with success, after every other medicine had been tried.

He employed a decoction (Bark two ounces, Water Oii. boiled to Oi.), Doses of four drachms, four times a day, with the addition of one drop of Tr. Opii to each dose. Dr. Gibson states that he has employed it extensively as an antiperiodic. It has, however, fallen into disrepute, principally, according to Sir Walter Elliot, who regards it as one of the most valuable medicinal products of India, from the comparatively or wholly inert bark of Wrightia Unctoria, R. Br., a tree very similar in general appearance to H. antidysenterica, and known by very similar native names, having been often confounded with it. This bark and its properties are well deserving of the notice of future investigators. It may be prescribed in decoction (eight ounces, water two pints boiled to one pint), in doses of one ounce and a half or two ounces twice or thrice daily ; but Mr. Odoy Chund Dutt prefers a watery extract of the rootbark, of which the average dose is about three grains,in combination with half a grain or more of opium. The boat-shaped seeds (Anderjow of the Taleef Shereef, No. 75), are also highly valued by the natives of India in dysenteric cases. They are narrow, elongated, about half an inch in length, of a cinnamon brown colour, convex on one side, concave and marked with a longitudinal pale line on the other, easily broken, of a bitter taste, and heavy unpleasant odour. They are often confounded with the seeds of Wrightia tinctoria, Roxb., to which they bear a general resemblance. According to Ainslie (Mat. Ind., vol. ii., p. 483), an infusion of the roasted seeds is a gentle and safe astringent in bowel complaints, and is given to allay the vomiting of cholera. In the Taleef Shereef, the infusion is said to be effectual in arresting haemorrhage from piles. Anthelmintic virtues are also assigned to them. During the last cattle plague epidemic at Backergunge (Bengal) they were extensively employed, being regarded as possessing certain specific virtues (Indian Med. Gaz., 1866, vol. i., p. 352). The results are not stated.

The seeds are considered by the Arabic and Persian writers as possessed of carminative and astringent properties, and are used in chronic chest affections, such as asthma, and also in colic and diuresis. They also attribute tonic and aphrodisiac properties to the seeds (Dymock.)

The seeds combined with honey and saffron are made into pessaries which are supposed to favor conception. They are also used after delivery, (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 393).

" The bark constitutes the principal medicine for dysentery in the Hindu Pharmacopoœia. Before the discovery of the efficacy of Ipecacuanha in this disease, many chronic cases which did not get well under European medical treatment, used to be cured by the Kavirajes, by their preparation of this bark. The seeds are also used in medicine, they being regarded as astringent, febrifuge and useful in fever, dysentery, diarrhœa and intestinal worms. The bark is administered in a variety of ways. The expressed juice of the bark is given with honey. A fluid extract is given with the addition of ginger and atis. A compound decoction is also prepared.

" An oil for external application is prepared with sesamum oil, decoction of kutaja bark and a number of astringent and aromatic substances in small quantities.

" The seeds enter into good many prescriptions for fever, bowel complaints, piles, intestinal worms, &c." (Dutt, Mat. Med.)

" When in the Goa territory, I observed that the natives used the root-bark only. This is also the case in the Concan, where the root is given in infusion with Tinospora cordifolia for fevers of long standing ; its juice is also extracted and made into pills with aromatics, as a remedy for diarrhœa and dysentery " (Dymock).

" The bark, dried and ground, is, by the Santals, rubbed over the body in dropsy. The fruit is applied in snake-bite, to allay swelling and irritation, and the seeds yield a medicinal oil" (Revd. A. Campbell).

" Dr. Warden writes that a solution containing the partly purified alkaloid has been used with success in the treatment of fevers and dysentery. Should it even in a smaller degree possess the specific properties of Quinine and Ipecacuanha, a most valuable drug would be added to our remedies for tropical diseases " (Watt,).

" In dysentry the seeds would seem to be given for the most part in decoction. This was prepared as follows ; ½ to 3 drachms of the seeds were placed in 12 oz. of water, boiled down to 4 oz. and strained. The fluid thus obtained was given in one dose and this was repeated every morning," (p. 72, First Rept. Ind. Drugs. Com.).

According to the late Dr. Amulya Charan Basu, in the very acute stage of dysentry, the bark does more harm than good. It should be used when the more acute symptoms have passed off and in the chronic form of the disease. Only the fresh bark should be employed. Barks even a few days old are almost useless. Liquid extracts and other preparations made from the fresh bark keep well and may be used when the fresh bark is not available, (p. 148. First Rept. Ind. Drugs Com.)

" The powdered bark suspended in a strained decoction or infusion of Plantago ovata is very efficacious in dysentry, where Ipecacuanha cannot be tolerated. (First Ind. Drug. Com. Rept. p. 159).

Chemical composition.— The bark and seeds contain a basic substance (Wrightine), to prepare which the pulverised seeds are treated with carbonic disulphide in a displacement apparatus to remove a fat oil, then dried and exhausted with hot alcohol ; the extract freed from alcohol by distillation, is digested with a small quantity of dilute hydrochloric acid, and the evaporated filtrate is mixed with ammonia or sodic carbonate, which throws down a copious flocculent precipitate, consisting of the impure base.

Wrightine after washing with cold water forms an amorphous powder, insoluble in ether and in carbonic disulphide, soluble in water and alcohol, and especially in dilute acids, with which it forms uncrystallisable salts having like the base itself a persistent bitter taste. The acetic acid solution is precipitated by tannic acid ; the hydrochloric acid solution gives flocculent precipitates with platinic, auric, and mercuric chlorides. (Stenhouse, Phar. Jour. (2), V. 493.) R. Haines (Ibid., VI., 432) states that he obtained the same base from Conessi bark in 1858, and gave a short description of it in the Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay (New Series IV., 38). He proposed to call it Conessine, and calculates, from the analysis of the free base, and of the platinum salt, the formula C²⁵H²²N O.

The seeds have recently been again investigated by Herr Warnecke (Berichte, XIX, 60), who has obtained from them a crystalline alkaloid by exhausting them with ether containing a little hydrochloric acid, digesting the extract with water and precipitating with ammonia, washing the yellow flocculent precipitate with water, and then after drying it over Sulphuric acid dissolving it in petroleum spirit and evaporating. The pure alkaloid is described as occurring in delicate colourless anhydrous needles, having a bitter taste, becoming yellow at 60° to 70°C., and melting at 122°C. The alkaloid readily forms salts with acids, the hydrochlorate being crystalline. It is difficultly soluble in water, but freely soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, petroleum spirit, benzol, amyl alcohol, and carbon bisulphide. An analysis gave figures corresponding with the formula C₁₁H₁₈N. For this he assigns the name " Wrightine*" (Pharmacographia Indica Vol. 11, pp. 395—396).

"It appears desirable that the investigation should be extended to the bark and seeds." (Ph. J. Feb. 27, 1880).

756. Tabernœmontana dichotoma, Roxb. h.f.b.i., iii. 645 ; Roxb. 248.

Vern. : — Pili-karbir, Kener zard (Pb.) ; Caat-aralie (Tam.); Odallam (M.).

Habitat: — Deccan Peninsula; common in the Western Ghats.

A small tree. Wood yellowish white, moderately hard. Milk not acid. Branches dichotomous. Bark pale-grey, smooth. Branchlets marked with scars of fallen leaves. Young parts covered with a shining resinous coat. Leaves numerous, 4-7 or even 10in., elliptic-oblong, or lanceolate-oblong, tapering to base, suddenly and shortly acuminate, obtuse, stiff and coriaceous, dark-green above, paler beneath, lateral veins numerous, horizontal, parallel, depressed above, prominent beneath. Petiole ½-1¼in., stout. Flowers few, white, throat and tube yellow, very sweet-scented, on long, stout pedicels ; cymes in axils of terminal pair of leaves, lax ; peduncle 2-6in., stout, glabrous : bracts small ovate, fleshy, ad pressed. Calyx fleshy at base, segments rounded, glabrous: Corolla l½-3in. diam : tube ¾-1in., fleshy, lobes considerably longer oblong, obtuse, falcately twisted, often crisped at margin. Anthers acute. Ovary glabrous, style clavate ; ripe carpels about two in., pendulous, horizontally-divaricate or reflexed, broadly ovoid, blunt, flat on dorsal, rounded on vertical side, smooth, orange-yellow. Seeds ¾in., 'finely striate, surrounded by a coat of crimson pulp.

Use : — The seeds are said to be powerfully narcotic and poisonous, producing delirium and other symptoms similar to those caused by dhatura (Ainslie).

They are said by Lin d ley to be purgative. The leaves and bark act as purgatives, and are believed to be used in Java as substitutes for senna ; the milky sap is also described as cathartic (Watt).

757. T. Heyneana, Wall, h.f.b.l, iii. 646.

Vern.— Naglkud, pandra-kura (Mar) ; Bili kodsaloo ; nagar-kooda ; halmeti ; maddarsa (Kan).

Habitat — Western Ghats, from the Concan southwards, common.

A small glabrous tree. Bark " grey, rough, with much milky juice," says Brand is, whereas Gamble says that the bark is smooth grey. J. D. Hooker says the bark is pale smooth and grooved when dry. Wood light-grey, or white. Branches very stout. Leaves 3-8 by 1-2½in., coriaceous linear- oblong or linear-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate, dark -brown and shining above when dry, paler beneath; midrib and nerves beneath stout. Nerves 12-16 pair, arched. Petiole ⅓-½in., base dilated. Peduncle l-2in.; pedicels ¾-lin.; bracts obsolete. Cymes many- fid. Calyx very coriaceous ; lobes hardly ovate, obtuse, crisped. Ovary very short; style filiform, top obconic ; stigma forked. Follicles yellow, smooth, very variable, ½-lin. long, sessile, slightly recurved, shortly banana-shaped (K.R.K.), not keeled or ribbed, beaked or not. Seeds 2 or more, ⅓in. long.

Uses.--The authors of the Pharmacographia Indica, vol. II, p. 413, write that this species is considered to have similar properties to those of T. coronaria, Br., and is known by the same vernacular name. In Puddukota, the flowers are used in inflammation of the cornea.

758. T. Coronaria, Br. h.f.b.l, iii. 646. Roxb. 249.

Sans. : — Tagara ; Naudivriksha (Ainslie). " Firhi-tugar the Hindoo name of the single flowered, and Bura-tuyar of the double flowered." (Roxb).

Vern :— Sagar; Tagar (Mar. and Guz.) ; Grandi tagarapu, Nandi-vardana (Tel.) ; Chandni, Taggai, Taggar (H.); Tagar (B.) ; Asuru (Nepal;; Krun (Lepcha) ; Nagui-kada (Kan.).

Habitat. — Much cultivated in gardens throughout India, from the N. W. Himalaya in Kumaon, Eastward and Southward, Ceylon. An evergreen, glabrous shrub, 6-8ft., even 10-15 ft. Bark silvery grey. Wood white, moderately close-grained. Branches many, slender, dichotomous. Leaves membranous in each pair unequal, the larger 5-6 by 1-1½in., glossy, green, when dry pale beneath ; elliptic-oblong, obovate or oblanceolate obtusely acuminate or cordate, margins waved, nerves 6-8 pair, narrowed into a petiole ¼-½in., axils of petioles glandular. Peduncles solitary or in pair, l-2in., pedicels slender. Flowers pure white, fragrant, at night, often double, buds clavate. Calyx small. Calyx-lobes broadly ovate, acute. Corolla-tube ½-lin., glabrous, dilated slightly below the middle, limb 1-1½in. diam ; lobes obliquely ovate, obtuse, margins curled ; mouth, with 5 glands. Anthers inserted below the middle of the tube. Ovary glabrous. Follicles l-3in., spreading and recurved, sessile or contracted into a sort of stalk at the base, turgidly oblong, beaked or not, 3-ribbed. Seeds 3-6, oblong, striated ; axil red, fleshy. The red axil may give a dye, says Gamble. I have not seen the double variety bear any fruit in Bombay or the Konkan (K.R.K.).

Use : —The wood is employed medicinally as a refrigerant. (Irvine).

The milky juice mixed with oil is rubbed into the head to cure pain in the eyes; the root chewed relieves toothache ; rubbed with water, it kills intestinal worms ; with lime juice it removes opacities of the cornea. (Rheede). It is very cooling in ophthalmia. (Ainslie). In Western India the milk has the reputation of being very cooling, and is applied to wounds to prevent inflammation. (Dymock.)

The fresh roots were extracted with 80 per cent alcohol. From the alcoholic extract, in addition to resins and extractives, a large amount of an alkaloida principle was isolated, soluble in ether, and giving marked precipitates with alkalies, choromate of potasb, and alkaloidal reagents, but no special colour reactions were noted. The taste was bitter, and the principle as deposited by spontaneous evaporation of an ethereal solution, was in the form of a yellowish brittle varnish. (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 414).

759. Vallaris Heynei, Spreng. h.f.b.i., ill.} 650.

Syn : — Echites dichotoma, Roxb. 247. Sans : — Bhadravalli, bhadramunja, visâlyakrit.

Vern : — Rámsar ; Chamari-ka-vel (H.) ; Hápar máli ; Rámsar (B.) ; Dudhi (Kumaon), Pulta podara yárála, pala malle tivva (Tel.).

Habitat : — The Himalayan tract, from the Ganges eastward, Central and South India. (Commonly cultivated in India).

Tall, twining shrubs, with ash colored bark and cymose flowers, Leaves, elliptic or oblong or linear-oblong, acuminate, pellucid, dotted, 1½-4 by ¾-1½in., glabrous or pubscent. Petiole ½-⅔in. The axils of the petioles glandular. Cymes 5-10-fid., sessile or peduncled, dichotomous much shorter than the leaves. Flowers pure white ⅔in., diam., fragrant. Sepals ovate oblong obtuse equallying the short corolla- tube. Corolla- limb spreading. Disk ciliate. Filaments line or, villous. Anthers woolly. Style pubescent, Follicles 6 by 2 in., straight tapering from a rounded base to a stiff point, splitting into 4 valves when dry (Roxb). Pericarp thick, fibrous. Seed lin., ovate, beaked, with a tuft of pairs at hilum, Coma very long, silvery white.

Uses : — The milky juice is employed as an application to wounds and old sores in the U. P. (Atkinson).

The milky juice is a mild irritant. Applied to old sores and sinuses, it excites some degree of inflammation in them and thereby expedites the process of healing (Assist-Surg. R. C. Gupta, in Watt's Dictionary).

760. Wrightia tinctoria, Br. h.f.b.i., iii. 653.

Syn. : — Nerium tinctorinm, Roxb. 243.

Sans. : — Hayamáraka.

Vern. : — Indarjou (H. and B.); Kála kado, kala-kuda, kuda, khirni, bhúrkúri (Bomb.); Pálá, veypale, pila, pilá (Tam.); Tedlapál, tellapal, amkudu (Tel.) ; Kodmurki, Kuda, beppalli, pale (Kan.) ; Kota kappála (Malay.).

Habitat — Central India, throughout the Western Peninsula. Rajputana. Thrives on Mount Abu, Burma. A small, deciduous tree. Bark ½in. thick, grey, corky. Wood white, moderately hard, even-grained. Twigs glabrous, pubesulous. Leaves membranous, elliptic-ovate or lanceolate or ovate- oblong, obtusely acuminate or caudate, 3-5 by 1-1½in. ; nerves 6-12 pair, faint till the leaves are old, then strong beneath, base acute or rounded ; petiole very short. Cymes sometimes 5in. diam., with slender, spreading, dichotomous branches ; bracts minute. Flowers white or cream-coloured, ½-¾in. diam. Sepals ovate-obtuse. Corolla-lobes linear-oblong. Scales linear, scattered. Stamens large. Follicles 6-8in. long or more, cylindric, slender, smooth, tips adhering. Seeds ½-¾in., glabrous, except for the coma, linear.

Uses: — The root-bark and seeds are adulterated with, and also used as substitutes for Holarrhena antidysenterica.

" The bark may be distinguished from the true Conessi (Holarrhena antidysenterica) bark by its darker color, and by its not exfoliating in patches (absence of rhytidoma); the seeds by their want of bitterness. The bark is used as a tonic and the seeds as an aphrodisiac ; both are articles of commerce, the former being more frequently met with in the shops than true Conessi bark." (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 398).

761. W. tomentosa, Rœm. and Schult., h.f.b.i., iii.653.

Syn. : — Nerium tomentosum, Roxb. 243.

Vern. : — Dudhi, dharauli, daira, Kâla inderjau (H.) ; Dudh- koraiza (B.) ; Sandi-kya (Kol.) ; Atkura, burn machkunda (Santal) ; Dudhi, kiláwa, keor (Pb.) ; Dudhi, kadu-inderjao, daira (Bomb.) ; Kalu inderjau (Mar.) ; Tálla pal, koila mukri, koyila mokiri, putta jillédu, pedda pâla (Tel.) Bile kude, gidda (Kan).

Habitat : — Throughout India, extending in the Sub-Himalayan tracts Westward. Eastward to Sikkim. In Dun and Saharanpur Forests. Rajputana plentiful on the Hill Road to Mount Abu, in fruit, in November. Behar, Assam, Chittagong, Burma, Ceylon. A small, deciduous tree, with grey corky bark, ½in. thick. Wood white, moderately hard, even-grained. Extremities tomentose. Leaves opposite, distichous, 3-6 by l½-3in. elliptic, caudate, acuminate, rarely obscurely serrulate, rather membranous, velvety-tomentose often on both surfaces, always beneath, narrowed into a petiole 1/5-⅓in. long, lateral nerves 10-16 pair. Flowers lin. across, in many-flowered corymbose ; terminal cymes ; bracts deciduous. Calyx short, with 5-10 scales inside at base ; lobes rounded, half the length of the Corolla-tube. Corolla pale, yellow with a fleshy orange-coloured corona of scales ; lobes oblong, over-lapping to the left. Stamens inserted at top of Corolla-tube ; filaments short and broad, continued into a broad —tapering connective ; anthers sagittate, by the cells being spurred at base, adherent to stigma. Ovary of 2 connate carpels. Style filiform, stigma ovoid. Fruit of 2 connate follicles, 8-12 by ½-¾in., straight, cylindric, laterally, compressed, rough, with white specks, follicles separating before dehiscing. Seeds numerous, ½-¾in., slender, each with a tuft of white silky hairs at lower end (Kanjilal). Flowers have an unpleasant smell, says Trimen, first yellowish, afterwards purple.

Uses : — A thick, red-colored medicinal oil is said to be obtained from the seeds. In Chutia Nagpur, a preparation from the bark is given in menstrual and renal complaints (Campbell).

The bark and root-bark are believed to be useful in snake-bite and scorpion stings.

762. Nerium odorum, Soland. h.f.b.i., iii. 655. Roxb. 242.

Sans. : — Karavîra.

Vern. : — Difli (Arab.); Khar-zahrah (Pers.) ; Kanér, kanél, karbêr (Hind.); Kanira, kaner, ganhira (Pb.); Kanyúr (Kumaun); Alari (Tam.) ; Gannéru (Tel.) ; Alari (Mal.) ; Kanagale (Kan.) ; Karabi (Beng.); Kanhéra (Bomb.). Haya-mâra :— Killer of the horse (Marathi.)

Habitat: — Western Himalaya, from Nepal to Murree, Central India and Sind. A large, erect, stout, glabrous evergreen shrub, containing a cream-coloured sticky resinous juice. Root crooked. Stem 6-8ft. Woody, pithy in the centre. Bark thick, corky, soft, with a grey surface externally ; in young branches green. Leaves ex-stipulate, in whorls, rarely opposite or scattered, narrow linear-lanceolate ; 4-6in. long, thickly coriaceous, acuminate, entire, revolute, midrib very stout, main lateral nerves numerous, slender, horizontal, parallel, very close. Petiole very short. Flowers hermaphrodite, showy, sweet-scented, single or double, variously coloured, 1½in. diam., salver-shaped. Cymes racemose. Peduncles terminal, long angular ; pedicels short; bracts, deciduous, coloured. Calyx inferior, 5-partite, tubular, persistent, slightly acerescent. Segments subulate, lanceolate, erect ; base of the Calyx-tube glandular within. Corolla 5-lobed, twisted, hypogynous, gamopetalous, regular, deciduous. Corona of each petal 3-fid, laciniate. Stamens 5, alternate with the lobes of the Corolla, included ; filaments attached to the tube the whole way down. Anthers sagittate, introrse, united to the stigma, 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally. Connective, feathery more than twice the length of the anthers. The feathery processes are spirally twisted into a bundle projecting beyond the Corolla-tube. Pollen globose. Ovary superior, of two carpels, separable in fruit. Style single, uniting the ovaries. Stigma hour-glass or dumb-bell- shaped. Fruit cylindric, capsules in pair, with deep linear striations, slightly twisted, 6-9in. long. Seeds numerous, compressed, exalbuminous, with a tuft of fine, shining, white, and greyish silky hairs ; fusiform, slightly rugose.

Uses : — " Roots used in skin diseases and inflammatory affections. It has several synonyms in Sanskrit, signifying horse-killer, seems to be used for destroying horses. The root, beaten into a paste with water, recommended to be applied to chancres and ulcers on the penis (Sarangdhara). Fresh juice of the young leaves poured into the eyes in ophthalmia with copious lachrymation (Chakradatta)." (U. C. Dutt's M. M., p. 191).

All parts of the plant, especially the root, are recognized by the natives as poisonous, and, as such, are used for criminal and suicidal purposes ; yet we find, in the Taleef Shereef (p, 129), and other works on Indian Materia Medica, that it is prescribed in leprosy and other diseases. It is mentioned here chiefly with the view of enforcing caution in any trials which may be made with it, as in over-doses it is productive of serious and even fatal effects. Two interesting cases of poisoning with it are recorded, one by Dr. J. Broughton (Bombay Med. Phys. Trans., vol. iv., N. S. p. 4, in Appendix), and the other by Dr. A. Greig (Indian Annals of Med. Science, vol. ii., p. 295). In the latter, which proved fatal, death, according to Dr. Grieg, was due to the directly depressing influence which the drug exercised on the nervous system. A case in which tetanic symptoms followed, the exhibition of the root-bark is recorded by Mr. Kamikhya Nath Acharjee (Indian Med. Gaz., 1866. vol. i., p. 218).

The Mahomedan physicians describe the root as the most powerful resolvent and attenuant, only to be used externally ; taken internally, it acts as a poison upon men and animals. A decoction of the leaves is recommended to reduce swellings, and an oil prepared from the root-bark in skin diseases of a scaly nature, and in leprosy (Dymock).

The bark of the root, and the sweet-smelling leaves of this shrub, are considered by the Vytians as powerful repellents, applied externally. The root itself, taken internally, acts as a poison, and is but too often resorted to for the purpose of self-destruction, by the Hindoo women, when tormented with jealousy (Ainslie).

The active principles of N. odorum are powerful heart poisons. Prof. E. Pelikan suggested that the drug, owing to its depressing influence on the heart, might be given as a substitute for digitalis (Watt's Dictionary).

Nereium Oleander, is hardly different from the Indian plant. According to the examination of the sap, bark and seeds of the Oleander by — A Lenhar. J. Pharm Chim, 1912, 5,108-116, all parts of the oleandar plant with the exception of the sap, contain a toxic glucoside i-strophanthin. This substance known formerly as neriin has the same composition as strophanthin, and is closely related to it. I. Ch. J. 29th Feb. 1912, p. 202.

The following active principles may be mentioned as described by Sohn (Dictionary of the Active Principles of Plants, p 65, 1894) :—

1. Oleandrine.— Alkaloid. ? [Neriodorin, (Schmiedeberg) ; identical with one of Selmis's Ptomaines (Finoshi) ; statements of diffrent observers concerning Oleandrine, Neriin, Neriodorin, &c., are conflicting ; see Leuknowsky, Rep. Chim. Appliq., III, 77 ; Schmiedeberg Archiv., Exp. Pathol., XVI, 151 ; Greenish, Pharm. J, Trans., 3rd Ser., XI., 873, and others] Amorphous, yellow, resinous, biiter, poisonous. After heating to 240° C. it is no longer soluble in alcohol or water. Melting point above 56° C. with crystalline sublimate. Soluble in water, Betelli ; alcohol, ether, chlorofrm and fatty oils.

Neriodorin scarcely soluble in water or ether, not soluble in benzene or petroleum ether. For further information regarding the precipitants, see Sohn.

2. Neriin has all the properties of Digitalin and possibly identical there-with.

3. Nerianthin bears similar resemblance to Digitalin.

4. Rosaginin.— A Glucoside (E. Pieszezck). Amorphous, Archiv. Pharm., 1890, 352 ; poisonous ; action like Strychnine. Soluble in alcohol ; not in water, ether, chlorofrom or petroleum ethers. For further tests, see Sohn.

The presence of the Glucoside Rosaginin would seem to account for tetanic symptoms noticed in two cases reported in the Indian Medical Gazette of 1866.

Dregendorff recognizes Oleandrine as the alkaloid found in the plant, but says he is not familiar with it and refers the reader to the researches of Leukowsky.* Dymock, in referring to the researches of Leukowsky says that the latter recognizes in the leaves of oleander the presence of two alkaloids —namely, Oleandrine and Pseudo-curarine. Dymock further quotes the researches of Schmiedeberg, which, in view of the quotation from Sohn given above, referring to the difference of opinion as regards the nature of the true alkaloid, may well be repeated here. " Schmiedeberg (1883), who considers Oleandrine to be a glucoside, found in the leaves two other glucosides— Neriin and Neriuntine : he cosiders Neriine to be identical with Digitaleine."†

Greenish recognizes two bitter principles in the bark, Neriodorein and Neriodorin, which, he says, are closely allied non-nitrogenous substances, probably glucosides, both possessing the properties of powerful cardiac poisons. In the bark, he says, there are crystals of calcium oxalate. (Year Book of Pharmacy, p. 154, 1881).

763. Aganosma caryophyllata, G. Don., H.F.B.I., iii. 664.

Habitat: — Lower Bengal, Monghyr ; common on rocks at Risikund ; Dekkan Peninsula ; frequent on the Veligonda Hills of Cuddapab.

A large, evergreen climber. Stem very stout. Shoots pubescent. Leaves 4-5 by 2-2Jin., ovate or elliptic, coriaceous, acute, obtuse or acuminate, glabrous or tomentose beneath,

Plant Analysis transtated by Greenish, p. 204, 1884.

† Pharmacographia Indica, p. 401, Vol. II, 1891. base rounded, acute or subcordate, nerves strong beneath and all running toward the point in three oblique pairs. Petiole ¼-½. Cymes terminal, lax, white — tomentose. Pedicels shorter than Calyx-lobes which are hoary without. Sepals red, ¾in. long, linear-lanceolate, glandular within. Corolla white, tube 5-ribbed, ½in. long ; lobes obliquely orbicular ; tube and throat both cylindric, sub-equal, limb 1½in. diam. Ovary pubescent at tip. Style slender, top lanceolate, stigma columnar, to the tip of which the anthers are attached. Follicles 3-5in., stout, nearly ½in. diam.; pericarp thickly coriaceous. Seeds (unripe) ovate-oblong, ½in. long, flat. Ovary wholly included in the tubular 5- lobed disk (J. D. Hooker).

Use :— Used for the same purposes as A. calycina.

764. A. calycina, A. Dc. h.f.b.l, iii. 664.

Syn. : — Echites caryophyllata, Roxb. 245.

Sans. : — Málati.

Vern. : — Málati.

Habitat : — Tavoy ; Gomez.

A stout, evergreen climber. Branches pubescent. Leaves 3-4in., coriaceous, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, nerves 7-10 pairs, arching, slender. Petiole ⅓in. Cymes many— -fid, densely rusty-tomentose, lax, terminal. Peduncle and pedicels stout. Sepals ¾-lin., eglandular. Corolla- tube ½in. long, hoary, slender, cylindric, base hardly dilated, narrowed upwards to the mouth, villous within ; Corolla-lobes ovate-acute. Ovary quite glabrous. Style elongate-clavate, truncate ; stigma columnar. Fruit unknown (J. D. Hooker).

Use : — According to Sanskrit authors, this plant is heating and tonic ; useful in diseases caused by disordered bile and blood (U. C. Dutt).

765. Trachelospermum fragrans, Hook., h.f.b.l, iii. 667.

Vern. : — Dudhi (Kumaon).

Habitat: — Temperate and subtropical Himalaya, from Kumaon to Bhotan, exclusive of Sikkim. Assam ; Muku hills ; Cachar. A tall, nearly glabrous, climbing shrub. Shoots and petioles sometimes pubescent ; old stems with tubercled bark ; branches pendulous. Leaves 3-5 by l-l½in., opposite, elliptic-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate. Petiole 1/6-⅓in. Flowers white or pink, fragrant. Cymes loosely panicled ; peduncles very slender, l-3in., stout, angular, trichotomously branched. Bracts, minute, lanceolate. Pedicels slender. The cymes in upper axils ; long-peduncled. Sepals ¼-½in,, the length of the Corolla-tubes, ovate or lanceolate. Corolla salver-shaped, twisted in bud, tube slender, with the throat ⅓-½in. ; lobes at the base and mouth pubescent, obcuneate, obliquely truncate. Anthers spurred at base, included. Disc-glands quadrate. Ovary glabrous, acute. Follicles 4-9 by ¼., incurved and converging, cylindric, acuminate, narrowed at the base. Pericarp thinly coriaceous, smooth, pale. Seeds ¾in. long, slender, compressed, obtuse at both ends, pale smooth, coma as long, white (J. D. Hooker, Duthie and Kanjilal).

Use :— - According to Atkinson (Gazetteer of the Himlayan Districts, Vol. I, p. 726), it is said to possess properties similar to those of Alstonia scholaris, for which it is used as a substitute in Kumaon.

766. Anodendron paniculatum, A. Dc., h.f.b.i., iii. 668.

Syn. :— Echites paniculata, Roxb. 247.

Vern. : — Kâvali (M.). Lamtáni (Bomb.).

Habitat .-—From Sylhet to Martaban, Deccan Peninsula ; on the Western Ghats, from the Concan southwards. A very large, woody climber. Stems reaching 3 or more in. in diam., much dichotomously branched. Bark greyish-brown, young parts glabrous. Leaves opposite, 4-8 by l½-3in., elliptic or oblong or oval-oblong, rounded at base, shortly and suddenly acuminate, obtuse, glabrous and shining on both sides, thinly coriaceous; lateral veins numerous, 12-15 pairs, prominent beneath. Petiole ½in. Flowers very small, pale, dull, orange or yellowish white, on slender, glabrous pedicels, numerous. Cymes large, lax, trichotomous ; bracts small, ovate, deciduous. Calyx segments minute, ovate, acute, slightly ciliate. Corolla ⅛in. long (J. D. Hooker), ½in. diam. (Trimen) ; lobes twice as long as the tube, narrow, falcate, obtuse, throat villous, scattered, white hair on upper surface. Stamens, with very short broad filaments, Stigmas sessile, pointed. Follicles 5-6in., divaricate, ovate-oblong, cylindrical, blunt, glabrous, hard and woody, black at times, narrowed from a base of ¾in. diam. to the obtuse point, terete. Seeds few, 8-12, 1¼in. long, flat ; beak long, about ¼ the seeds length, slender, coma white, 2in. long. The stems afford a very strong fibre.

Use : — The root possesses similar properties to Ipecacuanha (S. Arjun).

767. Ichnocarpus frutescens, Br. H. F.B.I., III. 669.

Sans. :— Sárivá.

Vern. : — Syâmlatâ (B.); Káli dudhi, belkamu (Saharanpur), bamar (Gorakhpur); Nalatiga (Tel.); Bhori (C. P.). Krishna Sarwa, Kantebhouri (Mar); Gorwi balli (kan).

Habitat : — Western Himalaya ; Sirmore to Nepal ; Upper Gangetic plain, from Dehli to Bengal, Assam, Sylhet, Chittagong, and the Deccan Peninsula.

An extensively climbing, evergreen shrub ; much-branched. Branchlets long, slender, white like finely fulvous-tomentose. Leaves l½-2½in., elliptic oblong-lanceolate, or ovate-oval, rounded at base, acute, 2-3 by ¾-1½in,; dark green glabrous and shining above, pale and more or less pubescent beneath, with slender reticulations between the main lateral nerves. Petiole ¼-⅓in. Cymes l-3in., axillary and in terminal panicles, rusty pubescent ; branches short, trichotomously divided, or 3-flowered. Pedicels longer or shorter than the Corolla. Flowers greenish-white, more or less scented (Brandis), yellow (Trimen). Calyx-lobes ovate, obtuse, or subacute, eglandular, hairy. Corolla about ½in., diam., purplish (J. D. Hooker), twice as long as the Calyx ; 1/5in. long, says Brandis ; lobes falcate, acuminate, woolly on the upper side. Disk of 5 linear lobes. Follicles spreading, 2-5in. long. Seeds not rostrate, with a tuft of hairs at the upper end; ½in. long, coma as long, scanty, white. Pericarp thinly coriaceous. Uses : — The root is considered to possess alterative tonic properties, and has been employed as a substitute for Sarsaparilla (Ph. Ind.) The stalks and leaves are used in the form of decoction in fevers (Watt).

The roots are somewhat similar in appearance to those of Hemidesmus, but have not the same coumarin odour. The bark is of a dark brown colour, and adheres closely to the wood, which is much harder, and differs in structure from that of Hemidesmus in having a large central pith. The roots are seldom branched but here and there a few fine fibres are given off; they are almost tasteless. For the properties and use of this plant, the reader is referred to Hemidesmus.

Chemical composition. -The roots contain a caoutchouclike substance soluble in benzol, and a soft, brown tenacious resin soluble in ether. Treated with alcohol the powdered root affords about 10 per cent, of dry extract, containing red colouring matter, tannic acid and a small quantity of coumarin. The tannic acid strikes a green colour with ferric chloride and if to this green mixture a drop of soda solution is added, a bright, blue zone is seen to surround the red coloured spot formed by the alkali. This reaction is peculiar to cinchotannic acid. No alkaloidal body could be detected in this drug, (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II. p. 424).

N. 0. ASCLEPIADEÆ.

768. Hemidesmus indicus, Br. h.f.b.i., iv. 5.

Syn. : — Asclepias pseudo-sarsa, Roxb. 254.

Sans. : — Ananta ; Sugandhi ; Gopi-mûlam ; Sáriva.

Vern : — Magrabu, jangli-chanbelli, hindi-sálsá (H.) ; Ananta-mûl (B.); Sugandi-pálá, nannári, nát-ká-aushbah (Dec); Upalsára (Bomb.); Anantamûl, upalasari (Mar.); Nannári, (Tam.) ; Gadisugandhi, pála-chukkani-déru, sugandhipála, tella sugandhipála, pálasugandhi, muttapulgam (Tel.) ; Sogadaheru, sugandha-pálada-gida (Kan.).

Habitat: — Northern India, from Banda to Oudh and Sikkim, and southwards to Travancore.

Twining shrubs. Leaves opposite, hairy, or pubescent beneath . Leaves most variable in form, length, and breadth ; from broadly obovate to oblong, elliptic, linear or linear-lanceolate, obtuse, or apiculate; the shorter and broader 1-1½ by 1-1½in., the longer 4 by ¼in., the broadest semetimes retuse at the tip, the narrowest finely acuminate, those on the young shoots often white along