Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Leguminosæ
N. 0. LEGUMINOSÆ.
339. Crotalaria burhia, Hamilt, h.f.b.i., ii. 66.
Vern.:—Sis, sassi, meini, pola, khippi, buta, khep, bhata, bui, lataia, kharsan, kauriâla (Pb.); Drunoo (Sind.) ; Ghâgti (Mar.); Ghangaro (Guz.)
Habitat:—In the sandy plains of Sind and Punjab, and the desert regions of Cambay. Western Rajputana and Guzerat. Also in Afghanistan.
An erect, pro-cumbent shrub. Branches numerous, slender, flexible and rush-like when young, stiff and rigid when old. Leaves simple, small and scanty. Stipules 0, linear or oblong. Flowers yellow, 6-12, far apart, on large raceme forming terminal, divaricate, rigid panicles. Calyx toothed, with long, dense, silky hairs; teeth lanceolate, as long as Corolla, ¼-⅓ inch. Corolla yellowy scarce exserted (J. G. Bakar). Pod oblong, 3-4 — seeded, rather longer than the Calyx.
Use:—The branches and leaves are used as a cooling medicine (Stewart).
340. C. prostrata, Roxb. h.f.b.i., ii. 67, Roxb. 548.
Habitat:—Plains, from the Upper Ganges to Ceylon, ascending the Himalaya to 6,000 ft.; also in Upper Burma and Java.
Copiously branched herbs, with flexuous, trailing, slender stems, finely silky, or with yellowish brown hairs. Leaves close, simple, obovate-oblong, rather oblique; nearly sessile, 1-1½ in. long, obtuse, pale, glaucous below, produced (cordate) on the lower side at the base. Stipules or small, not decurrent. Peduncles finely silky, usually twice the leaves. Racemes all lateral, leaf-opposed, usually reduced to a few flowers ; minute, hairy bracteole at the joint ; arranged in lax, slender, erect or ascending glabrous, recenose panicles, several of which arise from leaf-axil. Calyx-segments strongly imbricate, orbicular, very obtuse, glabrous. Petals much longer than sepals, oval-oblong, spreading. Stamens only 2-4 ; bracts subulate, very minute. Calyx 1/12-1/6 in., densely silky ; teeth linear, long. Corolla small, yellow, not exserted. Pod linear-oblong, glabrous, nearly sessile, ½-⅝ in. long, 12-15 seeded.
Use : — Used by the Santals in derangement of the stomach.
341. C albida, Heyne. h.f.b.l, ii. 71.
Syn. C. montana, Roxb. 547.
Vern. Ban-methi (H).
Habitat :~-Tropical region through India proper and Ceylon, ascending to 5,500 ft. in Kumaon, and to 6-7000 ft. in the West Himalayas. Burma, Malay Peninsula and Islands, extending to China and the Philippines.
A perennial herb or small under-shrub, with short woody base and very numerous ascending, slender branches 6in.-2ft. long, covered with short, adpressed hair. Leaves numerous, rather close, small, ½-¾ in., shortly stalked, linear-spathulate, acute at base, obtuse truncate or retuse at apex, apiculate, glabrous and minutely punctate above, silky with adpressed hair beneath, without stipules. Flowers bright yellow, small, numerous, on slender pedicels, secund, in lax terminal racemes. Bracts minute, often on the Calyx-tube. Calyx-segments ⅜in., the upper linear-oblong, very obtuse, the lower linear-lanceolate, acuminate, all very finely silky. Petals about as long as Calyx. Pod ½in., oblong-ovoid, not stalked, tipped with hooked base of style, glabrous, brown ; seeds 6-12.
Use : — The root is used as a purgative.
342. C. verrucosa, Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 77.
Syn. : — C. angulosa, Lamk., Roxb. 550. Vern. :— Ban-san (B. and H.) ; Vuttei-khilloo-khilloopie (Tam.) ; Ghelegherinta (Tel.); Tirat (Bom.).
Habitat :— Tropical regions of the Himalayas and Ceylon.
A copiously-branched, erect annual, scarcely shrubby, 2-3ft. high. Branches at first puberulent, soon glabrescent, acutely-angled. Stipules foliaceous, ½-lunate, not decurrent. Leaves simple, thin, obscurely downy beneath, reaching 4-6in., ovate, usually acute ; the base deltoid, usually obtuse. Racemes moderately close, lateral and terminal, not panicled, 12-20- flowered, ½ft. or more long ; bracts linear, very minute ; pedicels equalling or shorter than calyx. Calyx ¼ in., obscurely downy, teeth lanceolate, twice the tube. Corolla twice the calyx, yellow, white and blue. Pod finely pubescent, 1-1½ in. long, 10-12-seeded.
Uses : — The juice of its leaves is used in medicine ; it is supposed to be efficacious in diminishing salivation. It is prescribed by the Tamil doctors, both internally and externally, in cases of scabies and impetigo (Ainslie).
343. C. juncea, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 79, Roxb. 545.
Vern. : — San (H. and B.) ; Janab-ka-nar (Dec.) ; Jenappanar (Tam.); Jenapa-nara (Tel.) Ansâ suilâ (Assam); Sini, tâg-san (Sind.) ; Janapa, pulivanji (Mal.) Sanabu, shanabinâ, pundi (Kan.).
Habitat : — The plains of India.
A stiff annual herb, several feet high, with slender, virgate, rigid, thinly silky, terete, multisulcate branches. Stipules or minute, subulate. Leaves simple, rather distant, linear or oblong, rather obtuse, firm, usually l½-3in., shining on both sides, with thin, short, brown, silky hairs. Bast fibre very valuable for cordage, known in commerce as Sunn. Racemes lateral and terminal, not panicled, loosely 12-20-flowered, reaching a foot long ; bracts very minute, linear. Calyx ½-¾in. long, densely clothed, with ferruginous, velvety hairs : teeth linear- lanceolate, very deep. Corolla bright yellow, glabrous, slightly exserted. Pod 1-1¼ in. long, clothed with short-spreading presistent, silky hairs ; 10-15-seeded.
Use : — The seeds are used to purify the blood.
344. C. medicaginea, Lamh. h.f.b.i., II. 81.
Syn. : — C. procurnbens, Roxb, 551.
Vern. :— Gulâbi (Pb.).
Habitat : — Tropical regions of the West Himalayas and India.
A diffuse, perennial, herbaceous plant, with slender, much- branched stems, diffuse, ½-1ft. long, thinly silky upwards. Stipules setaceous, very minute, deciduous. Leaves trifoliate. Leaflets ¼-½in. long, retuse, emarginate, glabrous above, obscurely silky below. Petioles shorter than the oblanceolate leaflets. Racemes copious, 2-6-flowered, terminal and leaf- opposed. Peduncles exceeding the leaves ; bracts minute, linear. Coralla twice the calyx. Calyx thinly silky, campanulate, ⅛in. deep ; teeth linear, exceeding the tube. Corolla yellow. Pod. ⅛ in. long, glabrescent, obliquely subglobose, small, sessile, 2-seeded.
Use : — This plant is officinal in the Punjab.
345. Trigonella occulta, Delile. h.f.b.i., ii 87.
Habitat :— Sind, the Punjab and N.-W. Provinces.
An annual herb, diffuse, densely cæspitose, glabrous or sub-glabrous, with slender stems, a few inches long. Leaves pinnately 3-foliate, toothed. Stipules deeply laciniate. Petioles exceeding the sharply-toothed, minute, oblanceolate cuneate leaflets. Flowers 2-4 together, in copious, sessile, axillary clusters. Calyx ⅛in., campanulate, teeth linear-setaceous. Corolla slightly exserted' ; petals free from the staminal-tube. Pod elliptical, short, turgid, scarcely exserted, glabrous, usually 2-seeded.
Use : — The seeds are used in dysenteric affections (Murray).
346. T. Fœnum-grœcum, Linn, h.f.b.i,, ii. 87, Roxb; 588
Sans. :— Methi.
Arab. : — Hulbah.
Pers. : — Shamlit. Vern. :— Methi(B. and H.) ; Vendayam (Tam.); Mentulu (Tel.); Menthya(Kan.).
Habitat : —Cultivated in many parts of India, but is wild in Kashmir and the Punjab.
Annual, robust, erect, sub-glabrous herbs. Stipules not laciniate. Leaflets toothed, ¾-1 in. long, oblanceolate oblong. Flowers 1-2, sessile in the axils of the leaves. Calyx ¼-⅓ in., teeth linear. Corolla much exserted. Pod 2-3in. long, turgid, 10-20-seeded, with a long, persistent beak, often falcate.
Use : — Fenugreek seeds are considered carminative, tonic, and aphrodisiac. Several confections made with this article are recommended for use in dyspepsia with loss of appetite, in the diarrhœa of puerperal women, and in rheumatism (Hindu Mat. Med.) An infusion of the seeds is given by the Natives to small-pox patients as a cooling drink. Mahomedan writers describe the plant and seeds as hot and dry, suppurative, aperient, diuretic, emmenagogue, useful in dropsy, chronic cough, and enlargements of the spleen and liver. A poultice of the leaves is said to be of use in external and internal swellings and burns, and to prevent the hair falling off. The flour of the seeds is used as a poultice, and is applied to the skin in cosmetic (Dymock). The use of fenugreek as a medicinal agent is now obsolete in Europe and the United States. Formerly the seeds were employed in the preparation of emollient cataplasms, fomentations and enemata, but were never given internally. The powdered seeds are still used in veterinary practice (Bentley and Trimen).
The seeds being toasted and afterwards infused are used by Native practitioners in Southern India for dysentery (Ainslie.) In the Concan, the leaves are used both externally and internally, on account of their cooling properties (Dymock).
Fenugreek.
Analysis of 2 samples gave the following results :—
- Nitrogenous matter ... ... 13.74 and 13.02 p. c.
- Fat ... ... ... ... 3.31 and 3.54 „
- Crude fibre .,. ... ... 31.75 and 29.36 „
- Nitrogen-free extract ... ... 45.79 and 48.14 . „
- Ash ... ... ... ... 5.42 and 5.94 „ in the dry matter.
| K2O | Na2O | CaO | MgO | Fe2O3 | P2O5 | SO3 | SIO2 | CI. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19.37 | 7.60 | 30.73 | 1.19 | 4.71 | 8.24 | 4.35 | 21.97 | 1.23 |
| 2 | 18.85 | 7.55 | 28.92 | 0.96 | 5.08 | 7.87 | 3.91 | 25.19 | 0.99 |
In composition, fenugreek resembles Trifolium incarnatum—— LXXVIII. pt. II. 1900, p. 364.
Trigonella Fœnumgrœcum.
{{{1}}}
347. Melilotus parvi flora, Desf., h.f.b.i., ii. 89.
Syn. : — Trifolium indicum, Linn, Roxb. 588.
Sans. : — Vana-methika.
Vern. ;— Sinjee (Pb ) ; Zir (Sind.) ; Banmethi (H.)
Habitat : — Western Peninsula, Bengal and U. P.
An under-shrub, 2-3ft. high, with firm, slender branches and membranous leaves, thinly clothed with adpressed grey hairs. The branches soon turn glabrescent. Stipules minute setaceous. Petioles ½-¾in. Leaflets always 3, obovate, the end one 1-1½ in. long, stalked, the side ones opposite. Racemes congested, 6-12-flowered, usually sessile, seldom over an inch long. Calyx 1/12-⅛in., white-canescent ; teeth long, setaceous. Corolla purplish-red, twice the Calyx. Pod straight, tetragonous, 6-10- seeded, not torulose, ¾-1¼ in. long ; the firm glabrescent valves obtusely keeled.
Use. — The seeds are said to be useful in bowel complaints and infantile diarrhœa, given as a gruel (Murray).
348. M. officinalis, Willd., h. f. b. i., ii. 89.
Syn. : — Trifolium officinale, Willd. Roxb. 588.
Vern. :— Aspurk (H.) ; Tireer (Pers.); Bun-piring (B.).
Habitat : — Nubra and Ladak.
A biennial herb. Stem much taller than that of M. parviflora, Desf. Stipules linear, acuminate. Leaves, with toothed pinnately 3-foliate leaflets. Leaflets obovate or oblanceolate, retuse or emarginate. Racemes denser and not quite so long as M. parviflora. Calyx 1/12in. Corolla linear, yellow, odorous, usually three times as long as Calyx. Standard the same length as the wings and keel. Pod distinctly stipitate, hairy, 1/16in. long, 1-2-seeded ; not obtuse.
Use:— Said to possess styptic properties, also employed in bruises (Watt.).
349. Cyamopsis psoralioides, D.C, h. f. b. i., ii. 92.
Syn. : — Dolichos fabæformis, Willd., Roxb. 564.
Vern. : — Gowâr (H.) ; Kauri, phaliguar (Pb.) ; gawar or Godi bavachi (Bomb.) ; Buru raher (Santal).
Habitat : — Plains from the Himalaya to the Western Peninsula. Cultivated in Bombay, Surat, Ahmedabad, Deccan.
A robust, erect annual, 2-3 ft. high, clothed with adpressed grey hairs attached by the middle. Leaves 3-foliate. Leaflets l½-3 by ½-2in., elliptic, acute, sharply dentate (the teeth generally ending in a weak spine, clothed on both sides with adpressed medifixed hairs, base acute ; main nerves prominent. Petiolules of the lateral leaflets 1/8 in., those of the terminal ones 1/4-½in. long. Petioles 1-1½ in. long, sparsely hairy. Stipules l/4-3/8in. long, linear setaceous, subulate persistent. Flowers small, 6-30in. copious, close, short-peduncled, axillary, close racemes ; pedicels short, hairy ; bracts linear-subulate, persistent, 3/16 in. long. Calyx hairy outside, 1-1/4 in. long to the extremity of the longest tooth ; teeth very unequal, the lowest two the longest linear-subulate, the upper 3 shorter, triangular, acute. Coralla slightly longer than the Calyx ; standard slightly orbicular. Anthers uniform, apiculate. Ovary sessile ; many-ovulate ; style incurved at apex ; stigma capitate. Pod thick, fleshy, straight, sub-tetragonal, 1½-2in. long, slightly pubescent. Seeds 5-6, square, slightly compressed. Use :— Its stem and leaves appear to be officinal under the above name (Stewart). Pods used as a vegetable among the Hindus.
350. Indigofera linifolia, Retz., h.f.b.l, ii. 92, Roxb. 582.
Vern. :— Torki (H.) ; Bhângra (B.) ; Taudikhode-baha (Santal) ; Burburra, pândharipâle, bhangra, torki (Bomb.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.
An annual ; the whole plant persistently silvery, hoary. Stems slender, copiously branched, both at base and upward, ½-1ft. Leaves simple, sub-sessile, ½-1in. long, typically linear, acute, but varying to obovate, obtuse, with a mucro. Stipules minute, setaceous. Flowers 6-12 ; in copious, dense, sub-sessile Racemes. Calyx 1/12 in., silvery ; teeth long, linear-setaceous. Corolla bright red, 2-3-times the Calyx. Pod hard, mucronate silvery under, 1/12 in. thick.
Use :— It is given medicinally in febrile eruptions (Honnigberger).
The Santals use the plant in amenorrhœa along with Euphorbia thymifolia (Revd. A. Campbell).
351. I. glandulosa, Willd. h.f.b.i, ii., 94, Roxb. 583.
Vern. : — Vekhariyo (Guj.) ; Barbed (Sholapur) ; Gavacha matmaudi (Bomb.) ; Vekhariyo, baragadam, barapatalu, boomidapu, barapatam (Tel.).
Habitat : — Plains of the Western Peninsula and Bundelkhand.
An annual, with elongated, slender branches, clothed when young with spreading hairs not at all argenteo-canescent. Leaves distinctly petioled, always 3-foliate. Stipules setaceous, minute ; petiole nearly as long as the leaflets. Leaflets oblanceolate, membranous, ½-1 in. long, green above ; hairs adpressed, obscure, pale glaucous, with copious distinct black dots below. Heads ¼-⅜in. long, sessile. Corolla 3-4 times the Calyx. Caylx 1/12in., pubescent ; teeth long, setaceous. Pod brown, finely pubescent, oblong, 1/6in. long, globose 1-2-seeded, (1-seeded, says J. G. Baker).
Use : — The seeds are employed as a nutritive tonic.
352. I. enneaphylla, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii, 94, Roxb. 584.
Sans. : — Vasuka.
Vern. : — Cheppoo-neringie (Tam.) ; Cherragaddaun (Tel.) ; Bhiuguli (Mar.) ; Kenneggilu (Kan.) ; Cheru-pullate (Mal.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout the plains of India.
A thinly, silvery-hoary annual or biennial. Stems densely cæspitose, 1-1¼ft., trailing, much-branched; leaves nearly sessile, 7-11-foliate, ½-1½in. long. Leaflets firm, oblanceolate, alternate ; stipules minute, setaceous. Heads 12-20- flowered, dense, short peduncled or .sessile. Calyx 1/12-⅛ in. hoary ; teeth long, setaceous. Corolla slightly exserted. Pod oblong, 2-seeded, ⅛-1/6in. long, cylindric, thinly hoary.
Use: — The juice of this plant is used as an antiscorbutic, alterative and . diuretic ; and is considered alterative in old venereal affections (Ainslie).
353. I. aspalathoides, Vahl., h.f.b.i., ii. 94.
Syn. : — I. aspalathifolia, Roxb. 582, 583.
Vern. : — Shevenar-vaymboo (Tam.); Manueli (Mal.); Nil (Pb.) ; Shiva-malli (Kan.)
Habitat : — Plains of Carnatic.
A low undershrub, with copiously spreading, rigid, terete, woody branches and argenteo-canescent branchlets. Leaflet 1-5, pale green, with a few obscure adpressed hairs, oblanceolate, 1/12-¼in- long, often complicate. Pedicels erecto-patent, ⅛-¼ in., almost as long as the leaf, much shorter than the pod. Calyx scarcely 1/24 in. ; teeth long, linear. Corolla red, ⅛in. Pod straight, glabrous, turgid, ½-⅝ in. long. 6-8-seeded.
Uses :—The leaves, flowers and tender shoots are said to be cooling and demulcent, and are employed in decoction, in leprosy and cancerous affections. The root is chewed as a remedy for toothache and aphthae. The whole plant, rubbed up with butter, is applied to reduce ©edematous tumors. A preparation is made from the ashes of the burnt plant to remove dandruff from the hair. The leaves are applied to abscesses ; and an oil is obtained from the root which is used to anoint the head in erysipelas (Ainslie and Rheede).
354. I, trifoliate, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 96.
Syn.:—I. prostrata, Willd., Roxb, 583.
Vern. : — The seeds — Wekaria (Bomb.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.
Use : — The seeds are prescribed along with other mucilaginous drugs as a restorative (Dymock).
355. I. paucifolia Delile., h.f.b.l, ii. 97, Roxb. 583.
Vern : — Kuttukkarchammathi (Tarn.).
Habitat : — The plains of Sind and the upper Gangetic basin.
A shrub, reaching 4-6ft., with copious woody branches which, along with the sub-coriaceous leaves, are argento-canescent. Leaflets 3-5, alternate, firm, oblanceolate oblong, ½-1 in. long, sometimes solitary on the branches ; petiole short, but distinct. Racemes short-peduncled, 20-50-flowered, reaching 3-4 in. long. Calyx silvery 1/24 in.; teeth lanceolate, cuspidate, as long as the tube. Corolla red, 3-4-times the Calyx, thinly silvery externally. Pod ½-¾ in. long, glaucous, distinctly torulose, 6-8-seeded, recurved.
Parts used : — The root and stem.
Uses : — It is considered an antidote to poisons of all kinds. The root boiled in milk is used as a purgative, and a decoction of the stem as a gargle in mercurial salivation (Watt.)
356. I. tinctoria, Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 99, Roxb. 585.
Sans. : — Nila.
Vern. :— Nil (H. B.) ; Averi (Tam.) ; Ameri (Malay.) ; Neelie (Tel.); Nil guli (Bomb.); Jil, nil (Sind.).
Eng. : — Common indigo.
Habitat :— Cultivated throughout India, for Indigo.
This is the universally cultivated Indigo. A shrub, 4-6ft. high, with twiggy, woody, thinly silvery, branches. Leaves l-2in. long, leaflets 9-13, large, obovate-oblong, opposite, membranous, turning blackish when dried ; petiole ½-1in. Racemes lax, nearly sessile ; 2-4in. long. Flowers small. Calyx 1/24in., silvery, teeth as long as the tube. Corolla ⅛-1/6in., reddish-yellow. Pod ¾-1in. long, 1/12in. thick, glabrescent, nearly straight, scarcely at all recurved, 8-12-seeded, not torulose.
Uses :-— Both Hindus and Mahomedans consider the plant to have attenuant properties ; they prescribe it in whooping cough, affections of the lungs and kidneys, palpitation of the heart, enlargement of the spleen or liver, and dropsy. Indigo applied to the navel of children is said to act upon the bowels; it is applied to the hypogastrium to promote the action of the bladder. A poultice or plaster of the leaves is recommended in various skin affections, and is used as a stimulating application to old ulcers, hæmorrhoids, &c. Indigo is applied to the bites and stings of venomous insects and reptiles to relieve the pain, also to burns and scalds. Ainslie notices the use of the root by the Hindus in hepatitis (Dymock.)
The extract is given in epilepsy and nervous disorders.
It is also used in bronchitis, and as an ointment in sores (Watt).
An infusion of the root is given as an antidote in cases of poisoning by arsenic. (Surg. Thomas in Watt's Dictionary).
357. I. pulchella, Roxb. h.f.b.i., ii. 101, Roxb. 585, 586.
Vern. :— Sakena, hakua (H.) ; Uterr, jhurpur (Kol.); Darehuter, lili-bichi (Santal) ; Hikpi (Lepcha) ; Girhul (Kharwar) ; Baroli (Mar.) ; Togri (Bhil.) ; Chimnâti ; Nirda (Mahableshwar.)
Habitat : — Throughout the Himalayan tract and the hills of India.
A shrub, 4-6 ft. high, the trunk reaching the thickness of a man's leg. Branches sulcate, thinly coated with grey adpressed hairs at first, soon glabrescent. Leaves short-petioled, 3-6in. long ; leaflets opposite, obtuse, often emarginate, usually ¾-1in. long, pale green above, glaucous below, thinly coated, with short adpressed grey hairs, ovate-oblong, 13-17, su-bcoriaceous, Sti pule abortive or very minute ; bracts exceeding the buds, usually boat-shaped, with cusp. Racemes short-peduncled, moderately close, 1-3in. long ; pedicels short. Calyx 1/12 in. long, argento-canescent ; teeth short, deltoid. Corolla bright red, glabrous externally, generally ⅜-½in., reaching ¾-⅞in. long;the standard ⅜in. broad, reflexed in the expanded flower. Pod straight, turgid, glabrous, 1¼-1¾in. long, 8-12-seeded.
Part used:— The root.
Use: — A decoction of the root is given by the Santals for cough ; and a powder of the same is applied externally for pains in the chest (Revd. H. Campbell).
The interesting ' Notes on Indigoferæ,' recently published by Dr. Prain and Mr. E. Baker in the Journal of Botany, reveal many facts, which, apart from their historical and geographical interest, are of great importance in regard to indigo- culture in India In their opinion, I. tinctoria {taken in the wide sense) may be considered as representing 3 distinct forms, as follows : —
Form 1. This is the wild indigo which was found in Nubia by Kotschy in 1841 ; and specimens agreeing with it have since been collected in Central India. The plant was probably unknown to Linnæus and also to DeCandolle Regarded as a distinct species, its correct name would be I. Bergii, Vatke,
Form 2. This is the southern, or the Madras and Ceylon cultivated indigo. It is also I. tinctoria, Linn. Sp. P1. (in part), and DeCandolle's var. macrocarpa of that species. It is found in a semi- wild state in the Jumna ravines, near Agra and Muttra, also in Merwara (Rajputana), where it is not, and probably never has been, cultivated. It is called," Jinjini " in Rajputana, where its seeds are collected and eaten in years of scarcity, no other use being made of the plant. This form has been collected in a similar wild condition in many other localities more or less distant from its true area of cultivation.
Form 3. I, sumatrana, Gœrtn. Fruct, ii, 371, t. 148. Syn. I. indica, Lamk — Vern. Nil. This is the northern cultivated form of indigo, extending from Behar and Tirhut to the Punjab, where its area meets that in which some form of I. argentea is grown, and southwards to the Circars, where its area approaches that of the Madras cultivated form of I. tinctoria. According to Dr. Prain, this is the form that was first introduced into the W. Indies from the E. Indies, and in America it is the usual one met with. It also occurs in Trop. Africa, and in Formosa. It may be distinguished botanically from the southern form by its leaflets, which are larger, and ovate-oblong or oblong, instead of obovate or sub-orbicular. The pods also of I. sumatrana are shorter, thicker and blunter at the apex, and they are usually more numerous and straighter than in the Madras form. This northern form of indigo is an important rainy-season crop within the area. (Duthie's Flora of the Upper Gangetic Plain, Vol. I. p. 255).
358. Psoralea corylifolia,- Linn h.f.b.i., ii. 103, Roxb. 588.
Sans. : — Sugandha, kantak, avalgiga, vâkuchi, sonia-râj.
Vern. : — Buckchi, bâbchi (H.); Hakuch (B.j; Bâwachi (Bomb.); Karpoo-garishi, karpugan, karu, bogi-vittulu (Tam.) ; Kourgestum, bapungie (Tel.) ; Kourkoal (Mai.) ; Bawchan (Duk.) ; Babehi (Pb.).
Habitat : — Plains ; from the Himalayas throughout India proper.
An erect, annual, herbaceous under-shrub, 1-3ft. high. Branches firm, copiously gland-dotted. The plant under preservation lives for several years, six or seven or even more, reaching a height of 6 or 7 ft. Leaves simple, distinctly petioled, roundish, 1-3in. long, inciso-repand, firm in texture, both sides conspicuously dotted with black dots, very glabrescent. Racemes dense, short. Flowers 10-30, in dense, copious, long-peduncled heads. Calyx nearly sessile, ⅛in., teeth lanceolate, long, the lowest long. Corolla yellow, a little exserted. Pod small, black, sub-globose, glabrous.
Use : —Native works on Materia Medica describe the seeds as hot and dry, or, according to some, cold and dry, laxative, stimulant and aphrodisiac. They are recommended in leprosy, and other chronic skin diseases, and are given internally and applied externally as a plaster ; they are also said to be useful in bilious affections and as an anthelmintic (Dymock).
In southern India, they are used as a stomachic and deobstruent, and prescribed in lepra and other cutaneous diseases (Ainslie).
An oleature of Bâvchi for use in leprosy internally and externally was once prepared by Mr. D. S. Kemp, so far back as 1870.
In the Concan, the seeds, are used in making a' perfumed oil which is applied to the skin (Dymock.). Rai Bahadur K. L. Dey speaks highly of the oleo-resinous extract of the seeds, diluted with simple ointment, as an application to leucoderma. After application for some days the white patches appear to become red or vascular ; sometimes a slightly painful sensation is felt. Occasionally some small vesicles or pimples appear ; and if these be allowed to remain undisturbed they dry up, leaving a dark spot of pigmentary matter, which forms as it were a nucleus. From this point, as well as from the margin of the patch, pigmentary matters gradually develop which ultimately coalesce with each other, and thus the whole patch disappears. It is also remarkable that fresh patches are arrest- ed by its application (Ph. J., Sept. 24th, 1881). Extensively tried in Bombay by Bhao Daji and others as a remedy in leprosy, and, I believe, with some success- Several species of Psoralea have been used medicinally in America, and have been found to act as gently stimulating and tonic nervines. Tried in leprosy with a certain amount of success (Dymock.)
The seeds yield 20*15 per cent, of a thick, reddish-brown oil to ether.
Fat : Specific gravity at 100°, 0.9107 ; acid value, 39.18 ; saponification value, 204.6 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 6.9 ; iodine value, 79.9 ; unsaponificable, 1.73 ; butyro-refractometer at 25°, 79.5°.
Fatty acids (insoluble) : per cent 88.3 ; melting point, 32.8 ; iodine value, 83.06 ; neutralisation value, 192.4 ; mean molecular weight, 291.5. (A. K. Menon.) {Agricultural Ledger 1911-12— No. 5, p. 139.)
359. Colutea arborescens, Linn. Var Nepalensis, H.F.B.I., II. 103.
Vern. : — Brâa (Ladak).
Eng. : — The Bladder Senna.
Habitat : — Arid valleys of the inner Himalayas.
A sub-glabrous shrub, 6-10 feet high, unarmed. Leaves imparipinnate ; leaflets 9-13, obovate, pale green, ¼-⅜- in. long, often emarginate, obscurely silky in the young state. Racemes as large as the leaves, axillary, laxly 3-4-flowered. Flowers yellow, showy. Calyx 1/6-¼in. Corolla ¾ inch long; standard furnished at the base with two nipple-shaped papillæ. Pod ½-2in. long, faintly downy when young, splitting at tip before ripening.
Use : — The leaves of this plant are purgative, and are used to adulterate officinal senna. (U. S Dispensatory).
360. Mundulea suberosa, Benth. h.f.b.i., ii. 101.
Syn. — Robinia suberosa and R. Senuoides, Roxb. 568.
Habitat : — Hill-valleys of the Western Peninsula and Ceylon.
A stout, erect shrub, with thick corky bark. Branches, rachises,pedicels and leaves beneath densely sericeous. Leaves odd- pinnate. Leaflets 6-10-jugate, oblong, lanceolate, coriaceous, 1½-2in.. long. Flowers in close, terminal racemes. Pedicels 2-3 times the campanulate Calyx.Corolla ¾-1 in. long, reddish, thinly silvery. Pod 3-4in. long, densely sericeous, 6-8- seeded, both sutures thickened, so as to form prominent borders.
Uses : — The seeds are used in Southern and Western India as a fish poison. They stupefy the fish, which are then readily taken by the hand.
The seeds and bark contain a greenish yellow resin, soluble in carbon bisulphide, benzol, chloroform, amylic alcohol, ether, hot alcohol, and partly in caustic alkalis, with a bright yellow colour.
The leaves contain, besides the resin, an organic acid and 9 per cent of ash [Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. I., p. 417].
361. Tephrosia purpurea, Pers. h.f.b.i., ii. 112.
Syn. : — Galega purpurea, Roxb. 587.
Sans. : — Sarapunkha.
Vern. :— Sarphunka (H.) ; Ban-nil (Beng.) ; Bansa (Pb.) ; Jangli-kulthi (Bomb.) ; Kolluk-kây-velai (Tam.) ; Vempali (Tel.) Jhila (Guz.) ; Hun, nâli, jangli-kulthi (Dec.) ; Kozhin-nila (Mal.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.
A copiously-branched, sub-erect, herbacous perennial. Stem glabrescent or finely downy, l-2ft high, slender, terete. Leaves odd-pinnate, short-petioled, 3-6in. long. Stipules linear, subulate, ascending or reflexed; leaflets 13-21, narrow, oblanceolate, obtuse, green, glabrescent above, glaucous, obscurely silky below. Racemes copious, all leaf-opposed, 3-6in. long, lax ; lower flowers fascicled; pedicels ⅛-¼in., bracts minute. Calyx ½-1/6in., closely silky. Calyx teeth narrow, cuspidate, as long as the tube. Corolla ¼-½ in., red, thinly silky. Pod 1½-2 by 1/6 in., broad glabres cent, or finely downy, slightly recurved, 6-10-seeded. Style sub-glabrous penicillate at the tip.
Parts used : — The root, root-bark and seeds.
Uses : — Native works on Materia Medica describe this plant as deobstruent and diuretic, useful in cough and tightness of the chest, bilious febrile attacks, obstructions of the liver, spleen and kidneys. They recommend it as a purifier of the blood and for boils, pimples, &c. The author of the Makhzan mentions its use in combination with Cannabis Indica leaves (two parts of the former to one of the latter) as a remedy for bleeding piles, and with black pepper as a diuretic, especially useful in gonorrhœa (Dymock).
The root is bitter and given by Native practitioners in dyspepsia and chronic diarrhœa (O'Shaughnessy).
The plant is used internally as a purifier of the blood, and is considered a cordial. An infusion of the seeds is given as a cooling medicine (Dr. Stewart).
The plant appears to act as a tonic and laxative (Dymock).
In Ceylon, it is employed as an anthelmintic for children (Thwaites).
In the Punjab, an infusion of the seeds is believed to be cooling (Stewart.)
Fresh root-bark, ground and made into a pill, with a little black pepper, is frequently given in cases of obstinate colic, with marked success (Surgeon-Major Levinge of Madras, in Watt's Dictionary.)
362. T. villosa, Pers., h.f.b.l, ii. 113, Roxb. 587.
Vern. : — Vaykkavalai (Tarn.)
Habitat: — From the Himalayas to Ceylon.
Habit of T. purpurea, but stems lanceolate, firmer and more woody, clothed with short, adpressed white hairs. Leaves nearly sessile, 2 3in. long, stipules linear, ascending or reflexed. Leaflets 13-19, grey green, glabrescent above, persistently silky below, narrow, oblanceolate, often emarginate. Raceme half a foot or more long. Lower flowers indistinct, fascicled. often in the axils of the leaves ; pedicels very short, bracts setaceous, plumose. Calyx 1/5-¼in. deep, densely silky ; teeth setaceous, lower exceeding the tube. Corolla pale red, not much exceeding the calyx. Pod 1-1½ in. long, l/6-l/5.in. broad, densely, persistently white, velvety, much recurved, 6-8-seeded. Style glabrous, flattened, penicillate at the tip.
Use. — In Pudukota, the juice of the leaves is given in dropsy. (Pharm. Ind.)
363. Sesbania œgyptica, Pers., h.f.b.l, II. 14.
Syn. — Æschynomene sesban, Linn., Roxb. 570.
Sans. — Jayanti.
Vern. — Jêt râsin (H.) ; Ravasin (Dec.) ; Jayanti or Byojainti (B.) ; Shevari (Mar.) ; J ait, jaintar (Pb.) ; Champai, carcum chembai (Tam,) ; Kedangu (Mal.) ; Suiminta (Tel.).
Habitat. — From the Himalayas throughout the plains of India.
A weedy, tree-like herb, 6-10ft. high, or 15-20ft. at times, short-lived soft- wooded. Bark brown. Wood white, extremely soft. Leaves paripinnate, numerous rachis 2½-4in., slightly pilose, without prickles, furrowed above, swollen at base, 3-6ft. long. Leaflets 9-20 pair, linear-oblong, very shortly stalked, ½-3in,, obtuse, apiculate. glabrous or nearly so, rather glaucous. Branches nearly glabrous, young parts silky. Flowers few, rather large, on very slender pedicels, in very lax, slender, pendulous axillary, stalked racemes. Calyx glabrous, broad, companulate ; segment very shallow, acute. Pod 8-9in., pendulous, very narrowly linear, dehiscent, sharply beaked, usually somewhat twisted, weak, slightly torulose. Seeds 30 or more, greenish grey, separated by distinct transverse bars. The flowers are pale yellow, the standard dotted on the back with purple, or orange and purple (Brandis).
Uses. — The author of the Makhzan says that the seeds reduce enlargement of the spleen (Dymock). The seeds are applied in the form of ointment to eruptions, for which the juice of the bark is also given internally. They are also said to be stimulant emmenagogues (Watt). The leaves are applied in the form of a poultice to hydrocele and rheumatic swellings ; also to promote absorption or suppuration of boils and abscesses (T. N. Mukerji).
In the Punjab, the seeds are applied externally, mixed with flour, for itching of the skin.
In Dacca, the juice of the fresh leaves is given as an anthelmintic (Taylor).
The root, well bruised and made into a paste, is an excellent application for scorpion-stings (N. C. Dutt, in Watt's Dictionary).
364. S. aculeata, Pers., h.f.b.i., ii. 114.
Syn. — Æschynomene spinulosa, Roxb. 570.
Vern. — Brihut-chakrand (H.) ; Dhanicha (B.) ; Errajilgna (Tam.) ; Bhuiavali, rânshevari (Mar.).
Habitat. — From the West Himalayas throughout the plains of India.
A soft-wooded, suffruticose, erect, herbaceous annual, reaching several feet high, the branches and leaf-rachis, with small, weak prickles. Leaves abruptly pinnate, reaching ½-1ft. long ; 8-10 times longer than broad ; leaflets glabrous, 20-40 pair, linear, obtuse, mucronate; petioles usually sprinkled with minute cartilaginous points (W. & A.). Racemes axillary, peduncled, erect, lax, often about half the length of the leaves, few-flowered. Flowers pretty large (more than half an inch long), on slender pedicels. Calyx ⅛ in., glabrous- Corolla ⅜-½ in., pale yellow ; standard dotted with red. Pod 6-9in. by fin., straight or rather falcate, beaked with the persistent style.
Use.— -The seeds are mentioned by Baden Powell in his list of drugs.
365. S. grandiflora, Pers., h.f.b.i., ii. 115.
Syn. — Æschynomene grandiflora, Linn. Roxb. 569.
Agati grandiflora, Desv. Coronilla grandiflora, Willd.
Sans. — Vaka.
Vern.— Basna (H.) ; Bak (B.) ; Bagfal (Sunderbans) ; Agâstâ (Bomb.) ; Agati (Tam.) ; Avisi (Tel.) ; Agase (Kan.). Habitat. — Cultivated in South India and in the Ganges, Doab, and in Bengal.
A short-lived, wooded tree, attaining 20-3Oft., with virgate terete branches. Bark light brown, smooth. Wood white, soft. Leaves ½-1ft. long. Leaflets 10-30 pair, oblong, glaucous, 1-1½ft. long. Flowers 2-4in., short axillary racemes, 3in. long, red or white. Calyx lin. deep, glabrous, shallowly 2-lipped. Calyx-cup full of honeyed-juice. Pod 10-12in. long, or more, ⅓in. broad, compressed, tetragonous, falcate, firm, not torulose, the sutures much thickened.
Parts used. — The bark, leaves, flower, and roots.
Use. — In Bombay, the leaves or flowers are made use of by the Natives, their juice being a popular remedy in nasal catarrh and headache : it is blown up the nostrils and causes a very copious discharge of fluid, relieving the pain and sense of weight in the frontal sinuses. The root of the red-flowered variety, rubbed into a paste with water, is applied in rheumatism. From 1 to 2 tolas of the root-juice are given with honey as an expectorant in catarrh. A paste made of the root, with an equal quantity of stramonium root, is applied to painful swellings. The leaves are also said to be aperient (Dymock).
An infusion of the bark is given in small-pox (T. N. Mukerji).
The bark is very astringent and is recommended as a tonic by Dr. Bonavia (Ph. Ind.)
A poultice of the leaves is a popular remedy in Amboyna for bruises. The juice of the flowers is squeezed into the eyes to relieve dimness of vision (Murray).
The flowers and pods are used in Bombay in curries and fritters. The taste of the pods, when cooked as a vegetable is, somewhat mawkish. Some don't mind the mawkish taste, and eat them largely (K. R. K.).
363. Astragalus tribuloides, Delile, H. f. b. i., ii. 122.
Vern. :— Ogái (Pb.).
Habitat : —Plains of the Punjab. Annual weeds, with basifixed hairs. Stems slender, densely cæspitose, trailing, ¼ft., densely clothed upwards, with ascending white hairs. Leaves distinctly petioled, 1-2½in. long; leaflets mostly close, densely clothed, with long white hairs on both sides. 13-15, oblong-lanceolate, acute. Stipules minute. Heads dense, sessile, 6-10-flowered. Calyx tubular ⅛-1/6in., densely matted; teeth setaceous, shorter than the tube. Corolla pale yellow, little exserted. Pods ⅜in. long, turgid, linear oblong, densely pubescent, the cluster often spreading from the stem,- like the spokes of a wheel from the axis. Stigma glabrous; seed 10-12.
Use:—The seeds are used medicinally, on account of their demulcent properties.
364. A. hamosus, Linn, h.f.b.l, II. 122.
Vern.:—Taj-badshahi, katila, pûrtûk, parang (H.); Akhil-ul-malik (Pb.).
Habitat:—Plains of the Punjab at Lahore and Peshawar. Annual weeds, with basifixed hairs. Stem hairy, robust, 1-2ft. Leaves distinctly petioled, ¼-½ft. long; leaflets distinctly stalked, pale green ½-¾in. long, 13-25, oblong, emarginate, glabrescent above or thinly matted with silvery hairs on both sides. Heads 6-20-flowered; peduncles much shorter than the leaves, dense. Flowers small, yellow. Calyx 1/6in., matted with mixed black and white hairs, teeth subulate, as long as tube. Corolla half as long again as the Calyx. Pod ½-1in. long, cylindrical quite glabrous, much recurved, nearly bilocular, 16-18-seeded. Stigmas glabrous.
Use:—It has emollient and demulcent properties, and is useful in the irritation of the mucous membranes. The pods are officinal.
Is laxative and used in nervous affections; made into a paste with vinegar it is employed externally in headaches. Is said to be lactagogue and to be used in catarrhal affections (Dr. Emerson.)
365. A. multiceps, Wall, h.f.b.l, ii. 134.
Vern.:—Kandiára, kátarkanda, pisar, sarmul, kandei (Pb.) Tinain, diddani (Afg.). Habitat : — West Himalayas, Temperate Zone, Simla, Kumaon and Garwhal.
Low shrubs, with basifixed hairs. Main stems not produced ; branchlets, with densely crowded nodes. Tufts densely congested, armed with the very crowded leaf-rachises which are l½-3in. long Stipules ¼in., lanceolate, adnate only at the very base ; leaflets 21-31 mostly crowded, obovate oblong, 1/12-1/6in. long ; thick in texture, dull green, clothed with silky hairs. Pedicels 1/12-⅛in; bracts linear, exceeding the pedicels. Flowers 1-2 together in leaf axils, usually not peduncled. Calyx gibbous, ⅜in., thinly silky ; teeth linear setaceous, half as long as the tube. Corolla ¾in , yellow ; standard exceeding wings and keel ; stigma naked. Pods sessile, oblong, turgid, bilocular, 12-14-seeded, clothed with fine grey silky hairs.
Use : — The seeds are given for colic, and also for leprosy (Stewart).
366. Tavernierea nummularia, D.C., H. F. B. I, II. 140.
Vern. : — Jetimad (Sindhi, Bombay.).
Habitat :— Plains of Sind and the Punjab ; Deccan.
A copiously-branched under-shrub, l-2ft. high, with slender, finely canescent, terete branches. Leaves shortly petioled, usually 3-foliate. Leaflets very variable in size, ¼-1in. long, obovate-oblong or nearly round, thick, pale green, thinly can-escent beneath, the side ones not opposite. Stipules free, minute, lanceolate, scariose. Racemes few or many-flowered, usually exceeding the leaves. Calyx ⅛-1/6in., thinly silky. Corolla red, glabrous, ⅜-½in. Joints of pod 1-4, roundish.
Use :— The leaves of this plant are said to be useful in the form of a poultice, as an application to sloughing ulcers to keep them clean (Murray 123).
367. Alhagi maurorum, Desv. H.F.B.I., II. 145.
Syn. :— A mannifera, Desv, Hedysarum Alhagi Linn., Roxb. 574. Habitat: — Plains of the IT. Provinces, upper Ganges and the Concan.
Sans. : — Durlabha, girikarnika, yavása. Arab. : — Alhaju, haj, aàqúl, shoukuljaimal. Pers. : — Shutarkhor, khareshutar.
Vern: — Jawâsá (H. and Bomb.); Dulalabhá. (B.) ; Girikarmika (Tel.) ; Oosturkbar, kas-khandero (Sind).
The Manna, Taranjabin.
A low shrub, armed with copious sub-patent, hard pungent spines ½-lin. long. Leaves simple, drooping from the base of the spines or branches, oblong, obtuse, rigidly coriaceous glabrous. Flowers 1-6 from a spine, on short pedicels. Calyx glabrous 1/12-⅛in - Corolla reddish, 3 times the Calyx. Pod one in. long or less, falcate or straight.
Duthie writes (Flora of the Upper Gangetic Plain, Vol. I., p. 280) that " the true A. maurorum of Tournefort, with silky pods, does not occur in India."
Uses: — The plant is described by Sanskrit writers as laxative, diuretic and expectorant, the thorny flower, stalks and branches being the parts used. No reference is made by them to the manna.
In Mahomed an works it is considered to be aperient, attenuant and alexipharmic. A poultice or fumigation with it is recommended to cure piles. The expressed juice is applied to opacities of the cornea, and is directed to be snuffed up the nose as a remedy for megrim. An oil is prepared with the leaves as an external application in rheumatism ; the flowers are applied to remove piles (Dymock).
The manna is not produced by the Indian plant, but is imported from Persia and Bokhara. It is described by the author of the Makhzan as aperient and cholagogue, more digestible than ash manna, expectorant, a good purifier of the blood from corrupt and adust humors when given in diet drinks, such as barley water, &c ; diuretic, and, with milk, fattening and aphrodisiac. (Dymock). In the Concan, the plant is smoked along with black datura, tobacco, and ajwân seeds as a remedy for asthma (Dymock).
The infusion has a diaphoretic action (Surg. Barren, in Watt's Dictionary).
368. Uraria picta, Desv. h.f.b.l, ii. 155.
Syn. : — Doodia picta, Roxb. 582.
Vern. :— Dâbrâ (H.) ; Sankar-jata (B.) ; Deterdâne (Pb.) ; Prisniparni (Mar.) ; Pitavan, pitvan (Guz.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.
An erect, little-branched, suffruticose perennial, 3-6ft. high. Stems robust, finely, downy. Petiole l-2in. Leaves stipulate ; upper leaves 5-9-foliate. Leaflets 4-6, rarely 9, rigidly subcoriaceous, glabrous above, reticulato-venulose, minutely pubescent below, 4-8in. long, ¼-1in. broad ; lowest simple, round or oblong. Flowers in dense cylindrical racemes, ⅓-1ft. long, ⅝-⅜in. broad. Bracts brown, scariose, deciduous, not distinctly ciliated ; upper lanceolate, lower acuminate, ovate ; pedicels ¼-⅜in., abruptly recurved at the tip after flowering. Corolla purple, slightly exserted. Joints 3-6, glabrescent, polished, often whitish.
Use : — In Bombay, the plant is supposed to be an antidote to the poison of the phûrsa snake (Echis Carinata) (Dymock).
The fruit is applied to the sore mouths of children (Stewart).
369. U. lagopoides, D.C, h.f.b.l, ii. 156.
Syn. : — Doodia lagopodioides, Roxb. 581
Sa7is. : — Prisniparni.
Vern. :— Pitvan (H.) ; Chakulia (B.) ; Dowlâ, (Bomb); Kolaponna (Tel.).
Habitat : — Tropical Zone, Nepal and Bengal.
A suffruticose perennial. Stems densely cæspitose, woody, slender, pubescent, trailing. Petiole ½-1in. Leaves 1-and 3- foliate, intermixed. Leaflets many, of both kinds, obtuse, rounded at the base, l-2in. long, glabrous above, finely downy below, orbicular or oblong. Heads of flowers short, dense, oblong-cylindrical, always simple, 1-2, rarely 3-in. : long, under lin. thick ; bracts sub-persistent, distinctly ciliated. Pedicels densely crinate, not longer than Calyx. Calyx 1/6-1/5in. ; lower teeth setaceous, densely plumose. Corolla scarcely exserted. Joints 1-2, brown polished, finely pubescent.
Use : — This plant is an ingredient of the Dashamûla Kâdhâ (Decoction), and is thus much used in Native medicine. It is considered alterative, tonic, and anti-catarrhal, but is seldom used alone (Dutt).
According to Sushruta, it was given with milk to women in the seventh month of their pregnancy to produce abortion.
The properties attributed to it are probably entirely fanciful (Pharm. Ind.)
{{c|370. Alysicarpus longifolius, W. & A., h.f.b.l, ii. 159.
Habitat : — Plains, scattered throughout India proper.
Stems stout, ascending, sub-glabrous, reaching 4-5 ft. Leaf-lets oblong and lanceolate, 3-6 in. long, the flowers adpressed to the finely hairy rachis ; pedicels 1/12 in. Calyx ¼ in. ; teeth lanceolate, 4-5 times the length of the funnel-shaped plicate tube. Pod 4-6-jointed, usually exserted, 1/12 in. broad, turgid moniliform, marked with only a few faint raised vines.
Use : — The roots are sweet like liquorice and are called liquorice by the Indian peasants, and used as a substitute for the same.
371. Arachis hypogœa, Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 161, Roxb. 252.
Vern. :— Mung-phali ; vilâayeti-mung (H). ; Mât-kalai ; chini-bâdâm ; bilati-mung (B.); Bbui-mung; (Sind.); Bhui-shing (Bom. ); Bhui-mug ; bhui-chane (Mar.) ; Chini-mung ; bhui-chanâ (Guz.) ; Ver-kadalai ; nila-kadalai ; kadalaikai ; manilla-kottai (Tam,) ; Veru-sanagalu ; manilla-ginjalu ; nila-sanagalu (Tel.) ; Bhuimug. (Kan).
Habitat : — Cultivated in many parts of India. A diffuse annual herb. Root annual. Steins or rather branches, many, diffuse, hairy, from 2-4 ft. long. Leaves alternate, pinnate. Leaflets 2 pairs, oval and obovate, slightly hairy underneath. Petioles longer than the leaflets, with the base enlarged into a stem-clasping sheath with two ensiform processes. Flowers axillary, two or three together blossoming in succession, Bracts a common exterior pair to the fascicle and small proper ones to the several flowers. All are membranaceous tapering to a fine point and ciliate. Calyx with a very long, filiform, slender tube ; mouths two-parted ; the upper lip three-cleft, with the middle division emarginate ; the lower lip lanceolate, and rather longer. Corolla papilionaceous resupinate of a bright yellow colour. Vexillum round, emarginate, large in proper tun to the other petals inserted with the wings and carina partly on the base of staminiferous tube and partly on the mouth of the tube of the Calyx, wings free obliquely ovate, concave, longer than the carina which is at base two-parted ; the upper half in curved and subulate ; Filaments ten united into one fleshly tube with a groove, but opening on upper side. Anthers alternately sagittate and ovate. Germ "(ovary) ovate, lodged on the base of the sessile tube of the Calyx. Style long and slender. Stigma even with the anthers, and bearded on the inside. Legume oblong leathery, swelled at each seed, reticulated with prominent nerves, one-celled not opening spontaneously, nor are the sutures very conspicuous ; length various but in general about as thick as the little finger. Seeds from one to four, ovate, smooth, of the size of a French bean. The manner in which the young minute germ (ovary) of the plant acquires pedicels, sufficiently long to allow it to thrust itself into the ground to the depth of one, two or even three inches where it grows and ripens its seed is truly wonderful. Roxburgh further observes : " to understand the admirable economy it must be observed that the flowers are most perfectly sessile, two, three or four in the axils of ten leaves, and that the germ is lodged in the very base of the tube of the Calyx. Soon after the flower decays the germ acquires pedicels, after which it lengthens fast, it then enters the earth, and when the legume is perfectly formed, it will generally be found as deep in the earth as when full grown, I therefore conceive that it buries itself to its greatest depth before seeds begin to enlarge, and while the germ is only on obtuse point."
Found all over the warm parts of Asia, In the Dekkan and Concan.
Parts used : — The nut and oil.
Uses :—The oil may take the place of olive oil. " In Bombay the oil is expressed at the Government Medical Store Depot for pharmaceutical purposes, to the extent of about 6,000 lbs. annually. It is used as a substitute for olive oil" (Dymock).
" The experiments of Winter in the United States is that it is well adapted for the preparation of cerates and ointments, but that it would not serve as a substitute for olive oil in the preparation of lead plaster. Falicres found it to possess great aptitude for the nitric solidification, hence he has recommended its use in the preparation of Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitratis" (Bentley and Trimen). " The unripe nuts are sweet and are given to women whose supply of milk is insufficient for their children ; the unripe nuts are less oily and, therefore, more easily digested" (Subba Rao).
Leather has shown that the Mauritius variety of ground-nut contains from 44 to 49 per cent, of oil, while the indigenous varieties contain only 40 to 44 per cent. Newer samples have more recently been imported and it has been noticed that they are uniformly more rich in oil than the local kinds. These figures refer to the proportion of oil in the kernels. The proportion by weight of unhusked nuts to kernels is as 4 to 3. The bulk of the Indian manufacture of the oil is in the hands of owners of native rotary mills. Mills of the European pattern have been tried in South India, but they could not compete with the crude native mills as the cake from the former was too dry and powdery. Recently mills have been opened in Calcutta and elsewhere in Bengal for the manufacture of the oil and have created a large import traffic in the nuts. The nuts having been shelled the expression is carried out in two stages. The first expression is carried out at the ordinary temperature, and the cold drawn oil is nearly colourless, has a pleasant taste and is used as a salad oil. The second expression is made at a temperature of 30° to 32° and yields an oil suitable for edible purposes and for burning. Sometime a third expression is made at a higher temperature and gives a turbid oil suitable for soap making. Arachis cake contains the highest amount of proteins of all known oil-cakes. That from non-decorticated nuts contains 5*35 per cent, of nitrogen and 0'9 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and that from the kernels contains 7*9 per cent, of nitrogen and 135 per cent, of phosphoric acid. Arachis oil has the following constants : Specific gravity at 15°, 0.917 to 0.920 ; solidifying point, about zero ; saponification value, 185.6 to 194.8 ; iodine value, 83.3 to 100 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 0.0 ; Maumene test, 49°. Insoluble fatty acids and unsaponifiable, 94.87 to 95.86 ; melting point, 22° to 29° ; iodine value, 95.5 to 103.42 ; mean molecular weight, 281.8.
Arachis oil can be identified and detected by the isolation of arachidic acid, a constituent melting at 74.5". About 10 grms. of the oil is saponified, neutralised and treated with lead acetate. The lead salt is extracted with ether and the insoluble portion is decomposed and the fatty acids dissolved in 50 c.c. of 90 per cent, hot alcohol. On cooling the alcoholic solution, a crop of crystals will be obtained which should amount to 5 per cent, of the oil and melting between 74° and 75.5°, (Agricultural Ledger, 1911-12— No. 5, pp : 137- 138.)
372. Ougeinia dalbergioides, Benth, h.f.b.i., ii. 161.
Syn. : — Dalbergia ougeinensis, Roxb. 532.
Sans. : — Tinisa sejanduna.
Vern. :— Sândan, asainda, tinnas, timsa (Hind.) ; Tinis (Beng.); Bandhona (Uriya) ; Ruta (Kol.) ; Rot (Santal) ; Sandan-pipli (Nepal) ; Tewsa(Bhil) ; Sêr, shermana, tinsai (Gond.) ; Rutok (Kurku) ; Shânjan, pânan, tinsa, sâldan (N.-W. P.) ; Telus, sannan, sândan (Pb.) : Tunnia, (Banswara) ; Tinsa, karimattal, kala phalas tinnas, (C. P.) ; Tiwas, tunus, tunnia, telas, sandan, timsa (Bomb.) ; Kâlâ palas, tewas, tiwas, tanach (Mar.) ; Dargu, tella motuku, nemmi chettu, manda motuku (Tel.) ; Kari mutal, (Kan.)
Habitat : — Sub-Himalayan tract from the Sutlej to the Tista ; also Central India and the West Coast.
A. moderate-sized, deciduous tree 20 40ft., sometimes gregarious, with a short and often irregularly-shaped trunk. Bark -1/6in. thick, light brown, sometimes with bluish patches, with regular longitudinal and horizontal cracks. Wood hard, close-grained ; sap-wood small, grey ; heart- wood mottled, light brown, sometimes reddish-brown. Leaves pinnately 3-foliate, distinctly petioled, stipellate. Leaflets coriaceous, unequal, the terminal largest, broad-oval, the lateral opposite, oblique, edges undulate or slightly crenate, 3-6in. long. Flowers very copious, white or pale pink, on long slender pedicels, in dense fascicles or on short racemes, forming loose heads on old wood, l-2in. across. Pedicels ½-¾in., filiform, downy or glabrous. Calyx ⅛-1/6in. ; teeth obtuse. Stamens diadelphous ; anthers uniform. Pod oblong-linear, 2-3in. long, flat-veined, slightly contracted between the seeds, scarcely dehiscent; seeds 2-5, flat.
Uses: — The bark when incised furnishes a kino-like exudation, which is used in cases of dysentery and diarrhœa (Lisboa). "But its efficacy is very doubtful (K. R. K.). According to Campbell (Econ. Prod., Chutia Nagpur), a decoction of the bark is given among the hill tribes, when the urine is high coloured. In the Central Provinces, the bark is said to be used as a febrifuge.
373. Desmodium tiliœfolium, G. Don. h.f.b.l, ii. 168.
Vern. : — Motha, sambar, shamru, chamra (H.) ; Chamyâr marâra, gur-kats, dud-sambar, pirhi (Pb. ).
Arab. : — Sad-koofl.
Pers. : — Mushk-Zamin.
Habitat : — Himalayas, from the Indus to Nepal.
A small, erect, shrubby plant ; branches slender, terete, finely- downy. Leaves 3-foliate. Leaflets obtuse or sub-acute, thick, flexible, sub-coriaceous, green, glabrescent above, densely hoary beneath ; end one obovate, 2-3in. long, entire or obscurely repand, base deltoid or rather rounded. Petiole 2-3 in. Racemes copiously lax, often 1ft. long, axillary and terminal, the latter often copiously panicled with lower branches again compound. Bracts lanceolate. Pedicels ¼-⅜in., ascending, finely downy. Calyx ⅛in., downy ; teeth deltoid, shorter than the tube. Corolla ⅜-½in. Pod 2-3 in. long, ¼in. broad ; joints 6-9, longer than broad, thinly clothed with adpressed silky hairs.
Use : — The roots are considered carminative, tonic and diuretic, and used in bilious complaints. (Dr, Emerson.)
374. D. gangeticum, D.C., h.f.b.l, ii. 168.
Syn. : — Hedysarum gangeticum, Linn., Roxb. 575.
Sans. : — Sâlaparni.
Vern. :— Sarivan (H.) ; Sâlpâni (B.) ; Sâlwan, dáye (Bomb.) ; Tandi-bhedi-janetet (Santal), Gita-naram, kolaku-ponna (Tel.). Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.
A slender under-shrub. Stem 2-3ft high, suberect, woody, slightly angular, clothed with short grey down upwards. Leaves imparipinnate ; petiole ¾-1 1/5in. Leaflets oblong, ovate to narrow- lanceolate, membranous, 3-6in. long, acuminate glabrous above, more or less pubescent beneath. Secondary nerves 8-10 pair. Racemes slender 6-12in. long, axillary, mostly terminal, pedicels ascending. Flowers white, 1/10in. long, jointed ; ½-⅔ by 1/16 in. Calyx under 1/12 in., finely downy, teeth lanceolate. Corolla ⅛-1/6in. Pod falcate, 6-8-jointed, ½-¾ by 1/10in., glabrescent or clothed with miuute hooked hairs.
Use : — By Hindu writers it is regarded as a febrifuge and anti-catarrhal. It forms an ingredient of the Dasamula Kwâtha or decoction of ten herbals ; this decoction is used in remittent fever, puerperal fever, inflammatory affections within the chest, affections of the brain, and many other diseases supposed to be caused by the derangement of all the humors (Dutt).
375- D. polycarpum, D.C., h.f.b.l, ii. 171.
Syn. : — Hedysarum purpureum, Roxb., 578.
Vern. : — Bæphol (Santal.).
Habitat: — Himalayas, and everywhere in the plains.
An erect or sub-erect undershrub, with woody, slightly angular, slender branches, clothed upwards, with short adpressed grey hairs. Petiole ½-1in. Leaves imparipinnate. Leaflets sub-coriaceous, green, glabrous above, thinly clothed, with adpressed grey hairs beneath ; end one obovate-oblong, obtuse, l-3in. long; side ones smaller. Racemes terminal and lateral, close, short-peduncled, l-3in. long, the end one sometimes branched; bracts ⅛-1/6in. ; pedicels ⅛-1/6in. ; glabrous. Calyx 1in. ; teeth acuminate, exceeding tube. Corolla under ¼in. Pod ½-¾in long, ⅛ in broad, glabrescent or minutely downy, 5-8-jointed (J. G. BAKER).
Use : — The Santals use a preparation of this plant in fainting and convulsions (Revd. A. Campbell).
376. D. triflorum, D.C., h.f.b.l, ii. 173.
Syn. :— Hedysarum triflorum, Linn., Roxb. 577. Vern. :— Kudaliya (M. & B.) ; Moonoodda-moddoo (Tel.) Jangli or Rân methi (Bombay).
Habitat : — Everywhere in the plains, throughout India Kumaon and Kashmir.
Trailing herbs, ½-1 ½ft , stems cæspitose, very slender, copiously branched, clothed with fine spreading hairs. Leaves 3-foliate Stipules lanceolate, persistent; petioles ⅛-¼in.; leaflets obovate ⅛-½in., truncate or emarginate, with a few adpressed hairs below Flowers 1-3 together, without a common peduncle in the axils of the leaves. Bracts deciduous. Pedicels ¼-⅜in. Calyx pubescent, 1/12-⅛in. ; teeth very long, setaceous. Pod ⅜-½in. long, ⅛in. broad, 3-5-jointed distinctly, pubescent ; upper suture straight, lower slightly indented.
Use : — The fresh leaves are applied to wounds and abscesses that do not heal well (Wight).
A paste of the bruised leaves with kamala is applied to indolent sores and itch. In the mofussil, the fresh juice of the plant is given to children for coughs (S. Arjun). In Ceylon, it is used in dysentery (Watt).
377. Abrus precatorius, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. 175, Roxb. 544.
Sans. : — Gunja.
Vern. :— Rati (H.) ; Kunch (B.) ; gumchi (Guz.) ; Maspat (Nepal) ; Kawet(Santal) ; Latuwani (Ass.) ; Gundumani (Tam.); Ghurie-ghenzâ (Tel.;.
Habitat : — From the Himalayas, throughout India.
A perennial twiner. Stems numerous, scarcely woody, slender, glabrous, with long internodes. Leaves spreading, pinnate, rachis 2-4in., thickened at base, very slender, channelled, very glabrous. Stipules minute, setaceous. Leaflets 20-24 (10-20 pair) or more, opposite, very shortly stalked, quickly deciduous, about fin., oblong, obtuse at both ends, minutely apiculate, glabrous above, slightly hairy beneath, thin; flowers pale violet, rather small, shortly stalked, several together on very short, swollen, knob-like branches, crowded at: ends of short, curved, swollen peduncles, usually shorter than the leaves. Calyx glabrous or very likely silky. Pod 1 ¼-1 ¾ by ½in. wide, flat, oblong, truncate, with a sharp deflected beak, finely silky. Seeds 3-5, rather over ¼in. ovoid, usually bright scarlet, with a black patch on top, highly polished as if covered with red lac.
The flowers are sometimes white, when the seeds are of that colour, with the black on top; sometimes the seeds are mixed black and white (J. G. Baker).
Parts used : — The roots, seeds, and leaves.
Uses : — The watery extract of the root is useful in relieving obstinate coughs (K. L. Dey).
Formerly, the root was considered to be a perfect substitute for liquorice, but experience has shewn this to be erroneous.
By Sanskrit writers the root is described as emetic and useful in poisoning. Internally, the seeds are described as poisonous and useful in affections of the nervous system, and, externally, in skin diseases, ulcers, affections of the hair, &c. The seeds reduced to a paste are recommended to be applied locally in sciatica, stiffness of the shoulder joint, paralysis, and other nervous diseases. In white leprosy, a paste composed of the seed and plumbago root is applied as a stimulant dressing. In alopecia a paste of the seed is recommended to be rubbed on the bare scalp (U. C. Dutt).
The seeds are used as a purgative, but in large doses are an acrid poison, giving rise to symptoms resembling those of cholera. The poisonous property is generally believed to be in the red covering of the seed (Surg.-Major Jayakar).
When boiled with milk the seed is said to have a very powerful tonic action on the nervous system (Barren) .
Taken internally by women, the seed disturbs the uterine functions and prevents conception. For the latter purpose, 4 to 6 seeds are swallowed every day, in 2 doses, for several days, after each menstruation.
I am aware of one successful case under this treatment (Moodeen Sheriff). The powdered seeds are taken as snuff in cases of violent headache arising from cold (Mr. Mukerji).
The boiled seeds are said to possess powerful aphrodisiac properties (Surg.-Major Houston).
The seeds reduced to a paste are used for contusions and to reduce inflammation.
If the leaves are steeped in warm mustard-oil and applied over the seat of pain in rheumatism much benefit will be derived (Surgeon-Major W. Wilson).
The juice of the fresh leaves, mixed with some bland oil, and applied externally, seems to relieve local pain (Surg.-Major B. Gupta).
Abrin, which has been subjected to tryptic digestion and the proteids salted out, gives no biuret reaction ; its poisonous characters remain unaltered, and it agglutinates red blood corpuscles as intensely as the unaltered abrin which contains proteids. Abrin, whether united to proteids or not, gives a precipitate with antiabrin blood serum. Abrin corresponds on the whole with ricin, but differs from it, in that its agglutinating properties are resistant to pepsin — hydrochloric acid, even more resistant than its poisonous action.
J. Ch. S. 1902, A I. 408.
378. Cicer arietinum, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii, 176, Roxb. 566.
Vern : — Chanâ, bût (H.) ; Chhola (B.) ; Chana, harbharâ (Bomb.) ; Kadalai (Tam.) ; Senagaloo (Tel.) ; Kadala (Malay).
The vinegar — Chanakâmla (Sans.) ; Chane-ka-sirkah (H.) ; Chana-amba (Bomb.) ; Kadalai-kàdi (Tam.)
Habitat: — Commonly cultivated in the Northern Provinces and Nilghiris.
An annual herb, viscose, much-branched. Leaves pinnate, rigid, l-2in., with usually a terminal leaflet. Leaflets close, oblanceolate or oblong. Stipules small, with a few long teeth. Corolla scarcely half as long again as the Calyx. Flowers in axils of the leaves ; peduncle ½-¾in. Calyx ¼-⅓-, teeth linear, 2-3 times the tube. Pubescence of pod short and fine. Pod oblong, ¾-lin., turgid, narrowed into the persistent style. Seed solitary generally ; exceptionally double one upon the other, without septal division. Commonly cultivated in the Northern Provinces and Nilgiris. The best gram comes to Bombay from Gujrat — Jambusar.
Use : — The vinegar is mentioned by the Sanskrit writers as a useful astringent which might with advantage be given in dyspepsia.
According to Dr. Walker) Bomb. Med. Phys. Trans. 1840, p. 67), the fresh plant put into hot water is used by the Portuguese in the Deccan, in the treatment of dysmenorrhœa ; the patient sits over the steam (Dymock).
Chick peas are extensively used in southern Bulgaria in the form of ' Leblebiji ' prepared by roasting them in a special way for a long time at 105-115°. Another perparation called 'Ssimitt' is made by fermenting a mass obtained by soaking the coarsely ground peas for 8-15 hours in water at 32-35°. The fermentation produces H, H2 S, C02 , butyric, lactic, and succinic acids, sugar, Et O H and its higher homologs, leucine, asparagine, etc., phenol, and aromatic substances. Analysis of 24 samples of chick peas before roasting showed : moisture 9.20-13.0% protein 19.10-27.05%, fat 4.6-6.10%, starch 44.89-52.80%, ash 2.36-4.30% crude fibre 2.40- 4.60%, lecithin P2 O5 (10 samples) 0.102-0.136% and total P2O5 (11 samples) 0.784-0.902%
After roasting (leblebiji), the analysis was as follows : moisture 4.90-7.20%, protein 23.80-26.10% fat 5.20-7-00% ash 2.00-3.43% crude fibre 1.62-3.15%, lecithin P2 O5 (10 samples) 0.133-0.161%, and total P2 O5 (11 samples) 0.964-0.992%.
An analysis of chick pea fat gave the following consts. : d15 0.9369-0.9376, solidification pt.— 19 50, n25 73.5-74, sapon. No. 240, acid No. 0.3-0.5, ester No. 239.5., R-M. No. 4.51, Polenske No l.1, Hehver No. 91.6, I No. 110-119, unsapon, 0.43, m. p. fatty acids 250, I no. fatty acids 129. The sprouting peas contain oxidase, Tymase, protease, diastase, and a form of reunin.
[Chemical Abstracts, Jan. 20, 1914, pp. 384-5.]
379. Lathyrus sativus, Linn., H. f.b.i. , II. 179, Roxb. 567.
Sans. : — Triputi.
Vern. :— Kesari (H.) ; Teora (B.) ; Mattar (Sind;.) ; Lâkh (Mar.) ; Lâng (Guz.).
Habitat : — Spread throughout the Northern Provinces, from the plains of Bengal to Hazara, Kashmir and Kumaon.
An annual herb, with winged stems, glabrous, much branched, with equally pinnate leaves, ending in a tendril ; leaflets 2, linear or lanceolate, stipules broad, entire. Petiole winged, terminated by a long tendril. Flowers solitary ; peduncle rather longer than the petiole. Calyx ⅜-½in. ; teeth lanceolate, sub-equal, twice the tube. Corolla ¾in., red, bluish or white. Pod 1 ½in. long, oblong, winged on the back, glabrous, 4-5-seeded.
Uses. — The expressed oil of the seed is powerful and a dangerous cathartic (O'Shaughnessy).
It has long been known to produce toxic symptoms when used for a prolonged period. This condition, known as lathyrismus, has been investigated by Dr B. Suchard. The chief effect produced is upon the muscles of the lower extremities, especially on those below the knee. In horses also paralysis of the hinder extremities takes place, and death has followed from bilateral paralysis of the laryngeal recurrent nerves and consequent asphyxia. The laryngeal affection has not, however, been observed in the human subject (Lancet, June 30th, 1888, p. 6312).
380. Glycine Soja, Sieb and Zucc, h.f.b.i., ii. 184.
Syn. : — Dolichos Soja, Linn., Roxb. 563.
Vern. : — Gari-kulay (B.); Bhat, bhatwan (H.) ; Hendedisom horec (black-seeded), puddisomhorec (white-seeded variety) (Santal) ; Tzu-dza (Naga) ; Seta, kala-botmas (Parbat) ; Musa, gya (Newar) ; Khajuwa (Eastern Terai '. ; Bhut (Kumaon).
Eng. — The Soya Bean.
Habitat. — Tropical Himalayas, from Kumaon to Sikkim Khasia and the Naga hills.
An annual, stout, suberect, climbing upwards, stem densely clothed with fine ferruginous hairs. Leaves long-petioled. Leaf- lets 3 membranous, ovate, acute, rarely obtuse, 2-4 inches long. Racemes few-flowered, congested, sessile. Calyx ¼ in, densely hairy. Calyx-teeth long, setaceous. Corolla reddish, little exserted. Pods usually only 2-3, developed in the axil of each leaf, linear-oblong, recurved, densely pubescent, 1 ½-2 in by ½-⅜ in., 3-4 seeded, subtorulose.
Use. — A decoction of the root is said to possess astringent properties (Watt). Soya bean oil contains 94-95 p. c. of fatty acids (present as glycerol esters) of which about 15 per cent, consist of saturated acids (palmitic acid) and about 80 per cent, of liquid unsaturated fatty acids. The latter were found to consist of about 70 per cent, of oleic acid, about 24 per cent, of linolic acid and about 6 per cent, of linolenic acid. Samples of the oils labelled " purified " and " unpurified " had the following characters respectively: — Sp. gr. at 15°C, 0-9260, 09265; solidif. pt.— 11.5° C.,-12°C.; refractive index at 40°C, 1.4680, 1.4680; acid value, 5.7, 1.71 ; saponification value, 192.3, 194.3 ; iodine value (Hübl, after 18 hours' action), 131.3, 132.67 ; Reichert-Meisel value, 0.75, 0.75 ; Polenske value, 0.78, 1.08 ; elaidin reaction, positive. Exposure of the oil for six months (in daylight) to moist air increased the acid value, but lowered the iodine value. Pure oxygen both in the absence and presence of moisture, had no influence on the iodine value.
The phyto sterol of Soya beans. The unsaponifiable portion of Soya bean oil amounts to about 0.7 per cent., which is easily separated into a crystalline portion (about 55 per cent.) and a liquid portion (about 45 per cent.) by means of petroleum ether (b. p. 50° C.) in which the latter is soluble. The crystalline portion consists of two substances (a) about 2.4 per cent, of a phytosterol, melting at 169°C., which has two double linkages and is strongly laevorotatory. It is identical with the stigmasterol isolated from Calaban beans by Windans and Hauth ; (b) about 97 per cent, of a laevorotatory phytosterol with one double linkage and melting at 139°C. The liquid portion of the unsaponifiable portion of Soya bean oil consists of unsaturated oxygenated compounds, which give the phytosterol reaction. Elementary 'analysis gave the same proportion of carbon and hydrogen as in the case of phytosterol (b). Experiments made to separate the phytosterol- like constituent of the liquid portion by Windans' method with digitonin were unsuccessful.
(J. Ch. I. September 30, 1911, p. 1124).
381. Teramnuslabialis, Spreng, h.f.b.l, ii. 184.
Syn :— Glycine labialis, Linn., Roxb. 565.
Sansk. : — Mâshaparni (fresh-leaved), krishna-vrintâ (black-stalked), Kamboji (a shell), Haya puchhika (horse-tailed), Mansa masha (flesh weighing 2 tolas), Sinha-mukhi, (lion-mouthed), Swada masha (having sweet flesh), Maha-saha (having great power).
Vern.— Mashoni (H.) ; Mashani (B.).
Habitat. — Plains, from the foot of the West Himalayas to Ceylon.
Habitat : — Plains from the foot of the West Himalayas to Ceylon, Burma and Penang. Cosmopolitan in the tropics. Natal. A twining herb. Stems wide-climbing, slender, with a few adpressed hairs. Stipules minute ; lanceolate, deciduous ; petiole ½-1 ½in. Leaflets 3, membranous or subcoriaceous, small acute or subobtuse, green, with a few adpressed hairs above, grey and more hairy below, the end one ovate or oblong, l-2in. long. Racemes l-4in. lax, usually long, usually peduncled, elongated, the pedicel fascicled. Calyx ⅛-1/6in.; teeth lanceolate, as long as the tube. Corolla reddish. Pod linear, glabrous, recurved, 1 ½-2in. long, 8-10 seeded.
Use. — It is used in Hindu Medicine. Its properties are described in the Nighantu as follows : —
The Mashparni is bitter, cooling, sweet, astringent, and dry. It produces semen, strength, and blood. It cures consumption and fever and disorders of wind, bile and blood.
382. Mucuna monosperma, D.C., h.f.b.l, ii. 185.
Syn. — Carpopogon monospermum, Roxb. 553.
M. anguina, Wall.
Vern. — Sougârvi, mothi-kahili (Bomb.) ; Pedda, enooga, doola-gunda (Tel.).
Habitat. — East Himalayas, tropical zone, Khasia, Assam, Chittagong and the hills of the West Peninsula.
A large, woody climber, the young branches clothed with rufous, deciduous tormentum. Leaves large, rachis 2½-4½in., with red, deciduous pubescence. Stipules deciduous. Leaflets on short swollen stalks, 2-4, rotundate or broadly oval, shortly acuminate, smooth above, more or less closely pubescent beneath, lateral ones unequal-sided. Flowers large, 1¾in., bright violet, keel green, on divaricate pedicels, ½in. long, 6-10in., a lax pubescent receme (or panicle), shorter than leaves. Calyx sparingly clothed with red bristles ; upper segments wanting ; standard often with a few bristles on back. Pod 2in. ; broadty ovate-ovoid, shortly-stalked, somewhat curved, with a short decurved beak, with a broad double horizontal wing along both sutures and several (about 6) broad, erect, distinct wings extending from them at right angles nearly half way down the sides, the whole covered with orange-red, deciduous wool mingled with irritant red bristles. Seeds solitary, nearly circular, compressed, dark brown, hilum linear, extending round ¾ of the edge.
Part used. — The seed.
Use : — The seed used as an expectorant in cough and asthma, and is applied externally as a sedative (Peters).
383. M. gigantea, D.C., h.f.b.l, ii. 186.
Syn. : — Carpopogon giganteum, Roxb. 554.
Vern. : -Kaku-valli (Mal.)
Habitat.— Plains of the West Peninsula, Ceylon, Malaya.
A large, woody climber, with slender, glabrous branches. Stem thin, but sometimes 250ft. long. Leaflets ovate, acute, glabrous when mature ; flowers on long slender pedicels, almost umbellate at end of long peduncles. Pod 4-6in , apiculate, with broad double wings along both sutures, but without wings or plates on the sides, densely covered with adpressed, chestnut-brown, irritant bristles.
Uses. — Used in rheumatic complaints. The bark for this purpose is pulverized, mixed with dry ginger, and rubbed over the parts affected (Rheede).
384. M. pruriens, D.C., h.f.b.i., ii. 187.
Sans.- -Atmagupta, kapikachhu, vanari.
Vern. :— Kiwach, goucha(H) ; Alkusa (B.) Konatch (Nepal.) ; Kâch-kuri (Dec.) ; Kuhili (Bomb.) ; Kavach (Mar.) ; Kivânch (Guz) ; Punaik-kali (Tam.) ; Pilliaduga (Tel.) ; Nâyik-korana (Mal.) ; Nasaguni-gida (Kan.)
Habitat : — Cosmopolitan in the Tropics, from the Himalayas in the plains to Ceylon and Burma. Western Peninsula, Assam, Khasi Hills.
A semi-woody climber, annual or perennial, with slender terete branches, usually clothed with short, white, deflexed hairs. Leaves large, rachis 3-5in. ; sparingly deflexed, hairy. Leaflets 3-4in., on short thick hairy stalks, terminal ones smaller and rhomboid-oval, lateral ones very unequal, with the lower half greatly dilated, all acute, mucronate, pubescent above, densely covered with shining, silvery, adpressed hair beneath ; flowers dull, dark-purple, the keel yellowish-green, numerous, l½-l¾ in. long, on short pubescent pedicels, usually two or three together at intervals, on a slender pubescent raceme 6-12in, long. Bracts ½in., lanceolate, hairy, soon falling. Calyx densely silky, 2 upper segments completely connate ; lower much longest. Pod 2½-3in. by about ½in. broad, linear, blunt, falcately curved at both ends, a longitudinal rib along whole length of each valve, but without wings, densely covered with close, rather weak, orange-brown, irritant bristles, pointing backward and readily detached, 4-6-seeded, with partitions between them. Seed ovoid, ¼in., compressed, brownish, mottled with black, hilum oblong, not half the length of seed.
Parts used. — The seeds, root and legume.
Use. — According to Susruta, the seeds are aphrodisiac ; the root is tonic and useful in nervine diseases (DuttJ.
Ainslie says that a strong infusion of the root, mixed with honey, is prescribed by the Tamool doctors in cholera.
The use of the hairs of the mucuna pod as a vermifuge to expel ascarides appears to have originated in the West Indies, no mention of such an employment of them being found in Indian works (Dymock).
The pods are officinal in the Indian Pharmacopœia, to be used as an anthelmintic.
In the West Indies, a decoction of the root is reckoned a powerful diuretic and cleanser of the kidneys, and also made into an ointment for elephantiasis. Leaves are applied to ulcers. A vinous infusion of the pods is said to be a certain remedy for dropsy (Drury).
The root is prescribed as a remedy for delirium in fever in Chutia Nagpur. Powdered and made into a paste, it is applied to the body in dropsy, a piece of the root being also tied to the wrist and ankle. The seed is believed to absorb scorpion-poison when applied to the part stung (Revd. A. Campbell).
An ointment prepared with the hairs acts externally as a local stimulant and wild vesicant. (Watt.)
385. Erythrina indica, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 188, Roxb 541.
Sans. : — Mândâla.
Vern- : — Pângra, panjira, furrud (H.) ; Palita mundar (B.) ; Muruka-marum (Tam.) ; Modugu. badide-chettu (Tel.); Mooloo-moorikah, dudup (Mal.) ; Paravalada-mara (Kan,). Birsing (Kol.) ; Pângâra, pbangra, pân. arâ (Mar.) ; Panarawes, pararoo (Guz),
Habitat -.— From, tbe foot of tbe Himalayas throughout India.
A deciduous, quick-growing tree, attaining to large size. Bark thin, smooth, grey. Outer bark, says Gamble, yellowish, smooth and shining, peeling off the thin papery flakes. " Structure like that of E. suberosa, Roxb," ; says Gamble, further, " Inner bark, fibrous, wood very soft spongy, white, fibrous but tough." Young twigs thick set, with small straight, horizontal, broad-based, sharp, black prickles ; leaf-scars conspicuous. Leaves very large, deciduous, rachis 6-12in., smooth, dilated at base, stipules none or very nearly caducous. Leaflets 4-6in., on short swollen stalks, readily disarticulating, roundish-ovate, acute, glabrous and green on both sides, the terminal one largest : stipels thick, roundish, persistent. Flowers numerous, large, generally scarlet, the wings and keel crimson ; on stout puberulous, peduncles horizontally spreading. Pedicels, about ½in. long, arranged in 2's or3's, and closely crowded on the upper half of very stout, rigid, puberulous racemes, 6-12in. long, 2-4 of which diverge horizontally from the summit of the branches. Calyx (before expansion of flowers) tubular, If in., covered with deciduous tomentum, upper segment subulate, sharp but not rigid, two lateral similar but smaller lowest, one longer doubled over the rest to form blunt point to the bud, soon splitting along the back (between the upper teeth) to the base, and the whole curved down like a spathe-standard, nearly 3in. Wings less than lin. Keel-petal fin. Stamens much exserted and projecting in front of flowers, 2¾in. Pod 5-6in., cylindric, torulose, beak sharp, curved, about lin. long. Seed, 3-8, beanlike, about lin. long, chocolate coloured, dull, shining. Very common in the Concan and North Kanara.
I have seen a white-flowered vareity, and a deep scarlet one in the Thana Forests (K. R. K.) A variety, with pink flowers, is noted by Moon, says Trimen.
Parts used : — The bark, juice and leaves.
Uses : — The bark is used medicinally as a febrifuge and antibilious (Watt).
In the Concan, the juice of the young leaves is used to kill worms in sores, and the young roots of the white-flowered variety are pounded and given with cold milk as an aphrodisiac (Dymock).
It is anthelmintic and useful as a collyrium in ophthalmia. The leaves are applied externally to disperse venereal buboes and to relieve pain of the joints (Kanai Lai Dey).
The fresh juice of the leaves is used as an injection into the ear for the relief of ear-ache, and as an anodyne in toothache (Dr. Thornton, in Watt's Dictionary).
386. Butea frondosa, Roxb., h.f.b.l, ii. 194, Roxb. 540.
Sans. — Palás.
Vern— Dhák, palás, têsû-ká-per, kakria, kankeri, chichra (H.) Palás (B.); Chalcha (Bundelkund.) ; Mureet (Kol); Murup (Santal) ; Paras, faras (Behar) ; Palási, bulyethra (Nepal) ; Lahokung (Lepcha) ; Porásu (Uriya) ; Chiula, puroha (Bom.); Palás-ká-jhár, tesu-ká-jhár (Duk.) ; Khákará , Khakhado, khakhar-nujhada (Guz.) ; Khakar, pálás (Cutch) ; paras, palas, phalâsá-cha-jháda, kakrácha-jhada (Mar.) ; Porasan, parasa, murukkan, puraishu, purashu, palâsham (Tam.); Moduga, mohatu, tella-modugu, môduga-chettu, palâdulu(Tel.) ; Muttuga thorâs, muttuga-marâ, muttuga-gida (Kan.) ; Pilâch-cha, murukka-maram (Mal.).
Eng.: — The Forest flame.
Habitat: — Common throughout India and Burma, often gregarious. Ceylon. N. W. Himalaya,
An erect, moderate-sized, deciduous tree, reaching a height of 40-50ft., with a cracked trunk and irregular branches. Bark ¼in. thick, fibrous, grey, exfoliating in small irregular pieces ; exuding from cut and fissures a red juice which, hardens into a ruby-coloured gum similar to Kino. Wood grey or grey brown, white or brown, if cut up fresh and quickly seasoned, soft and durable (Gamble). Trunk crooked and irregular. Young shoots densely pubescent. Leaves large, rachis 5-8in., slender, pubescent when young, swollen at base. Stipules small, linear-lanceolate, deciduous. Leaflets 4-8in., unequal, the terminal the largest and rhomboidal, orbicular, the lateral ones ovate-oval, dilated in lower half, all very obtuse, glabrous above when mature, closely and finely tomentose, and with much raised reticulation beneath. Flowers large, l½-2in. on velvety drooping pedicels, ¾-lin. long, 2-3 together from the swollen nodes of rigid stout racemes coming off from woody tuberosities. Bracts small, deciduous Calyx finely velvety outside, lined with white, silvery hair. Segments acute. Keel very deeply boat-shaped, acute. Pod pendulous, 5-8in., by about ¾in. wide, on a densely, woody stalk, ¾in. long, obtuse, thickened at sutures, leathery, transversely veined, densely but finely pubescent, especially at end. Seed l¼in., flat, broadly oval, smooth reddish-brown. Flowers orange-scarlet, very silvery outside, with silky hair, so that the buds are white.
Uses : — The Gum. — This is known as Bengal or Butea Kino. Nearly the whole of the so-called Kino of our bazaars is this substance. Dr. Waring (in his Bazaar Medicines, p. 31) remarks that this is of little moment, since it appears to be equally effectual. He says : " It is an excellent astringent, similar to catechu, but being mild in operation it is better adapted for children and delicate females. The dose of the powdered gum is 10 to 30 grains, with a few grains of cinnamon." The addition of a little opium increases the efficacy.
The fresh juice is used in phthisis and hæmorrhagic affections. It is also employed as an application to ulcers and relaxed sore- throats. As an astringent, it is given in diarrhœa and dyspepsia, In the Concan, it is prescribed for fevers. " The use of the gum as an external astringent application is mentioned by Chakradatta ; it is directed to be combined with other astringents and rock-salt. He recommends this mixture as a remedy for pterygium and opacities of the cornea" (Dr. Dymock, Mat Med., W. Ind., 187). U. C. Dutt informs us that the ancient Hindus used the gum as an external astringent only.
The seeds internally are administered as an anthelmintic, but regarding the reliance which can be put upon their action considerable difference of opinion prevails. Some medical men think that they can be advantageously substituted for santonine, while others view them as much less powerful. They have at the same time a warm purgative action which often proves injurious to their anthelmintic property. They are, however, largely used in the treatment of round-worm. The following extract from Dr. Waring's Bazaar Medicines will be found to give the leading facts regarding these seeds : Butea seeds are thin, flat, oval or kidney-shaped, of a mahogany-brown colour, 1¼ to 1¾ inches in length, almost devoid of taste and smell. European experience has confirmed the high opinion held by the Mohamedan doctors as to their power in expelling lumbrici or round-worms, so common amongst the Natives of India. The seeds should be first soaked in water and the testa or shell carefully removed ; the kernel should then be dried and reduced to powder. Of this the dose is 20 grains thrice daily for three successive days, followed on the fourth day by a dose of castor-oil. Under the use of this remedy, thus administered in the practice of Dr. Oswald, 125 lumbrici in one instance, and between 70 and 80 in another, were expelled. It has the disadvantage of occasionally purging when its vermifuge properties are not apparent : in some instances also it has been found to excite vomiting and to irritate the kidneys, and though these ill effects do not ordinarily follow, yet they indicate caution in its employment." (Bazaar Medicines, Waring, pp. 31-32). In the Bhâvaprakâsa, the use of the seeds of the palâsa as an aperient and anthelmintic is noticed ; and they are directed to be beaten into a paste with honey for administration. Sarangadhara also recommends them as anthelmintic (Dr. Dymock). Externally, the seeds, when pounded with lemon-juice and applied to the skin, act as a rubefacient. I have used them successfully for the cure of the form of herpes, known as dhobie's itch (Surgeon-Major Dymoch, p. 188). When made into a paste, they are used as a remedy for ringworm.
The flowers are astringent, depurative, diuretic, and aphrodisiac ; as a poultice, they are used to disperse swellings and promote diuresis and the menstrual flow. They are given to enciente women in cases of diarrhœa, and are applied externally in orchitis.
The leaves are described by the Makhzan-ul-Adwiya as astringent, tonic, and aphrodisiac, are used to disperse boils and pimples, and are given internally in flatulent colic, worms, and piles.
The bark, according to Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus, is given in conjunction with ginger in cases of snake-bite.
" I have tried the seeds of B. frondosa internally in numerous cases, and they are neither purgative nor febrifuge, at least not in one-drachm doses, — the largest quantity I have yet used. There is, however, no doubt that they are anthelmintic, at least to some extent. Administered in powder, morning and evening, for 2 or 3 days, and followed by a dose of some purgative, they generally expel from 1 to 3 or 4 round-worms, but failure is more frequent than success. That these seeds are not powerful enough to act always against the worms, is proved by the expulsion of the latter in large numbers in many. cases by the use of santonine immediately after having failed with butea seeds. Both the kernel and the testa of the seeds possess the anthelmintic property. Dose of the powder for an adult from 30 grains to 1 drachm. Four grains is an average dose for a child of 4 years.
The inspissated juice of this plant (the Butea Kino of Indian commerce) is a good astringent, and as such is useful in all the complaints in which the true Kino is indicated. It has been used in the same forms as those of the latter, but in somewhat larger doses, — viz., from 15 to 40 grains (Honorary Surgeon Moodeen Sheriff, Khan Bahadur, Madras). This is a fairly useful anthelmintic and a good substitute for santonine, in some cases acting very well, indeed.
Preparations. — Powdered seeds, dose fifteen to thirty grains twice or thrice a day, followed by castor-oil on the succeeding morning. The gum has been only lately used in this hospital ; but as an astringent, it is found to be a useful substitute for kino in the ordinary cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, of children especially. Preparations and dose, &c, are similar to Kino." (Apothecary F. G. Ashworth, Kumbakonam). The leaves are astringent and used by the Natives as a poultice to dispel tumorous hæmorrhoids, buboes, etc. The seeds are anthelmintic in doses of 20 grains. The gum is very astringent, and, in doses of five grains, most useful in checking serous diarrhœa. In large doses, it is efficacious in hæmorrhage from the stomach and bladder. A strong solution of the gum is said to be a useful application for bruises and erysipelatous inflammations." Surgeon E. A. Barker, Doomka.
The seeds contain 18.2 per cent, of fat (Waeber, 1386). The oil is yellow, nearly tasteless and solidifies at 10' (Lepine). Brannt records the specific gravity at 0.927.
387. B. superba, Roxb. h.f.b.i., ii. 195, Roxb. 541.
Sans. : — Latâ-palâsa.
Vern, :~Tiwat, tiwas, palâs-wél (Bom.); Tiga-muduga (Tel.) ; Latâ-palâsh (B.) ; Nari-murup (Santal) ; Vél-khkar (Guz.) ; Bel-palâs (Dec.) ; Kodi-murukkam, kodi-palsham (Tam.) ; Balli-muttaga (Kan.) ; Valliplâch-aha, valli-muruk-ka (Mal.).
Habitat : — Forests of the Concan, Bengal, Orissa, Burma, Oudh, Central India, and the Circars.
A gigantic climber. Bark dark brown, thick, very fibrous. Wood dark-brown, very porous and fibrous. It yields a gum like Kino. Stems thick as a man's leg. Does not differ from B. superba in botanic characters ; leaves and flowers scarcely distinguishable from B. superba. Leaflets and flowers larger, says J. G. Baker. Leaflets chartaceous, acuminate, says Brandis. Flowers of a gorgeous orange colour on pedicels 3 times the length of Calyx. Lower Calyx-teeth lanceolated, deltoid. Keel much curved, acute, 4-5 times as long as the Calyx. Pod distinctly stalked.
Use : — As a remedy for the poisonous bites of animals, the people of the Concan use the root with an equal proportion of the root of Nyctanthes and Woodford ia floribunda, the seeds of Cassia tora and Vernonia anthelmintica and the stem juice of Trichosanthes palmata made into a paste with cow's urine, as a local application, and administer Aristolochia indica internally. In the heat-eruptions of children the leaf-juice is given with curds and yellow zedoary (Dymock).
388. Pueraria tuberosa, D.C. h.f.b.l. ii. 197.
Syn. : — Hedysarum tuberosum, Roxb. 580.
Vern. : — Bidari-kand, bilai-kand (H.) ; Shimeeya, batrajee (B.) ; Sural, siali (Pb.) ; Daree, goomodee (Tel.); Gorabel (Raj.) ; Dari (Bomb.) ; Karwia-nai (Guz.).
Habitat : — Hills of the Konkan, Dekkan, Canara, West Himalaya, Simla, Kumaon, Orissa, Nepal, Circars, Behar, Chota Nagpore.
A large-deciduous, pubescent climber, with woody tuberculated stem, tuberous rooted- Bark brown ½in. thick, peeling off in vertical strings. Wood very porous, soft, perishable, white when fresh cut, afterwards turning brown, fibrous. The pretty purple blue flowers appear before the leaves. Leaves of 3 leaflets. Leaflets broadly ovate, entire or sinuate, pointed, long stalked ; smaller equally sided. Flowers ⅔in. long, in small clusters, crowded in long, panicled racemes. Calyx ⅓in. densely covered with red brown hairs ; teeth short acute, 2 upper nearly or quite united. Standard orbicular ; keel nearly straight, obtuse, slightly shorter than the wings. Upper stamen free at both ends, but connected at the middle with the sheath formed by the others. Ovary hairy ; style glabrous, abruptly incurved at base ; stigma small capitate, pod flat, densely grey, hairy, 2-3in., deeply constricted between the seeds, tipped with persistent style- base. Seeds 2-6, separated by partitions.
Parts used : — The roots.
Use: — The root peeled and bruised into a cataplasm is employed by the Natives of the mountains where it grows to reduce swellings of the joints (Roxburgh).
Also given as a demulcent and refrigerant in fevers (Watt). In Nepal, it is employed as an emetic and tonic, and is also believed to be lactagogue.
389. Phaseolus trilobus, Ait. h.f.b.l, ii, 201, Roxb. 558.
Sans. : — Mudgaparni.
Vern. :— Mooganee (B.) ; Trianguli-mugani (H.); Rakhalkulmy (H.) ; Pilli-pe-nsara (Tel.) ; Pani-pyre, nari-payir (Tam.); Arkmut, mukuya, Jangli math (Bomb.).
Habitat : — Wild, and commonly cultivated throughout India.
Perennial or annual twiners. Stems trailing to a length of l-2ft., glabrous, slender, diffuse, at times slightly hairy, the hairs being deciduous. Stipules inserted above the base, ¼-¾in., oblong. Leaflets more or less deeply 3-lobed, with the central divisions spathulate, membranous, glabrous, or with only a few obscure loose or short hairs, rhomboid or ovate, l-2in. long. Flowers in a close deltoid head, on a peduncle, that usually overtops the leaves ; pedicels very short. Clayx campanulate, 1/24-1/12in yellow, teeth deltoid. Corolla under ¼in. long. Pod 1-2 by ½in., subcylindrical, glabrous, recurved, 6-12 seeded.
Use : — The Leaves are said to be tonic and sedative, and used in cataplasms for weak eyes (O'Shaughnessy, p. 317;.
Said to be administered in Behar in decoction, in cases of irregular fever (Murray 126).
390. P. Mungo Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 203, Roxb. 556,
Sans. : — Mudga.
Vern. : — Mung, mungi, muji (Pb.) ; Harimûng (H) ; Hâlimûng (B.) ; Mug (Mar.) ; Mag (Guz.) ; Puchapayrû, sirupayâru, patche-paira (Tam.) ; Wuthulu, patcha-pessara (Tel.) ; Hesaru, hesaru-bele (Kan.).
Habitat : — Wild, and universally cultivated in the plains throughout India, ascending to 6,000 feet in the N. W. Himalayas. Stems annual, sub-erect in the typical form, l-2ft. high, copiously branched from the base, clothed with fine, long, deciduous, brownish, silky hairs. Stipules ¼-½in. long, attached near the base ; leaflets membranous, with scattered adpressed hairs on both sides, 2-4in. long, roundish, acute or sub-obtuse, deltoid or rather rounded at the base. Flowers about half a dozen at the very end of short peduncles, clothed like the stems ; pedicels very short. Calyx ⅛-1/6in. ; lower tooth deltoid or lanceolate. Corolla ⅜-½in., yellow. Pod l½-2½in. long by 1/6-1/5in. sub-cylindrical, slightly recurved, 10-15-seeded.
Use :— The pulse is used as a diet in fever. Considered by the Natives cool, light and astringent, but is difficult to digest ; and is used to strengthen the eyes (Watt).
Var. radiatus, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 203, Roxb. 557.
Sans. :— Mâsha, hurita.
Vern. : -Mâsh, mâh (Pb.) ; Mâsh-kalâi (B.) ; Urud, urid, dord, thi-kiri (H.) ; Udid (Mar.); Adad, arad (Guz.) ; Patchay-pyre, panny-pyre (Tam.) ; Minu-mulu, karu-minu-mulu, patsa-pesalu (Tel.) ; Hasaru, uddu (Kan.) ; Cherupoiaar (Mal).
Stems elongated, twining, densely clothed, as are the peduncles and pod, with ferruginous, deflexed, silky hairs ; leaflets membranous, entire, rarely faintly-lobed ; lateral ones obliquely ovate, pointed, terminal one rhomboid, oblong. Legumes smaller than those of Phaseolus Mungo, Linn. Seeds black, 6-8in. each pod.
Use :— The seeds are much used in medicine, both internally and externally, in paralysis, rheumatism and affections of the nervous system. Also used in fever, considered hot and tonic, useful in piles, affections of the liver and cough.
The root is said to be narcotic by Royle (O'Shaughnessy), and prescribed by the Santals as a remedy for aching bones (Campbell). ((rule|6em}}
391. Vigna catiang, Endl. h.p.b.i., ii. 205.
Syn. : — Dolichos Catiang Linn., Roxb. 560.
Sans. : — Rajamâsha.
Vern.: — Lobiya, raish (H.) ; Barbati (B.) ; Chowlai (Mar.); Ghangra (Santal) ; Urohi-mahor-pat (Ass.); Chaunro (Sind); Caramunny-pyre (Tam.) ; Boberlu, alu-sundi, duntu-pesalu, bobra (Tel.) ; Tada-gunny, kursan-pyro, alasandi (Kan.).
Habitat : — Native, and universally cultivated in the tropical zone.
An annual sub-erect or twining plant, always glabrous or nearly so. Stipules ⅓-½in. long, attached and persistent ; leaflets membranous, 3-6in. long, acute, very variable in shape, broad or narrow-ovate, or ovate-rhomboidal, with the two sides below the middle prolonged into obtuse lobes. Peduncles often exceeding the leaves, 3-6 flowered ; pedicels very short. Calyx glabrous, under ½in. ; teeth lanceolate or deltoid-cuspidate. Corolla yellow or reddish, twice the Calyx. Keel not prolonged into a beak. Pod in some of the cultivated forms one or even 2ft. long, under ½in. broad, edible seeds 10-20.
Use : — Considered hot and dry, diuretic and difficult of digestion, and is used to strengthen the stomach (Baden Powell).
392. Clitoria Ternatea, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii, 208, Roxb. 566.
Sans. : — Aparâjitâ, asphota.
Vern. : — Kalizer, visnukranti, kava-thenthi (H.) ; Aparâjitâ (B.) ; Kâjali, gokaran (Bomb.) ; Kakkanam-kodi (Tam.) ; Dhanattar (Pb.) ; Garani (Guz.) ; Dintana, tella, mella, tella- dintana, nila-dintana (Tel.) ; Vishnu, kantisoppu, kirgunna, gokarna-mul (Kan.).
Habitat : — A common garden flower all over India.
A climber, with terete, slender downy stems. Stipules, linear, petioles ½-lin. Leaflets ovate or oblong-obtuse, subcoriaceous, l-2in. long. Bracteoles roundish, obtuse, ¼-½in. long. Calyx ½-¾in. ; teeth lanceolate, half as long as the tube. Corolla l½-2in. Standard lin. broad, bright blue or white with an orange centre. Pod 2-4in. long, flattish, the valves not keeled on the face ; 6-10 seeds.
Parts used: — The root, seeds, leaves and juice.
Use : — Sanskrit writers describe the root as laxative and diuretic, useful in ascites, fevers, &c. (Dutt). In the Concan, 2 tolas of the root-juice are given in cold milk to remove the phlegm in chronic bronchitis ; it causes nausea and vomiting. The juice of the root of the white- flowered variety is blown up the nostrils as a remedy for hemicrania (Dymock).
Mr. Mooden Sheriff speaks highly of the infusion of the root- bark as a demulcent in the irritation of the bladder and urethra ; it acts at the same time as a diuretic, and in some cases as a laxative*
The seeds are purgative and aperient (Ph. Ind,).
The infusion of the leaves is used for eruptions (Watt).
The juice of the leaves, mixed with that of green ginger, is administered in cases of colliquative sweating in hectic fever (Taylor).
The juice of the leaves mixed with common salt is applied warm all around the ear in ear-aches, especially when accompanied with swelling of the neighbouring glands (A. C. Mukerji, in Watt's Dictionary.)
393. Dolichos biflorus, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 210, Roxb. 563.
Sans. : — Kulatha.
Vern. : — Kalatt, kulat, baràt, gulatti (Pb.) ; Koolthee (H.) ; Woolawooloo (Tam.); Kurti-kalài (B.) ; Horec (Santal) ; Gahat, kalath, kulthi (Kumaon) ; Wulawalli, ulava {Tel.) ; Hurali, hurl(Kan.).
Habitat : — Himalayas to Ceylon.
An annual downy climber, rarely glabrescent. Stipules basifixed, ¼in. lanceolate, scariose ; leaflets entire, membranous, ovate, acute, l-2in. long, at first finely pilose on the faces. Flowers 1-3 together in the axils of the leaves ; without a common peduncle. Calyx ¼in., downy, teeth long, lanceolate, setaceous, much exceeding the tube. Corolla yellow, ½-¾in. long. Keel narrow, obtuse, rather shorter than the standard. Style filiform, minutely penicillate round the stigma, not bearded down the edge. Pod downy, 1½-2 by ¼-⅓in., much recurved, tipped with the persistent style. 5-6 seeds.
Use : — The seeds are used medicinally in the Punjab. (Stewart). The decoction is used by Native females in leucorrhœa and menstrual derangements ; it is also given to parturient females to promote discharge of the lochia (S. Arjun).
Sanskrit writers recommend the use of the pulse as a demulcent in calculous affections, cough, etc. Its employment is said to reduce corpulence. The wild variety is said to be particularly serviceable in eye diseases (Dutt).
394. Cajanus indicus, Spreng. h.f.b.i., ii. 217, Roxb. 567.
Syn: — Cytisus Cajan, Willd. Roxb. 567.
Sans. : — Adhaki-tubarikâ.
Vern : — Tuvar, arhar, arhar-kî-dâl (H.) ; Arhar, oror, orol (B.) ; Kohlu, kehlu (Simla) ; Dângri, arhar, dinger, tohar (Pb.) ; Tur (C. P.); Tuvero, turdâl (Guz.) ; Tura, tuver (Bomb.); Turi, tur (Mar.) ; Tuvvar, tûr (Duk.) ; Thovaray, tuvarai (Tam.) ; Kandalu (Tel.) ;. Togari, tovaray (Kan.) ; Tuvara (Mal.).
An erect shurb, widely cultivated ; with slender sulcate grey silky branchlets. Leaves 3-foliate. Stipules minute, lanceolate. Leaflets 3, minutely stipellate, oblong-lanceolate, suture sub-coriaceous, thinly silky above, densely beneath, indistinctly gland-dotted. Flowers in sparse, distinctly peduncled, corymbose racemes, often forming a terminal panicle ; pedicels downy, 2-3 times the Calyx. Calyx ¼in. Corolla 3 times the Calyx ; standard yellow, or beautifully veined with red. Pod 2-3 by ¼-½in., finely downy, tipped with the lower half of the style, linear, straight, narrowed at both ends, 3-5-seeded, torulose, with oblique linear depressions between the non-strophiolate seeds.
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India.
Use : — The pulse is said to be easily digested and suitable for invalids, it is said to be hot and dry ; it produces costiveness, and is used in cold diseases. The leaves are used in diseases of the mouth. The expressed juice of the leaves is given with a little salt in jaundice (B. D. B.).
The pulse and leaves are mixed and made into a paste which is warmed and then applied over the mammas to check the secretion of milk (Lee of Mangalore.) A poultice made of its seeds will check swellings (Ummegudien, Native doctor, Madras, Watt).
395. Cylista scariosa, Ait. h.f.b.l, ii. 219,
Vern. : — Rân ghevada (Mar.).
Part used : — The root.
Habitat: — Woods of the Concan, Dekkan, Canara and Orissa.
A woody, climbing shrub, with slender, finely downy branches Leases 3-foliate. Leaflets minutely stipellate, sub-coriaceous, ovate, or sub-rhomboid al, acute, 2-4in. long, thinly grey, downy above, densely downy below. Flowers in copious, distinctly peduncled, lax or dense racemes ; bracts long, membranous, ovate, caducous ; pedicels short, densely pubescent. Corolla yellowish red, ½in. long. Calyx finally 1-l¼in., teeth scariose and persistent, the lowest much the largest and boat-shaped, lin. broad, the two side ones smaller than the two upper. Corolla enclosed in the Calyx, the petals equal in length. Keel much incurved, truncate. Stamens diadelphous ; anthers uniform. Ovary subsessile, 1-ovuled ; style long, filiform, stigma capitate. Pod small, oblique, oblong, enclosed in the Calyx.
Use : — The root is collected by the herbalists and sold as a remedy for dysentery and leucorrhœa. It is also applied externally along with other drugs to reduce tumours. Its most remarkable property is astringency ; a reddish lucid juice issues from it when cut, which, on drying, becomes black and brittle, and may be seen adhering to the short pieces of the dry root which are offered for sale (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. L, p. 451).
396. Flemingia strobilifera, R. Br. h.f.b.l, ii. 227.
Vern. : — Kasrant (Oudh) ; Simbusak (Santals) ; Bolu (Darjeeling), Bundar, Kanphuti (Bomb).
Habitat: — Himalayas, from Simla and Kumaon to Assam, Khasia and Chittagong.
An erect shrub, 5-16ft. high. Branches slender, terete, velvety. Leaves obovate, lanceolate, sub-coriacoous, 3-8in. long, green, glabrescent above, thinly silky, especially on the raised parellel erecto-patent ribs below. Stipules scariose, linear, ¼-½in. ; petiole stiffly erecto-patent, ⅛-lin. Recemes 3-6in. long, usually simple, the slender zigzag rachis densely grey-downy ; bracts erecto-patent, short petioled, deeply cordate, ½-lin. long, obscurely cuspidate in the typical form. Calyx ¼in., finely pilose ; teeth lanceolate, exceeding the tube. Corolla purple, little exserted. Pod oblong, turgid, ¼-⅜⅜in. long, finely downy, 2-seeded (J. G-. Baker).
Use :— The roots are used by the Santals in epilepsy (Rev. A. Campbell).
397. F. chappar, Ham., h.f.b.l, ii. 227.
Habitat : —Eastern Himalayas, Behar, Ava.
General habit and inflorescence just as that of Flemingia strobilifera (R. Br.) Branches terete, with a thin coating of adpressed hairs. Leaves nearly as broad as long, rotundo-cordate, or broad cordate, acuminate, 2-4in. Sub-coriaceous, green, glabrous above, minutely dewy, grey below ; petiole 1½in. long. Recemes often panicled. Rachis more woody than in F. Strobilifer, the pubescence shorter. Bracts firmer, less distinctly veined, much broader than long. Calyx 1/6-1/5in. ; teeth lanceolate, as long as the tube. Corolla twice the Calyx. Pod as in F. Strobilifer.
Use : — It is used just like the preceding species.
398. F. grahamiana, W. & A. h.f.b.l, ii. 228.
Habitat : — Nilghiris.
A low, erect shrub, with tomentose young shoots. Branches sub-terete. Stipules lanceolate, ¼-⅓in. Caducous ; petiole ½-lin. erecto-patent not winged. Leaflets obovate, obtuse or sub-acute, sub-coriaceous, 2-3in. long, plicate, glabrous above, grey-silky, especially on the ribs beneath many of the veinlets are raised. Bracts linear erecto-patent, firm sub-persistent, ¼in. Spikes dense, oblong, l-2in. long, often fascicled. Calyx shaggy, ⅜in., teeth plumose, linear-testaceous subequal. Corolla not exserted. Pod oblong, ⅜in. long, finely pubescent, and often covered with red viscous glands.
Use : — The source of Wars remained unknown until 1884, when it was ascertained to be the glands of the pod of F. Grahamiana ; but, as far as I can ascertain, the drug has never been collected in India (Dymock).
399. F. congesta, Roxb. h.f.b.l, ii. 228, Roxb. 572.
Vern : — Bara-salpan, bhalai (B. & H); Batwasi (Nepal); Nipitmuk (Lepcha) ; Dowdola (Bom.).
Habitat : — From the Central Himalayas throughout India.
Var.— nana, H. F. B., II, p. 229.
Vern. : — Supta-kasunit (H.).
Syn. : — F. nana, Roxb. 572, F. procumbens, Roxb. 571.
Habitat : — Central and Eastern Himalayas and Concan.
An erect, woody shrub, 4-8ft. high, with terete, glabrescent, old and rather angular sulcate, silky, young branches. Stipules linear, ½in. ; caducous ; petiole l-4in. sulcate down the face ; not winged. Leaves digitately 3-foliate ; leaflets subcoriaceous, thin, not plicate, 4-6in. long, narrowed to a long point, and downwards to a rather rounded base, green, glabrous above, thinly grey-silky beneath. Recemes dense, subspicate, axillary, oblong, l-2in. long, sessile, often fascicled ; bracts caducous, linear or lanceolate, ⅛-¼in. long, silky on the back, not at all, rigid ; pedicels short. Calyx ¼-⅜in., densely clothed with adpressed, shining, pale-brown, silky hairs, teeth linear- lanceolate, the lowest exceeding the others. Corolla scarcely exserted, keel obtuse. Stamens diadelphous, anthers uniform. Pod oblong ; ⅝in. long, obscurely downy, 2-seeded.
Uses : — It is remarkable that its native properties are apparently quite unknown to the Native doctors (Watt).
The roots are used by the Santals as an external applicant to ulcers and swellings, mainly of the neck (Revd. A. Campbell).
From this is obtained the coloring product Waras. Waras consists of a purplish, resinous powder, which covers the seed pods. From Waras is obtained a compound, Flemingin,C12 H12, O3 (J. Ch. S. 1898 T., p. 660).
400. Dalbergia Sissoo, Roxb. h.f.b.l, ii. 231, Roxb. 533.
Vern: — Sisam, sisu, sissai (H.) ; Shisu (B.) ; Tali, safedar (Pb.) ; Sissai (Oudh) ; Nukku-kattai, zette (Tam.) ; Sissukarra (Tel.).
Habitat: — Plains throughout India proper, ascending to 5,000 feet in the Central Himalayas.
Parts used :— The bark, roots, leaves, mucilage. A large, erect, deciduous tree. Bark between ⅓-½in. thick, grey, exfoliating in narrow, longitudinal stripes. Wood very hard, close-grained ; sapwood small, white ; heart-wood brown, with darker longitudinal veins. Branches finely greyish, downy. Leaf-rachis zigzag. Leaflets large, 3-5, roundish, with a very distinct cusp, firm, soon glabrescent, 1-3 in. long. Flowers in short axillary panicles, which latter are much shorter than the leaves, the erect patent branches densely pubescent, racernoso-corymbose ; pedicels short. Calyx 1/6in. deep, downy ; teeth very short, the lowest rather the longest, lanceolate. Corolla yellowish, twice the length of the Calyx; standard with a long claw and round limb. Stamens 9in one bundle, the sheath of the filaments being split only along the top. Pod thin, straight, strap-shaped, pale brown, glabrous, l½-4 by ¼-½in., obtuse, with a stalk twice as long as the Calyx, 1-4-seeded. Seeds ¼in. long, kidney-shaped, flat.
Uses: — The raspings of the wood are officinal, being considered alterative (Beddome).
Useful in leprosy, boils, eruptions and to allay vomiting. ( Punjab Products). :
The roots are said to be so astringent that they are neither eaten by rats nor ants. The oil is applied externally in cutaneous affections ("Atkinson).
The mucilage of the leaves mixed with sweet-oil is a good application in excoriations. A decoction of the leaves is given in the acute stage of gonorrhœa (Watt.)
The seeds give 9-1 per cent of oil.
401. D. sympathetica, Nimmo. h.f.b.i., ii. 234.
Vern. :— Pentgul (Bomb.) ; Titábli (Goa).
Habitat : — Hills of the Western Peninsula.
A large, scandent shrub ; stems armed with blunt or sharp twisted or straight spines, 6-10in. long. Leaves 4-6in. long ; rachis softly pubescent; leaflets 11-15, ovate-oblong, obtuse, or emarginate, coriaceous, thickly covered with grey or brown-silky hairs especially beneath, 3/5-1 by 3/10-½in. ; petiolules 1/10in. long. Panicles peduncled ; the ultimate branches secund, corymbose. Calyx 1/12in. long, with a pair of obtuse, hairy, adpressed bracteoles. Corolla twice as long as the Calyx. Stamens 10, monadelphous, deeply divided into 2 bundles of 5 each, ovary pubescent. Pod thin, strap-shaped, apiculate, 2-4 by ¾-1in., 1-3-seeded, thinly brown-tomentose, the place of the seed distinctly marked ; stalk short (TALBOT).
Use : — The leaves are used in Goa as an alterative. The bark is used as a Up to remove pimples (Dymock).
402. D. lanceolaria, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 235.
Syn. : — D. frondosa, 266, Roxb. 534.
Vern : — Takoli, bithûa (H.) ; Chakemdia (B.) ; Piri (Kol.); Chapot-siris (Santal.) ; Bander-siris (Nepal) ; Pâssi (Raj.) ; Dandous (Sind) ; Jakoli, harrani, gengri (Bomb.) ; Kanrchi, dandusa (Mar.); Barbat, parbâti (Banswara) ; Gengri (Panch Mahals); Nal-valanga (Tam.); Erra-pachchari, pedda-sopara, yerra-patsaru, pasarganni (Tel.).
Habitat. — Plains from the West-Himalaya to Ceylon. N. Kanara, Konkan and (Khandesh), from Ajmer to Behar. Sikkim, Terai. A beautiful tree when covered with flowers and young leaves (BRANDIS).
A large erect, deciduous tree, with glabrous branches. Bark ¼in. thick, compact, grey, smooth, exfoliating in thin, rounded patches. Wood white or yellowish-white, moderately hard ; no heartwood (Gamble Leaves 3-6in. long, stipules minute, caducous. Leaflets about 15, ovate or obovate, obtuse, emarginate glabrous, dark-green above, much paler beneath, coriaceous, ¾-1½ by ½-¾ in. ; lateral nerves numerous, parallel, prominent on upper surface (Talbot). Brandis says : — "Leaflets 11-17, l-2in. long, not black when dry, ovate or obovate, obtuse, secondary nerves more distinct than the reticulate veins joining them. Flowers in short, unilateral and axillary panicles, with spreading branches." ' ; Panicles," says Talbot, " clothed with rufous pubes- cence, large lax, terminal and axillary, appearing when the tree is bare of leaves." Calyx brownish-purple, the two upper Calyx- teeth obtuse, the 3 lower acute. Corolla pale, pink ; standard broadly obovate. Stamens 10, in 2 bundles of 5 each. Pod 1½-4 by ½-¾in., narrowed at both ends, glabrous, 2-3-seeded, long-stalked, oval, compressed (TALBOT).
Uses: — The bark and an oil obtained from the seeds are medicinally used by the Natives (Beddome).
The Santals use the bark along with that of Flacourtia Ramontchi as an external application during intermittent fever. The leaves and the roots are also employed medicinally (Rev. A. Campbell).
403. D. volubilis Roxb. h f.b.i., ii. 235, Roxb. 536.
Vern, : — Alei, Munganver iBomb.) ; Bandee-gurjun (Tel.) ; Bhatia, bankhara (H.) ; Bir-munga, nari-siris (Santal.) ; Nubari (Uriya) ; Rangdi (Mal.); Bhatia (Kumaon).
Habitat. — Sub-Himalayan tract, from Kumaon eastward; Oudh forests, Bihar, Central and Southern India, Phoondaghaut, near Sawantwadi, in the Bombay Presidency. Common in Burma and the Andamans.
A large scrambling or climbing unarmed tree, with green glabrous, circinate branches, i, e., often bent and twisted into spinal hooks. Bark thin, brown, peeling off in flakes, wood light-brown, hard { Gamble). Leaves 4-6in. long ; rachis pubescent. Leaflets 9-13, elliptic or obovate, often minutely mucronate at apex, l-2in. long (Brandis); or 11.-13, thin glabrous, oblong, obtuse, apiculate, terminal largest ; petiolules 1/20in. long. (Talbot). Flowers small, curved, pale-blue, in compact, large, pubescent panicles. Corolla pale-lilac, says Talbot. Stamens 10in., 2 bundles of 5 each. Pod 2-3in. long, ⅔in. broad, 1- rarely 2- seeded, linear-oblong, obtuse, stalked, glabrous, thickened and veined opposite the seeds
Use: — In the Con can, the juice of the leaves is applied to aphthæ, and used as a gargle in sore-throat. The root-juice, with cumin and sugar is given in gonorrhœa (Dymock).
404. D. spinosa, Roxb. h. f.b.i., ii. 238. Roxb. 536.
Habitat : — Tidal forests along the coasts, from Chittagong to Tenasserim ; also on the Ghats and on the coast of the Western Peninsula. A large shrub, sometimes scandent. Bark blackish-grey, rough, vertically fissured. Wood brownish-white, in alternate bands of varying width of woody and bast texture and with a dark-red, hard centre (Gamble). "A rigid, wiry, scrambling shrub " says Brandis, " with soft, silvery white wood, armed with stout divaricating branchlets, ending in pungent spines." Talbot thus describes the plant : — " A stiff, erect, glabrous shrub, with horizontal branches, spine-tipped at the ends." Entirely glabrous. Leaves fascicled on the node of branches ; leaflets 7-11, often nearly opposite, ovate-oblong, ¼-½in. long. Flowers yellowish- white, in congested, sessile, axillary panicles; pedicels short. Calyx 1/10in. long, minutely downy, teeth short, obtuse. Corolla twice as long as the Calyx. Stamens 10in., a single sheath, sometimes in 2 separate sheaths of 5 each. Pod lin. long, reniform, coriaceous, flat, 1-seeded, brown, glabrous.
Use: — The roots powdered absorb alcohol, and a spoonful of the powder in a tumblerful of water is- said to be sufficient to destroy, in less than half an hour, the effects of alcohol, even in cases bordering on delirium tremens (Kurz).
405. Pterocarpus santalinus, Linn. Fil. h.f.b.l, ii. 239, Roxb. 536.
Sans. : — Raktachandana.
Vern ; — Ragat-chandan, lâlchandan, undum (H.) ; Rakta- chandan (B.); Shenshandannum, segappo-shandanum (Jam.); Erragandhapuchekka, kuchandanum (Tel.) ; Kempu-gandha (Kan.); Ooruttah chundanum (Mal.); Lâl-chundan (Dec); Raktachandan, ratanjli (Bomb.).
Habitat :— South India, chiefly Cuddapah, North Arcot and the southern portion of the Karnool District.
A smooth tree, attaining 25ft. Bark blackish-brown, deeply cleft, both vertically and horizontally into rectangular plates. Wood extremely hard. Sapwood white, heartwood dark, claret-red to almost black, but always with a red tinge, orange- red when fresh cut, the shavings giving an orange-red colour. Branches obscurely grey-downy. Leaflets 3, rarely 4 or 5, broad-elliptic, obtuse, 1½-3in. long, underside pale and clothed with fine adpressed hairs. Flowers few, in short axillary or terminal racemes. Calyx 1/5-¼in., teeth deltoid, minute. Limb of standard not longer than the Calyx. Stamens 2-3, monadelphous.
Use : — There are three kinds of sandalwood, according to the Sanskrit writers — white, yellow and red. The red variety is considered astringent, tonic, and is used as a cooling external application for inflammation and headache. (Dutt.)
Considered by the Natives a hot remedy, useful in bilious affections and skin diseases, also in fever, boils, and to strengthen the sight. It also acts as a diaphoretic, and is applied to the forehead in headache (Baden Powell).
The wood, rubbed up with water, is advantageously employed as a wash in superficial excoriations of the genital organs (Surgeon-Major Gray). Used also over swelling of eyelids for reducing the swelling, (K. R. K.)
A decoction of the legume is useful as an astringent tonic in chronic dysentery, after separation of the slough (Surgeon- Major Shircore, Watt's Dictionary).
406. P. marsupium, Roxb. h.f.b.l, ii. 239, Roxb. 536.
Vern. : — Bija, bijilar, peetshola (H .); Biblâ, huni, asan (Bomb.) ; Kandamiruga-mirattam, vengai (Tam.) ; Gandum rugam-nettura, peddagi, pedei, zegi (Tel.) ; Karin-thagara Mal.)
The gum — Kamarkas (H); Chinâi-gond (Bomb.).
Habitat :— All parts of the Madras Peninsula, extending North to the Rajmahal Hills in Bihar and Central India.
A large, deciduous tree. Bark ⅓in. thick, grey, with long vertical cracks, exfoliating in small pieces of irregular shape and size. Wood very hard, close-grained, giving a red resin ; sapwood small ; heartwood yellowish-brown, with darker streaks. Leaves with soft adpressed hairs while young, dark green, shining. Leaflets 5-7, coriaceous, elliptic-obtuse, emarginate, sometimes shortly acuminate, glabrous when full grown. Secondary nerves 15-20 pair, with intermediate ones joined by prominent reticulate veins. Flowers yellow or white, pedicels much shorter than Calyx, in terminal panicles. Calyx peduncles, and pedicels clothed with dark-brown hairs. Stamens monadelphous, the sheath deeply 2-fid. Corolla twice the length of the Calyx, 1/5-¼in., finely downy ; teeth deltoid, the two upper ones largest. Pod li-2in,, broad, often 2-seeded ; orbicular ; wing about ½-¾in.
Uses : — Not noticed by Sanskrit or Mahomedan writers. Natives on the Coromandel Coast use the gum for toothache (Ainslie);. The bark of the tree is used in Goa as an astringent (Dymock). Kino is officinal in both Indian and British Pharmacopœias. It is used as an astringent in diarrhœa and pyrosis. Its action being milder, it is better adapted for children and delicate females (Ph. Ind).
Rumphius states that the gum cures diarrhœa, and the bruised leaves are useful as an external application to boils, sores, and skin diseases.
407. Pongamia glabra, Vent, h.f.b.i., ii. 240.
Syn. :^Galedupa indica, Lam, Roxb. 538.
Sans. : — Karanja, naktâmla.
Vern. : — Karanja (H. & B.) ; Pungam-maram (Tam.) ; Kanuga-chettu, kranuga (Tel.) ; Kîdâmâr (Mar.) ; Pongam, unnamaram (Mal.) ; Sookchein (Pb.).
Habitat : — Central and East Himalayas to Ceylon. Found especially near the coast, and commonly met with in the Concan.
A moderate-sized tree, almost evergreen. Bark soft, ¼in. thick, greyish-brown, covered with tubercles. Wood moderately hard, white, turning yellow on exposure ; no heartwood, leaves imparipinnate, glabrous, brightly green ; leaflets 5-7 opposite sub- coriaceous, without stipels, ovate, shortly acuminate, 2-5in. long. Flowers in simple, peduncled, axillary, pubescent racemes, nearly as long as the leaves, white and purple. Corolla ½in., standard silky on the back. Stamens 10, the 10th filament free at the base, in the middle connate with the rest. Pod woody, glabrous, turgid indehiscent ⅛-¼in. thick, l½-2in. long, with a short decurved point. Seed 1, l½-2in. long, oily.
Uses ; -In Hindu medicine, the seeds are used as an external application in skin diseases. The expressed oil of the seeds is used in these diseases as well as in rheumatism. A poultice of the leaves is applied to ulcers infested with worms (Dutt).
The juice of the roots is used for cleaning foul ulcers and closing fistulous sores (Ainslie).
The fresh bark is used internally in bleeding piles. A decoction of the leaves is used for medicated baths and fomentations in cases of rheumatic pains (S. Arjun).
The oil is useful in cutaneous affections (Ph, Ind. 79). Gibson speaks very highly of the oil as a remedy in scabies, herpes and other cutaneous diseases of a similar nature. It should be mixed with an equal quantity of lime or lemon juice and well shaken, when it forms a rich yellow liniment which I have used successfully in porrigo capitis, pityriasis and psoariasis ; in an obstinate case, hydnocarpus oil, camphor and sulphur may be added with advantage. For destroying worms in sores, the juice of the karanj, nîm and nirgondi (Vitex negundo), hence called kîdâmâr, i.e., killer of worms or cutaneous vermin, is in common use. In leprosy, the leaves of the karanj and chitrak, mixed with pepper and salt, are powdered and given with curds (Dymock). K. R. Krishna has used it in cases of Eczma Sicca locally with benefit, with one dram of Zinc Oxide to one ounce of the oil.
Useful in whooping cough and chronic bronchitis (Surgeon B. Evers, I. m. s., March 1875, p. (36.)
Regarding the oil, Mr. Hooper writes : —
It is a thick oil, of a light orange-brown colour, with a bitter taste, probably due to a resin. By extracting the kernels with ether 33.7 per cent. of a buttery mass of a dirty yellowish colour was obtained. The residual cake contains 23.3 per cent, of proteins, Should a demand arise for this oil it could be obtained to an unlimited extent in Bengal.— (Agricultural Ledger 1911-12— No. 5 p. 140.)
The oil from its seeds at 15°, is a buttery mass of a dirty yellow colour. Two samples gave the following figures : Sp. Gr. 0.9352-0.9240 at 40°; Saponification number, 178-183.1 ; iodine number, 94.0-89.4 ; Reichert-Meissl number, 1.1 ; unsaponifiable matter, 9.22-6.96 per cent ; refractometer number, 78.0-70.0 ; free fatty acids (as oxalic), 3.05-0.5 per cent. The first values were given by a sample extracted in the laboratory with ether ; the second by a specimen obtained from India(Julius Lewkowitsch, Analyst, 1903, 28, 342-343,
408. Sophora tomentosa, Linn, h.f.b.l, i. 249, Roxb. 343.
Habitat: — Shores of the Eastern and Western Peninsulas and Ceylon.
An evergreen shrub or small tree. Branches, leaves and inflorescence shortly and thinly grey-tomentose. Branches virgate and persistently downy. Leaves ½ft long. Leaflets flexible, subcoriaceous, thick, obliquely elliptic-obtuse, 2in. long, 11-17, dull grey-green, the veins immersed on both surfaces. Flowers sulphur-yellow, 'in terminal racemes, which latter are ½ft. long ; pedicels densely silky, articulated a little below the Calyx. Calyx nearly truncate, very oblique ¼-⅜in. Corolla ⅝-¾in., blade of standard round, veined. Pod without wings or ridges, 4-6in. long, hoary, 6-10-seeded, the oblong, hoary, seed-bearing joints separated by a narrow, long, seedless neck as long as or shorter than the seed-bearing joint.
Use : — Mr. F. M. Bailey states that the roots and seeds have been considered as specifics in bilious sickness in New South Wales (Air. Maiden in the Ph. Journal, for Sept. 1st, 1889, p. 180).
Considerable quantities of sophorine were extracted from Sophora tomentosa, and very carefiUly compared with pure cytisine, C11H14N2O, with the result that these two alkaloids proved to be identical. During this investigation, many new characteristics of cytisine were determined, and new derivatives formed.
The rotatory polarisation of cytisine nitrate is [d]D — 93°26, the co-efficient of refraction, 1.34419. Cytisine gives no reaction with strong sulphuric acid, or with that acid and sugar, cerous oxide, or Vanadic acid. Fröhde's reagent, and evaporation with phosphoric acid, likewise yield no reaction. Erdmann's reagent causes an orange-yellow coloration ; concentrated nitric acid, on warming, a reddish yellow coloration, which becomes rather darker on the addition of potash ; strong sulphuric acid and potassium dichromate, a green coloration ; evaporation with hydrochloric acid leaves a yellow residue ; calcium hypochlorite gives no coloration.
Methyloytisine hydriodide, G12H16N2O, H I ; prepared by the action of methylic iodide on the free alkaloid, yields colourless crystals ; its solution gives a rotary polarisation, [d]D=-81°, and a refractive index of 1.35427. The platinochloride crystallises is orange-yellow needles; the aurochloride insgolden -yellow needles.
With bromine, cytisine yields an orange-red compound containing 4 atoms of bromine, 2 of which are removed by digesting it with silver nitrate. The compound probably has the formula— C11H12N2O Br2, 2 HBr.
As both ulexine and sophorine are now proved to be identical with cytisine, this alkaloid has been shown to be present in the various species of cytisus ; in ulexeuro-paens, and in sophora lomentosa (By P. C. Plugge, Archiv. Pharm. 1894, pp. 444-460, J. Oh. S. 1895 A. I, 159.
409. Cœsalpinia bonducella, Fleming, h.f.b.i., II. 254, Roxb. 356.
Syn. : — Guilandina Bonducella, Linn.
Sans. : — Kuberâkshi, pûtikaranga, latâkaranja.
Vern. : Katkaranj, katkaranga, katkalejâ, karanju, karan-javâ, katkalijâ, katkuliji-sâgar-ghôta (H.) ; Nâtâ, nâtâ-karanja, natû-koranja (B.) ; Bagini (Santal.) ; Zang, kup (Lepcha) ; Kat-karonja (Oudh) ; Karaunj (Kumaon) ; Kilgach, katkarânja (Ajmere); Gataran (Jabalpur) ; Kirbut (Sind.) ; Kâkâchiâ, gâjga, kachki (Guz.); Sagaragota (Cutch) ; Sâgurghota, gaja (Bom.) ; Sâgaragotâ, gajagâ, rohedo (Mar.); Gajâ, gutchka, gudgega (Duk.) ; Gajkai, gajagakagi, gajega (Kan.); Kazhar-shikkây kalichi, kali-balli sbikkay, gecbchakkay (Tam.) ; Gacb-cbakaza, gachclia (Tel.) ; Kazbanchikkurn, kinanchik-kuru (Mal.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas, throughout India.
A scandent, prickly shrub. Bark light-brown. Wood hard. Leaves over a foot long ; Pinnae 6-8 pair ; 3-8in. long ; stipules large, 2— fid ; rachis and its branches armed with recurved prickles. Leaflets 6-10 pair on each pinna, opposite 7-1 by 2/5-3/5in., oblong or elliptic, obtuse, mucronate, membranous, downy beneath, minutely petioluled. Racemes 6-12in. long, gradually denser towards the top ; pedicels 1/5-3/10 in. long, finely rusty tomentose. Petals ⅔-½in. long, oblaceolate, yellow, the smallest spotted with red. Pod 2-3 by l½-2in., coriaceous, dehiscent, thickly beset with sharp wiry prickles, 1/5-3/10in. long. Seeds 2-3, 7/10in. long, globose or ovoid, shining, lead-coloured, with numerous very fine horizontal cracks when dry (KANJILAL).
Uses : — In an official report, the Madras Committee for the proposed revision of the Indian Pharmacopoeia, remark that " the seeds are very useful and cheap and antiperiodic, antipyretic and tonic ; valuable in all ordinary cases of simple, continued and intermittent fevers. They have also been found useful in some cases of asthma."
In Madras, an ointment is made from the powdered seeds with castor oil and applied externally in hydrocele and orchitis (Watt, ii 406.)
In Malay, the young leaves are used in intermittent fevers and for expelling intestinal worms (Dr. Ch. Rice, Watt. ii. 5).
The seeds are officinal in the Indian Pharmacopœia, and useful in malarial fevers.
In disorders of the liver, the tender leaves are considered very efficacious (T. N. Mukerji).
In Cochin China, the leaves are reckoned as a de-obstruent and emmenagogue and that an oil expressed from them is useful in convulsions, palsy and similar complaints (Drury).
The seeds of Cœsalpina bonducella yield an alkaloid, for which the name natin is suggested. The oil has D27 0.9132, iodine value 96.1, and saponification value 292.8.
J. Ch. I. 15-4-1912, p. 357.
410. C. bondue, Roxb. h.f.b.i., ii. 255, Roxb. 358.
Habitat : — The Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
Very near C. Bonducella, Fleming, from which it differs by its more robust, less downy branches, larger leaflets (often 2-3in. long), the absence of the reduced stipular pinna, by its smaller erect, not squarrose, bracts and more tropical dispersion (J. G. BAKER).
Uses : — The seeds of this are of a yellow color. Messrs Hœckel and Schlagendenhauffen have obtained from the cotyledons of both kinds a bitter principle as a white powder. Clinical experience is reported to have proved beyond doubt that this bitter principle represents the therapeutic properties of the seed, and Dr. Isnard reports that in doses of 10 to 20 centigrams its effects in intermittent fever equal those of the salts of quinine. (Ph. Journal, July 31st, 1886, pp. 8 and 12 )
411. C. Nuga, Ait, n h.f.b.i., ii. 255.
Syn. : — C. paniculata, Roxb. 358. Vern. : — Kaku mûllu (Mal.), Habitat : — Chitagong, Sylhet, and the Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
A large, scandent, prickly shrub. Branches slender, very flexuous. Prickles copious, dark-coloured, hooked. Pinnæ 2-5 pair. Leaflets distinctly petioluled, l½-2in. long, obtuse, coriaceous, glossy above. Racemes axillary and terminal, copiously panicled, with spreading branches; pedicels as long as the calyx, Calyx glabrous, ¼-⅛in. Petals scarcely exserted. Filaments densely woolly in the lower half. Pod 2in. long, broad oblong, coriaceous pointed at both ends, hard indehiscent, rather turgid, 1-seeded.
Use : — The roots of this plant are said to be diuretic ; they have been reported as useful in gravel and stone in the bladder, and the juice of the stem has been used externally and internally in eye diseases. For the same purpose are used also the roasted fruits, which have a bitter taste. The finely powdered leaves have also been administered to women immediately after delivery as a tonic to the uterus (Watt, ii. 10 ).
412. C. Sappan Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 255, Roxb. 356.
Sans. : — Pâtang.
Vern. : — Bokam, tairi, patang (H. B.) ; Teri (Santal) ; Bokmo (Ooriya) ; Patang-na-lakaru, patang-mu-lâkado, bakam (Guz.) ; Patang-ki-lakri (Duk.) ; Patang (Mar.); Patanga, vatlangi, vattéku, vartangi (Tam.) ; Bakanûr, bakapu. okâunkatta, pattanga-katta, bakâun-ckekka, bukkapu-chekka (Tel.) ; Patanga-chekke, sappanga (Kan.; ; Chappanum (Mal.).
Habitat : — The Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
A small sub-glabrous tree or struggling shrub. Wood hard. Sapwood white, heart-wood orange yellow, says Gamble. The heart-wood is red and takes a fine polish says Talbot. Prickles small and few. Leaf-rachis ½-1 ft. long, leaflets No. 30 moderately small oblong very oblique subsessile corinceous, Pinn No. 24. Panicles often as long as the leaves, the young branches, slightly perruginous-pubescent ; bructs large, lanceolate caducous ; pedicels ½-⅝ in. Calyx ⅜ in. Glabrous. Filaments densely worthy in the lower helf, slightly exserted. Ovary grey velvety. Pod 3-4 in, by 1½ in. sub-compressed, polished oblique oblong woody 3-4 seeded indehiscent, with a hard recurred beak at the upper angle.
The dye is obtained from the pods and also from the heartwood used specially for colouring silk.
Part used : — The wood.
Uses :— Ainslie says that the Vytians consider a decoction of the wood as a powerful emmenagogue, and remarks that the Cochin Chinese hold the same opinion.
The Indian Pharmacopoeia recommends it as a good substitute for logwood.
Dr. Ross of Delhi considers it useful in some forms of skin diseases, lichen especially, given internally as a decoction. Assistant-Surgeon Bhagwan Das of Rawalpindi has found it useful as an astringent tonic in atonic diarrhœa (Watt. II. ii).
413. C. pulcherrima, Swartz h.f.b.l, ii. 255, Roxb. 356.
Vern. : — Krishnachûrâ (B.) ; Ratuagandi (Kan.).
Habitat : — Cultivated in gardens throughout India.
A large glabrous shrub, armed with a few scattered prickles on branches. Bark silver grey, studded with prominent, but small length lenticels. Wood hard ; Sapwood white, heartwood orange- yellow, glabrous. Pinnae 12-18 pair. Leaflets 20-24, small sessile, close, membranous, oblique-oblong. ½-8/4in. long, very obtuse. Racemes very broad, the lower pedicels 3-4in. long. Calyx ½-⅝in., glabrous. Petals round, crisped, reddish yellow to orange, or bright-yellow, with a distinct claw. Filaments varying in colour, according to the colour of the petals, 3-4 times the length of the Corolla, much exserted. Pod nearly straight, 2-3in. long, thin, ligulate, flat, glabrous, 6-8-seeded.
Use : — The leaves, flowers and seeds are largely used in Native medicine (Watt).
414. C. sepiaria, Roxb. h.f.b.l, ii. 256, Roxb. 357.
Vern. : — Uru, ûri, arlu, relû, ailn, hyderkajhar (H.) ; Phulwai, uran, kando, uri (Pb.) ; Chillu (Duk.) ; Hotsige (Kan.).
Eng. : — Mysore Thorn. Habitat : — Himalayas to Ceylon and Ava, Sutlej Valley. Basantpur, Sabatbu, Western Peninsula.
A straggling, woody, thorny, stout climber. Branches finely downy, with small yellow prickles. Bark yellowish white, corky, with corky excrescences bearing strong thorns.' Wood light-brown, moderately hard, with masses of reddish-brown harder wood near centre (Gamble). Leaves 2-pinnate, 10- 18in Leaflets 10-24, opposite nearly sessile, oblong, ½-lin., obtuse; Trimen from Ceylon notes 20-24 leaflets (10-12 pair) ; ⅜in., sessile, closely placed, over-lapping, oblong, very obtuse, pubescent on both sides, thin. Flowers large, bright, chrome-yellow ; filaments crimson, 1¼in.; pedicel l-l¼in., stout, hairy, ascending. Racemes terminal, large, 6-12in. long, erect. Bracte long, lanceolate, acuminate, caducous. Calyx finely, but densely, pubescent. Segments very obtuse, petals shortly clawed, reflexed. Stamens much exserted. Filaments woolly for more than lower half. Ovary sessile, style glabrous ; stigma small. Pod glabrous, cuspidate, nearly flat, obliquely oblong, 2-3 by lin., tipped with the persistent style base. Seeds 4-8, mottled (Collet) ; 6-8. oblong, ⅝in., greenish, mottled (Trimen) ; compressed.
Use : — In Chamba, the bruised leaves are applied to burns. (Stewart, p. 60).
415. C. digyna, Rottl. h.f.b.l, ii. 256.
Syn. : — C. oleosperma, Roxb. 356.
Vern. : — Vákeri-mul (H. and Bomb.;; Umul-koochi (B.) ; Nooni-glika (Tel.) ; Vâkeri-che-bhâte (Bomb.).
Habitat : — Eastern and Western Peninsula, Assam, Bengal, Chittagong, Burma, upper and lower ; Sambalpur (C. P.), Ceylon. Eastern Himalaya.
A large, scandent, woody shrub, sparingly prickly. Branches glabrous, purple, with hooked brown prickles, which latter are scattered and uniform. Young parts rufous-pubescent. Leaves narrow, main rachis 6-8in., with 9-12 pair of pinnæ, with rachis l½~2in. pubescent. Leaflets 20-24 (10-12 pair), ⅜ in., sessile, closely placed, overlapping, oblong, very obtuse, pubescent on both sides, thin, dark-green, membranous. Flowers ½in., yellow; pedicel lin., horizontally divaricate, slender; raceme stalked axillary, 6-8in. Bracts setaceous, falling very early. Calyx glabrous, segments separating from flat base. Stamens a little exserted. Filaments very woolly for more than basal half. Petals orbicular, yellow, the upper streaked with red (Brandis). Trimen from Ceylon simply says flowers yellow. Brandis is more accurate. I have seen the plant on Malabar Hill, Bombay, and in Ratnagiri District, on Râjâpur Hills. Developes a big starchy tuber or tubers several feet underground from the roots.
Pod oblong, glabroas, l½-2in. long, 2-4-seeded, turgid, torulose.
Parts used : — The roots.
Use : — The root is used in Native practice, and has marked astringent properties. It might be used as such (S. Arjun). It is given internally, in 6 masa doses mixed with milk, ghee, cumin and sugar, in phthisis and scrofulous affections ; when sores exist it is applied externally as well ; a kind of tuberous swelling which is found on the root is preferred (Dymock).
In some parts of Burma, the root, pounded and mixed with water, is drunk as a febrifuge by some people, and is said also to have an intoxicating effect.
Previous investigations have shown that the pod-cases of Caesalpinia digyna are useful as a tanning material ; of six samples, one contained 45.45 per cent, of tannin (referred to the dry substance), whilst in the other five the tannin content ranged from 53.82 to 59.89 per cent. The plant occurs plentifully in a wild state in Burma and in Bengal and Assam, and its cultivation in India has been recommended. An experiment consignment of the whole pods was sold recently in London at £14 per ton. As practically the whole of the tannin is contained in the pod-cases, a very large quantity of the seeds would be available if the pods were used commercially as a source of tannin. The results of analyses indicated that if finely ground and mixed with a cheap ground pulse, the seeds might be used for cattle-feeding in India, but they could not be exported profitably. J. Ch. I., Aug. 15, 1912, p. 735.
" The powdered seeds yield to ether 25.3 per cent, of a thick light colored oil worthy of further investigation." Agricultural Ledger, 1911-12 No. 5, p. 138.
416. Wagatea spicata, Dalz. h.f.b.i., ii. 260.
Vern. : — Wagati, Wâkeri, Kuldgajga(M.); Hooliganji, Vagati (Kan.).
Habitat : — Western Presidency.
A robust, woody , prickly, climbing shrub, with long trailing prickly branches. Leaves abruptly bipinnate, ¾-lft. long and broad. Pinnæ 8-10 pair ; leaflets glabrous, elliptic-oblong, l-2in. long, nearly sessile, oblong, acute, rigidly sub-coriaceous, venulose. Flowers nearly subsessile, in long dense spikes, bright scarlet on a thick furrowed brown-velvety racing. Bracts minute, lanceolate, cuspidate. Calyx scarlet, campanulate, ⅜in., segments 5, the lowest much longer than the others. Petals orange, 5, equal, oblanceolate, inserted with the stamens on the side of the disk lining the Calyx-tube. Pod indehiscent, 4-5- seeded, more or less constricted between seeds.
Use : -The pods (Tere pods) contain a large proportion of tannic acid. Roots used in cases of pneumonia (Talbot's List of Trees, Shrubs and Woody Climbers of the Bombay Presidency, 2nd edition, p. 143). Bark yields a dye material and is used as an application for skin diseases.
417. Cassia Fistula, Linn, h f.b.i., II. 261, Roxb. 348.
Syn. : — Cathartocarpus Fistula (Pers.).
Eng. : — The Indian Laburnum or Purging Cassia.
Sans. : — Suvarnaka, araghadha, rajataru.
Vern. :— Amaltás, girmálah (H. and D.); Alash, ali, karangal, kiar, kaniár (Pb.) ; Rajbriksk, kitola (Kumaon) ; Rájbriksha (Nepal); Chimkani (Sind.); Sundáh, sonali, ámultás, bandarláti (B.) ; Nurnic (Santah); Hari (Kol.) ; Sonalu (Garo) ; Sanaru (Ass.); Bandolat (Cachar); Sandari or Sunari (Uriza) ; Kitawáli, sitoli, itola, bhimarra, sim (N. W. P.) ; Warga (Oudh) ; Jaggarwah, raila, pirojah, karkacha (C. P.); Jaggra, jugarûa, kambar, rera (Gond.); Báhavá, bháwá, baya, bawa(Mar.) ; Garmal or Sarmâlâ ( Guz.) ; Kouraili-kây, sharak-kouraik-kây, koue (Tam.) ; Reylu, reélarâla, réla-kâyalu, suvarnam (Tel.); Konak-kâya(Ma.) ; Kakee (Kan.).
A moderate-sized, deciduous tree, at times large, erect, glabrous in all its parts. Bark ¼in. thick, compact, greenish-grey and smooth when young, dark-reddish brown and rough when old, exfoliating in many-sided patches. Wood very hard ; sapwood large ; heart-wood varying in colour from grey or yellowish-red to brick-red, darkens much on exposure (Gamble). Youngest shoots silky. Branches slender. Leaves 12-18in. long. Leaflets 4-8 pair, ovate or ovate- oblong, acute or shortly acuminate, base cuneate ; 2-5, l½-3¾in., sub-coriaceous, glabrous and bright-green above, pale, and more or less silvery-pubescent, particularly on nervation beneath ; lateral nerves numerous, branching; petiolules ¼-½in. long; stipules minute-pubescent. Flowers large, fragrant, bright-yellow, in lax pendulous racemes, 12-20in. long; Pedicels l½-2½in. long, pubescent; bracts minute, caducous. Calyx 4in. long, divided to the base; segments oblong, obtuse, puberulous. Corolla 1½in across ; petals obovate, veined, shortly clawed. Stamens all antheriferous ; 3 lower largest, with curved filaments, and oblong anthers, dehiscing longitudinally ; 4, with short filaments, the anthers dehiscing by basal-pores ; the remaining 3 short, anthers without pollen. Pod cylindrical, l-2ft. long, lin. thick, pendulous, smooth, shining, dark-brown indehiscent ; seeds numerous, horizontal, in black sweet pulp and completely separated by thin transverse dissepiments ; small, ovoid, slightly compressed, smooth, shining, yellowish-brown, cotyledons flat, albumen horny (TALBOT).
Parts used : — The pulp, root-bark, flowers, bark, leaves and roots.
Uses : — In Hindu medicine, the pulp is used as a cathartic; and the root is also described as a laxative, useful in fever, heart disease, retained excretions, biliousness, &c. (Dutt). In the Makhzan-El-Adwiya, the pulp is described as lenitive, useful for relieving thoracic obstructions and heat of blood, and is a safe aperient for children and women. Externally, it is said to be a good application for gout, rheumatism, &c. The flowers are made into a confection known as Gul-kand and viewed as a febrifuge. From 5 to 7 of the powdered seeds are prescribed as an emetic, and the shell of the pod rubbed down with saffron, sugar and rose-water, in difficult parturition (DymockJ. In the Concan, the juice of the young leaves is used to cure ringworm and to allay the irritation caused by the application of the marking-nut juice (Dymock).
The root is given as a tonic and febrifuge (Bellew). Dr. Irvine found the root to act as a strong purgative (Top. of Ajmere.)
It is officinal in the Indian and British Pharmacopœias.
A poultice made of the leaves is said to relieve the chilblains which are common in Upper Sind. It has been beneficially used in facial paralysis and rheumatism when rubbed into the affected parts. Internally, it is given as a derivative in paralysis and brain affections.
By steam-distilling the finely powdered fruit of Cassia fistula, a dark-yellow volatile oil, possessing a honey-like odour, is obtained. The oil forms an amorphous mass at ordinary temperatures, melts at 41°C, and has a faint acid reaction. The water which distils over with the oil, contains normal butyric acid. J. S. Ch. I. April 30, 1901, p. 386.
418. C. occidentalis . H.F.B.I., ii. 262.
Syn. : — Senna occidentalis, Roxb 352.
Eng. : — The Negro Coffee.
Sans. : — Kâsamara.
Vern. : — Kasondi, bari-kasondi or kâsundâ (H. and Duk.) ; Hikal (Bom.) ; Kálkàshundâ (B.) ; Nâttam-tâkarais. peya-veri (Tam.) ; Kasindha (Tel.); Natram-takara (Mal.); (Kasundro Guz.)
Habitat: — Scattered from the Himalayas to the Western Peninsula, Bengal and South India.
A diffuse, sub-glabrous undershrub, a few feet high, usually only of annual duration. Leaves ½ft. long, with a single gland placed just above the base of the common petiole. Leaflets glaucous, fœtid, acuminate, l-3in. long, glabrous or finely pubescent, 6-10 ovate-oblong. Racemes short-peduncled, few- flowered, corymbose, axillary and forming a terminal panicle ; bracts thin, ovate acuminate, caducous, pedicels spreading, ½-¾in. Sepals obtuse, glabrous, ¼-⅓in. Petals fin., yellow, with reddish veins. Pod 4-5 by ⅓in., rather recurved, glabrous sub-compressed, distinctly torulose. Seeds 15-30.
Parts used : — The leaves, seeds and roots.
Uses : — Sanskrit authors regard it as possessing much the same medicinal properties as C. Sophera. Mahomedan writers describe it as alexipharmic useful in the expulsion of corrupt humors and to relieve cough (Dymock).
In the Concan, 2 to 6 gunjas of the seeds are pounded and heated with a tola of woman's or cow's milk, which is strained and given once a day as a cure for the convulsions of children, or 6 mâsha doses may be given to the mother or wet-nurse. In France and in the West Indies, the seeds are employed as a febrifuge. An infusion of the root is considered by the American Indians to be an antidote against various poisons (Dymock). The seeds and leaves are used externally in cutaneous diseases (T. N. Mukerji).
In the West Indies, the root is considered diuretic and the leaves taken internally and applied externally are given in cases of itch and other cutaneous diseases. The root is said by Martius to be beneficial in obstructions of the stomach and in incipient dropsy (Lindley). Among the country people of Porto Rico, a decoction of the leaves, roots and flowers is highly prized in hysteria. I have tried its effects in some cases and found it relieve the spasm. It is useful for expelling wind accumulated in the intestines of dyspeptic, nervous women. It is also used as a tonic and febrifuge (Dr. Amader in Ph. J., 28-4-88).
The whole plant is purgative. Dose of leaves about 90 grains.
Professor Clonet has analysed the seeds. The following abstract of his views and results taken from the Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1876, p. 179, will be found instructive : —
"Fatty matters (olein and margarin), 4.9; tannic acid, 0.9; sugar, 2.1 ; gum, 28.8 ; starch, 2.0 ; cellulose, 34.0 ; water, 7.0 ; calcium sulphate and phosphate, crysophanic acid, 0.9 ; malic acid, sodium chloride, magnesium sulphate, iron, silica, together, 5.4 ; and achrosine, 13.58 parts in 100. The latter substance was obtained by exhausting the powder of seeds, previously treated with ether, by means of alcohol of 60 per cent ; the alcohol is distilled off, the syrupy residue treated with absolute alcohol, which dissolves out various constituents, leaving a solid brown-red mass, having when dry a resinous fracture, and being soluble in water, to which it communicates a garnet colour. It contains C, H O, N, and S, but its exact composition has not been determined. (It is most likely a mixture of various bodies.) It is soluble also in weak alcohol, and in acids and alkalies. The colour cannot be fixed upon tissues by any known mordant. This circumstance induced the author to term it achrosine, or ' not colouring,' although being coloured itself."
419. C. Sophera, Linn, h.f.b i., ii. 262.
Syn. : — Senna Sophera, Roxb. 352.
Sans. : — Kâsamarda.
Vern. : — Banâr, kâsundâ, bâs-ki-kasôndî (H.; ; Kâl-kash-undâ (B.) ; Sarî-kasôndi, jangli-takla {Duk.) ; Kuwâdice (Guz.) ; Ran-tânkla (Mar.) ; Ponnâ-virai, periya-takar, perâ-virai (Tam.) ; Paidi-tangedu, nute-kashindha, kâsâ-mardhakamu, tagara-chettu (Tel.); Ponnâmtakara (Mal.).
Habitat :— Common throughout India.
Closely allied to C. occidentals, from which it differs by its more shrubby habit, more numerous smaller narrower leaflets and shorter, broader, more turgid, pods which are not usually torulose when mature.
Parts used : — The bark, leaves, seeds and roots.
Use : — Supposed by Sanskrit writers to have expectorant properties, hence the name kâsamarda.
It is noticed by Mohamedan writers as a remedy in snake-bite, the root being given with black pepper. The bark in the form of infusion and the powdered seeds, mixed with honey, are given in diabetes (Drury). In Madras, the infusion of the leaves is taken internally for gonorrhœa in its sub-acute stages, and it is also used externally for syphilis.
The bark, leaves, and seeds are used as a cathartic, and the juice of the leaves is viewed as a specific in ring-worm, specially when made into a plaster in combination with sandal-wood. A paste made from the root is sometimes used instead of the juice of the leaves. The powdered seed is used for the same purpose and also for itch. This plant, like several others of the same genus, owes its medicinal activity to the presence of chrysophanic acid, sometimes called Rhein, form C14H6O2″(O.H.2 ) This substance belongs to the anthracene group of carbon compounds, and, like alizarin, is regarded as dioxyan thraquinone, C14H6O2″ jofrr- It crystallizes in six-sided prisms, is tasteless, and may be sublimed without decomposition ; it is contained in Goa powder (50 per cent.), rhubarb, most varieties of dock, Lichen orcella, Permelia parietina, Cassia alata, C. occidentalis, C. Tora, &c. As met with in commerce, it is in the form of a light-yellow poder, soluble in benzol, chloroform, turpentine, and in the fixed and volatile oils to a large extent, sparingly soluble in ether and alcohol, and insoluble in water, glycerine, and in solid paraffin. It is dissolved by sulphuric and nitric acids (in the latter to a less extent), by caustic potash and by ammonia ; fuses at 123°3 C, and boils at 232°2 C. At the latter temperature it is decomposed into a dark-green resinous substance, which is largely soluble in ether. Oil Jecoris dissolves twice its weight of the acid, yielding a mixture containing 70 per cent. Oil olivæ, Oil Pini sylvest., Creasotum, Oil Terebinth., Oil Lavand., and Vaseline, dissolve readily their own weight of acid, yielding mixtures containing 52 per cent.
" Taking advantage of its solubility in the fixed oils, a considerable saving may be effected by preparing ointments direct from Araroba. Oil olivæ thoroughly exhausts that substance, yielding the acid after removal of the oil by ether in a state of purity. The Singhalese doctors take advantage of this fact, and fry the leaves of Cassia alata, 0. Tora, C. occidentalis, and C. Sophera in gingelly or castor oil. The strained product is used as an ointment for ring-worm and other skin diseases." (F. Laker Macmillan, Phar. Journ., 15th March 1879.)
420. C. obtusifolia, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 263.
Syn. : — Senna Tora and toroides, Roxb. 351.
Eng. : — The fœtid Cassia.
Sans. : — Prabúnátha, dádamari, dádmadan.
Vern. : — Chakundá, panevár (H. & B.) ; Chakaoda arak. (Santal) ; Pawár, panwar, pawás. chakunda (Pb.); Panwar (N.-W.P.) takálá, tarotá, táklá, tánkli (Mar.) ; Kawário, kovariza (Guz.) ; Tánkalá, kowaria (Bom.) ; Tarota (Duk.) ; Ushittagarai, tarotak (Tam.); Tagarisha-chettu (Tel.).
Habitat : — Found everywhere in Bengal, and widely spread throughout India.
An annual weed growing up into an undershrub. Leaves distinctly petioled, furnished with glands on the main rachis between the leaflets ; glabrous. Leaflets 6, ovate-oblong, perfect, glaucous, membranous, l-l½in. Stipules large, linear sub ulate, caducous. Flowers usually in nearly sessile pairs in the axils of the leaves, of the upper very crowded. Corolla small, bright or orange-yellow: Sepals concave. Stamens sub-equal. Pods ½-¾ft. by ¼ in. ; membranous, slender, sub-tetragonous, the sutures very broad. Seeds uniseriate, flattened in the same direction as the pod, truncately cylindrical, about 1/5in. long ; length parallel to the suture.
Parts used : — The leaves and seeds.
Uses : — In Hindu medicine it has a great reputation in all kinds of skin . diseases. Chakradatta recommends the seeds together with those of Pongarnia glabra as a cure for ring-worm.
Mohamedan writers notice the closing of the leaves at night. They consider the seeds and leaves to have solvent properties in those forms of skin disease accompanied by induration, e.g., leprosy, cheloid, psoriasis, &c. (Dymock ) .
The leaves are gently aperient ; fried in castor oil, they are considered a good application to foul ulcers. The seeds ground with sour butter-milk are used to ease the irritation of itchy eruptions ; and the root, rubbed on a stone with lime juice, is supposed to be one of the best remedies for ring-worm. The leaves are also used as a poultice to hasten suppuration ( Ainslie). A warm remedy in gout, sciatica and pains in the joints (B. Powell)
The medicinal properties are due to the presence of chrysophanic acid. (Vide a paper by Mr. Elborne on the analysis of the seeds in Ph. J., 22 Sept. 1888, p. 242).
421. C. auriculata, Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 263.
Syn. : — Senna auriculata, Roxb. 354.
Eng. : — The Tanner's Cassia.
Vern. — Tarwar, tarver (H & B.) ; Tarota (Berar) ; Taravada (Mar.); Awal, aval (Guz.) ; Awla (Cutch); Avári, ammera-verai, âvirai (Tam.) ; Tangedu, thágedu, tangar (Tel.); Avareke, tengedu, tangádi-gida, ávara-gidá, taravadagida (Kan.) ; Avara, ponnáviram (Mal.).
Habitat : — Wild in the Central Provinces, the Western Peninsula and South India. A gregarious, pubescent, tall shrub. Branches virgate, irregularly-scattered, sometimes horizontally, sometimes vertically arranged. Leaves nearly sessile, underside finely grey-downy, 3-4in. long. Leaflets 8-12 pair, obovate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong, obtuse, mueronate, ½-lin. long, with a piliform gland at the base of each pair ; stipules large, foliaceous, persistent. Flowers yellow in terminal corymbose, bracteate panicels, the lowest branches in the axils of leaves, the upper supported by pairs of stipules. Sepals concave, unequal. Petals clawed, crisped on margin, ¾-1 in. long. Pod 3-4 by fin., then hairy, ligulate, few-seeded, glabrous, flexible, dark-brown, with a distinct space between the unseriate seeds (J. G. BAKER).
Parts used : — The bark and seeds.
Use : — The Vytians reckon the seeds amongst their refrigerants and attenuants, and prescribe them in electuary, in cases in which, the habit is preternaturally heated or depraved. They also consider the powder of the dry seeds as a valuable external remedy (blown into the eye), in certain stages of ophthalmia. 01 the electuary the dose is a small teaspoonful twice daily (Ainslie).
Dr. Kirkpatrick brings to notice the astringent properties of the bark, and speaks favorably of the use of the seeds as an application to the eyes in chronic purulent conjunctivitis (Catalogue of Mysore Drugs. Ph. Ind.)
The Singhalese pull the twigs and hold them in their hands, or apply them to their heads for the coolness which they diffuse : and they use the leaves in the S. of the island as a substitute for tea (TENNANT).
422. C. obovata, Collad, h.f.b.l, ii. 264.
Syn. : — Cassia Senna, Linn. Senna obtusa, Roxb.
Eng. : — Country Senna.
Vern. : — Bhuí-tarwad (Bom.).
Habitat : — The Western Peninsula, Mysore and South India, especially the Coromandel coast.
Sub-glabrous, scarcely shrubby, l-4ft. high. Leaf-rachis without glands. Leaves distinctly petioled, 2-3in. long ; leaflets obovate-oblong, 8-12, opposite, membranous, very glaucous, obtuse, with a minute mucro, ½-1½in. Stipules lanceolate persistent. Racemes distinctly, peduncled, equalling or exceeding the leaves ; pedicels very short. Sepals glabrous, very obtuse. Corolla middle-sized, pale yellow, stamens very unequal. Pod thin, flat, oblong, much recurved, with a crest, in the middle of the valve opposite each seed, 1-1½ by ⅜-¾in., short-stalked, narrower suddenly at both ends, 6-12-seeded, suture very thin.
Use:— Along with C. Lanceolata it is the principal source of the medicinal senna leaves.
423. C. alata, Linn h. f.b.l, ii 264.
Syn. : — Senna alata, Roxb. 354.
Sans. : — Dadraghna.
Vern. : — Dád mardan, dád-mári (B.) ; dád murdan, dát-ká pát (Lt.) ; Dádamardana (Bom. and Mar.) ; Dát-ká-pata Viláyati-agati (Duk.) ; Shímai-agati, vandukolli (Tam.) ; Sima-avisl (Tel.); Shima-akatti (Mal.) ; Shime-agase (Kan.).
Habitat : —Met with in Lower Bengal and the Western Peninsula.
A large shrub, with very thick, finely downy branches. Leaves sub-sessile, l-2ft. long. Leaflets 8-12 pair, oblong obtuse, 2-6in. long, minutely mucronate, rigidly sub-coriaceous, glabrous, or obscurely downy beneath, broadly rounded, oblique at the base. Rachis narrowly winged on each side of the face. Stipules deltoid, rigid, persistent, articulate, ¼in. long. Flowers in short pedicels, in spiciform, pedunculate racemes; the buds in yellow caduceous bracts. Sepals obtuse ; petals bright yellow, with darker veins, broad-ovate, l¼in. long. Stamens very unequal. Perfeet stamens 7, the anthers subequal or those of 2-3 lowest larger than the others. Three posterior filaments without anthers. Pod long, ligulate with a broad wing down the middle of each valve, membranous. Dehiscent, straight and glabrous ; 4-8 by ½-⅝in. Seeds 50 or more.
Parts used : — The leaves. Uses : — The leaves of this plant are regarded as an excellent medicine for ring-worm. They are also used in other skin diseases, and considered useful in snake-bites (Ainslie).
Internally, the leaves and flowers are prescribed as a tonic (T. N. Mukerji). The whole plant is used by the Tamul people as a remedy in venereal, poisoned bites, and as a general tonic (Roxb).
In eczema, I have obtained the best results by washing the parts repeatedly with a strong decoction of the leaves and flowers. The bark has the same properties. In cases of bronchitis and asthma, in herpetic constitutions, I have administered the decoction of the leaves and flowers in repeated doses during the day, relieving dyspnœal oppression and promoting expectoration. The medicine acts on the bowels slightly and increases the secretion of urine (Dr. Amed, Ph. J.) (28-4-88).
The evidence collected by the authors of Ph. Ind. is strongly in favour of its efficacy in ring- worm. The best way to apply it is to bruise the leaves and mix them with lime juice, the paste thus prepared is spread upon the affected part. The leaves have also purgative properties (Dymock).
424 C. glauca, Lam, h.f.b.l, ii. 265.
Syn. :-— Senna arborescens, Roxb. 352.
Vern. : — Konda-tantepuchettu (Tel.) ; Wellia-tagera (Mal.).
Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.
A large shrub or small tree, with spreading, grooved, more or less glabrous, branches. Leaves petioles 5-9in. long; rachis adpressed, grey-pubescent, with an erect, clavate gland between each of the 2 or 3 lower pair of leaflets. Leaflets 4-10 pair. Stipules ¼-½in. long, linear, acute, falcate, sub-persistent; leaflets broadly-ovate, obtuse, emarginate or subacute, the terminal pair largest, sub-coriaceous, green, glabrous above, glaucous and pubescent on the nerves beneath, sometimes slightly unequal-sided at base. Flowers yellow, in axillary corymbose racemes ; shorter than the leaves. Bracts ovate, reflexed, caducous. Calyx yellow veined. Sepals broad-ovate, glabrous, outer two smallest. Petals broad-ovate, obtuse, with a short claw, veined and pubescent on the outside. Stamens 10, perfect, subequal. Pod thin, flat, with raised lines between, dehiscent, glabrous, 4-8in. long. "Seeds 20-30, smooth, compressed, narrow- oblong, dark-brown, shining, shallowly-pitted on the faces " (TALBOT).
Use : — The bark and leaves are prescribed in diabetes and gonorrhoea (Balfour).
425. C. absus. Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 265, Roxb 351.
Vern. : — Châkut, châksu, bânâr (H. & Duk.) ; Mulaippâlvirai, karnukâ-nam, kâttukkol, edikkol (Tam.) ; Chanu-pâlavittulu (Tel.); karin-kolla (Mal.); Châksie (Bom.) ; Kân-kuti (Mar.); Chimar or Chime, chînôl (Guz.) ; Chowun (Sind). Chaksoo (Pb.).
Habitat: — From the foot of the Western Himalayas to Ceylon.
An erect annual, l-2ft. high, with stem and leaves clothed with grey bristly viscose liairs. Leaves long-petioled. Leaflets oblong, very oblique, l-2in. long, obtuse, or subacute, 4in. long, membranous. Stipules small, linear, persistent. Racemes narrow, equalling or exceeding the leaves. Sepals lanceolate, bristly, 1/6-1/5in. Corolla reddish yellow, very small. Pod oblique, ligulate, l-l½in. long, 5-6-seeded, the thin valves beset with bristly hairs.
Parts used :— The seeds and leaves.
Use : — Mahomedan writers describe the seeds as attenuant and astringent, and say they strengthen the sight when used as a collyrium. In some books a plaster made from the seeds is recommended as an application to wounds and sores, especially of the penis. In purulent ophthalmia about a grain of the powdered seeds, after being baked, is introduced beneath the eye- lids (Dymock).
The receptacle of the seed possesses diuretic and stimulant properties (Irvine, Patna).
Used as a cathartic in habitual constipation (dose ⅛-3 drams). Seeds are found efficacious in ring-worm (Watt).
426 C. mimosoides, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 266.
Syn. : — S. sensitiva and S. tenella, Roxb. 355.
Vern. : — Patwa-ghâs (Santal).
Habitat : — The Himalayas.
A low, diffuse, perennial shrub, with slender, finely downy branches. Leaves l-3in. long, with a solitary, sessile gland on the rachis below the leaflets; leaflets 60-100, linear, rigidly coriaceous, 1-1/6in. long, obliquely raucronate, with the midrib close to the upper border ; stipules large, linear-subulate, persistent. Flowers 1-2 together in the axils of the leaves, on short pedicels. Sepals ⅛-¼in., lanceolate-acuminate, bristly. Corolla little exserted. Stamens 10, alternately long and short, rarely 5 of equal size ? (K. R. K.)- Pod strap-shaped, flat, dehiscent, 1½-2 by 1/6in., nearly straight, glabrescent or finely downy; Septa more or less oblique.
Hooker writes in Curtis' Botanical Magazine for December 1st, 1870 :—
" Cassia mimosoides is a rather common Asiatic or African tropical and sub-tropical plant, growing on dry banks, and presenting a beautiful appearance from the softness of its finely divided, bright green, feathery foliage, elegant habit, and the beauty of its golden flowers, which are abundantly produced and supported on Lair-like pedicels. Like so many tropical plants of wide distribution, it varies much,*®*"
Use : — The root is given for spasms in the stomach by the Santalis (Revd. A. Campbell, Santal, Watt II. 220).
427 Cynometra ramiflora, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 267.
Vern. : — Iripa (Mal) ; Shing (B.) Irapu (Tam.);.
Habitat : — The Western Peninsula and Malabar.
An evergreen, erect, unarmed tree. Bark smooth, wood brown red, hard, close-grained. Leaflets 1-2 pair, l-3in. long, more or less coriaceous, 1-jugate and 2-jugate, mixed or often all 1-jugate, sub-sessilely oblong, subacute, very oblique, 3-6in. long ; petiole ½-1½in. Flowers small, numerous, fasciculate or inbracteate racemes, inflorescence in bud, enclosed in imbricate deciduous scales. Calyx-tube very short, segments 4 or 5, oblong. Petals 5, equal, stamens 10, rarely indefinite, anthers versatile. Ovary with 2 ovules. Pod turgid, very' rugose, indehiscent, subsessile, with thick valves, ½-lin. long, seed generally 1, exalbuminous, filling the cavity of the tree pod,
Use : — The root is purgative. A lotion is made from the leaves boiled in cow's milk, which, mixed with honey, is applied externally in scabies, leprosy and other cutaneous diseases. An oil is also prepared from the seeds and used for the same purpose (Rheede).
428 Hardwickia pinnata, Roxb. h.f.b.l, ii. 270 Roxb. 378.
Vern. : — Matâyen Samprâni (Travancore; ; Kolâvu (Tinnevelly) ; Genue (Manjarabad).
Habitat : — The ghats of Kanara, Travancore and Carnatic.
A very large, unarmed tree. Wood moderately hard ; sap-wood large ; heartwood dark-red. or reddish-brown, exuding a red, sticky resin. Leaves, abruptly pinnate, with few leaflets. Leaflets 4-6, alternate, petiolate, not oblique, oblong, rigidly coriaceous, acute, 2-4in. long, venulose, the upper of the uppermost pair sometimes apparently terminal ; midrib central veining pinnate ; petiolules l/6-l/4in. Panicles copious, axillary and terminal; formed of dense slender, cylindric racemes ; pedicels spreading, 1/24-1/12in. Calyx broadly campanulate, under l/12in long, whith a pair of minute adpressed bractioles. Filaments twice as long as the sepals. Stigma minute. Pod turgid, l½in. long, obovoid or oblong, nearly or quite filled up by the seed, sublignose, rigid.
Use : — The balsam of Hardwiekia has been used in India for gonorrhoea and with as much success as copaiba (Watt). —
The oleoresin of Hardiwickia pinnata was steam distilled and 34 per cent, by weight of oil was obtained. The oil was very thick and its specific gravity N. 0. LEGUMINOS^S.
481
at 25°C was 0*9008, optical rotation in 100 tntn. tube 8°18'. It gave the follow- ing fractions on being distilled in an ordinary flask.
Fractions by volume.
... About 4 drops.
- ! , 5 Per cent.
... 7
... 70 „
... 15 „
3 „
The iodine value (Hubl. 18 hours) was 232-67. The constants of the oleoresin and the resin left behind after distillation are as follows :—
The preliminary composition of the Hardwichia pinnata oleoresin is : —
Up to 200°C 240°C 240-245°C 245— 250°C 250— 255°C Above 255°C It had no acid value
Oil per cent.
Resin per cent.
Moisture per cent. (by difference).
34-55
62-80
2-65
Its constants are :—
Sp. Gr., at 24°0 Acid number Saponification number... Ester number Iodine (Hubl. 18 hours)
The resin which forms about 6i gave the following constants :— Sp. Gr., at23°C Acid number Saponification number... Ester number Iodine value (Hubl. 18 hours)
Per cent.
1019
72-94
231*50
158-56
159-15
per cent, of the sample under referenc
1-098 144-27 306-60 162-33
88-01
cannot be sub-
The oil, as reported by the Imperial Institute, London stituted for copaiba oil. The enquiry as to the uses of the oil and the rosin has so far given negative results.
Annual Report of the Board of Scientific Advice for India for the year 1914-15, p, 16.
429 Saraca indica, Linn., H.F.B.I., n. 271. Syn. : — Jonesia Asoka, Roxh. 312. Sans. : — Asoka.
Vern.:— Asok (H. & B.) ; Aseka (Cuttack) ; Ashunkar
(Kan.) ; Jassoondi, asoka (Bomb.). 61 Habitat : — Central and Eastern Himalayas, Kumaon, East Bengal and South India.
A large, erect evergreen tree. Wood light reddish-brown, soft. Occasional faint, brown concentric belts of soft tissues. Young shoots drooping and beautifully light to deep crimson. Leaves sessile or subsessile ; leaflets 3-6 pair, oblong or oblong- lanceolate, acute or obtuse, 3-9in. long, rigidly sub-coriaceous. Flowers in dense corymbs, 3-4in. diam., orange on expanding, gradually turning bright scarlet. Peduncles and pedicels glabrous, coloured. Pedicels stout, ¼-½in. long, below the oblong-spathtilate, ascending-, amplexicaul bracteoles- Sepals ¼-⅓in., obovate-oblong. Calyx-tube, ½in. long, twice the length of lobes. Perfect stamens 7-8. Filaments thrice as long as the sepals. Pod 6-10 by 2in., valves hard, reticulate. Seeds 4-8, oblong, compressed, l½in. long.
Use : — The bark is much used by Hindu practitioners in uterine affections and especially in menorrhagia A decoction of the bark in milk is generally prescribed (Dutt).
Dr. Waring says that it proved useful in a recurring hæmorrhoidal tumour in a member of H H. the Maharajah of Travancore's family (B. M. J. and I. M. G., 1885, p. 260) Flowers pounded and mixed with water are used in hæmorrhagic dysentery (Watt).
430. Tamarindus indica, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. 273, Roxb. 530.
Sans. : — Tintidi ; Amlika.
Vern. : — Amli ; imli (H.) ; Tentul (B. ); Amli; Chintz (Bomb.); Poolie (Tam.); Balam Poolie (Mal.); Chinta-chettu (Tel.); Karangi (Mysore).
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India, as far north as the Jhelam.
A large, evegreen, unarmed tree. Bark ½in. thick, dark grey, with longitudinal fissures and horizontal cracks. Wood hard, close-grained ; sap wood yellowish white, sometimes with red streaks ; heart-wood with an irregular outline, and radiating ramifications, very durable. Leaves abruptly pinnate, with 20-40, glabrescent, close, obtuse, opposite, oblong leaflets. Racemes copious, lax at the end of branchlets, with 10-15 flowers together. Pedicels articulated at the base of the Calyx. Bracts boatshaped, enclosing buds, caducous. Calyx-tube turbinate, segments 4. Petals 3, under ½in. long, unequal, variegated with red and yellow, the 2 lower reduced to scales, perfect stamens 3, filaments united to the middle of the anthers, oblong, versatile. Ovary stipitate, the stalk adnate to Calyx-tube. Pod thick, filled when mature with dark brown acid pulp transversed by fibres. 3-8in. long, lin. or more broad, 3-10-seeded. Seeds brown, shining, without albumen, the outer coat producing abundant mucilage, when steeped in water for a time.
Most authors make two species of Tamarindus, the Indian kind, with long pods, and the West Indian, with short pods; bat even those who adopt this view of the subject generally raise a question of their specific identity. India is probably the aboriginal country of both, whence the species was introduced into West Indies. Even in the East the Tamarinds of the Archipelago are considered the best of those of India. The Arabs called the tree Tamr-i-hindee, or Indian Date, from which has been derived the generic name, Tamarindus. The inhabitants of the East have a notion that it is dangerous to sleep under the tree, and it has been remarked, as of our Beech in Europe, that the ground beneath is always bare, and that no plant seems to thrive under its branches.*
In the East, the pulpy fruits of the Tamarind are preserved without sugar, being merely dried in the sun and cured in salt. In the West Indies, the pulp is usually packed in small kegs between layers of sugar, and hot syrup is poured on the whole. In order to enable them to keep without fermentation for a length of time, the first syrup, which is very acid,
- Apropos of this remark it may here be observed that the Bhangi or sweeper of the Santa Cruz Station, B. B. and C. I. Railway, has his sleeping- hut under a group of 5 or 6 tamarind trees, huge and shady, where for the last 20 years the hut has been in use (K, R, KIRTIKAR).
is poured off and a second is added. A very excellent preserve is imported from Curacoa, made from the unripe pods, preserved in sugar, with the addition of spices. (Curtis' Botanical Magazine for February 1st, 1851).
Use : — The ripe fruit is regarded as refrigerant, digestive, carminative and laxative, and useful in diseases supposed to be caused by deranged bile, such as burning of the body, costiveness, intoxication from spirituous liquors or dhatura, &c. The shells of the ripe fruit are burnt and their ashes used in medicine as an alkaline substance, along with other medicines of the sort. The pulp of the ripe fruit, as well as a poultice of the leaves, is recommended to be applied to inflammatory swellings (Butt's Hindu Materia Medica). Mahomedan physicians consider the pulp to be cardiacal, astringent and aperient, useful for checking bilious vomiting, and for purging the system of bile and adust humors ; when used as an aperient, it should be given with a very small quantity of fluid. A gargle of Tamarind water is recommended in sore- throat. The seeds are said to be a good astringent ; boiled, they are used as a poultice to boils ; pounded with water they are applied to the crown of the head in cough and relaxation of the uvula. The leaves crushed with water and expressed yield an acid fluid, which is said to be useful in bilious fever and scalding of the urine ; made into a poultice, they are applied to reduce inflammatory swellings, and to relieve pain. A poultice of the flowers is used in inflammatory affections of the conjunctiva ; their juice is given internally for bleeding piles. The bark is considered to have astringent and tonic properties (DYMOCK).
Analysis was made of the entire seeds, and also of the kernel without the brown covering. They had the following composition : —
| Seeds | Kernels. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 10.50 | 09.35 |
| Albuminoids | 13.87 | 18.06 |
| Fat | 04.50 | 06.60 |
| Carbohydrates | 63.22 | 62.88 |
| Fibre | 05.36 | 00.66 |
| Ash | 02.55 | 02.45 |
| Total | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Nitrogen | 2.22 | 2.89 |
| Phosphoric anhydride | 0.40 | 0.55 |
There is a decided difference in the compositon of the shelled and unshelled seeds The shells contain the undesirable constituents, namely, the tannin matter and fibre, and the kernels represent a nutritious food, white in appearance and with no disagreeable odour and taste.
The oil obtained by ether is thick and light yellow in colour. It solidifies at 15° C, and gave the following constants : —
- Acid value ... ... ... ... 0.84
- Saponification value ... ... ... 183°
- Iodine value ... ... ... 87.1
- Fatty acids... ... ... ... 94.9
- Melting point ... ... ... 46°
The fatty acids crystallised twice from alcohol afforded an acid melting at 74.°5, resembling arachidic acid of ground-nut.
Elaidin reaction gives a buttery consistence. The oil is semidrying, forming a skin only after 12 days. (Agricultural Ledger, 1907, No. 2 pp. 15-16.)
431. Bauhinia tomentosa, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 275 ; Roxb. 345.
Vern. : — Kachnâr (H.); Kanchani (Tam, and Tel.) Asundro (Guz.); Châmal (Konkan); Pivalâkânchan, Ãptâ (Mar.) ; Esamaduga (Madras). " The vernacular names Kachnâr, Kânchan, applied to more than one species of Bauhinia " (MOODEEN SHERIFF).
Habitat: — N. W. Provinces to Ceylon.
An erect large shrub, with downy branches. Leaf broader than long, not cordate, coriaceous, l-3in. long, pubescent beneath, divided one-third down into two rounded lobes, 7-nerved. Flowers in pairs, on short, usually leaf-opposed peduncles, bracteoles linear. Calyx spathaceous, lin. long, shortly trifid at top, pubescent. Petals sulphur-yellow, the uppermost with a dark purplish blotch at base, 1¾ in. long, not spreading, but forming a bell-shaped Corolla. Fertile stamens 10. Style ½-⅝in. Pod dehiscent, finely pubescent, distinctly stalked, 4-5 by ½-⅝in., 6-10-seeded, glabrous; seeds small.
Use : — The bruised bark is externally applied on tumors and wounds (T. N. Mukerjee). The native practitioners in Southern India prescribe the small dried buds and young flowers in dysenteric affections (Ainslie). On the Malabar Coast, a decoction of the root bark is administered in inflammation of the liver (Rheede). The decoction of the root bark is also used as a vermifuge (Surg. Hill, Manbhum). Applied locally in apthæ. The fruit is diuretic ; an infusion of the bark is used as an astringent gargle. The seeds made into a paste with vinegar are said to be efficacious as a local application to wounds inflicted by poisonous animals (DR.EMERSON).
432. B. racemosa, Sam. Dict, i. 390 ; h.f.b.i., ii. 276, Roxb. 345.
Syn. : — B. parviflora, Vahl.
Sans. : — Svetakânchan.
Vern. : — Kachnâl, gûrial, thaur, astha, makkûna, manla, dhorâra, marvil, ghila (H.); Banraj, banraji (B.) ; Kaimu (Kol.); Beriju (Santal.) ; Ambhota (Uriya) ; Manla, dhorâra (C. P.); Kosûndra, taur (Pb.) ; Astra, bosha (Gond.) ; Jhinja (Ajmere) ; Amba bhósa (Bhil.) Are-kâ-jhâr (Duk.); Areka, are-maram (Tam.); Ari, âre, adda (Tel.); Apta, apatâ, Wanrâja, Seyâra (Mar.) ; Supta (Kan.).
Habitat : — Met with in the Sub-Himalayan tract, in the Punjab, Oudh, Bengal, Central and South India.
A small, crooked, deciduous, bushy tree. Bark ¼in. thick, blackish, very rough, with deep vertical cracks. Wood brown, hard, with irregular dark patches near the centre ; in alternate concentric wavy band of dark hard and pale soft tissue, of nearly equal widths, the soft bands anatomosing (Gamble). Branches drooping. Leaves broader than long, small, deeply cleft, 7-9-nerved, rigidly coriaceous, lobes rounded, clothed more or less densely beneath with grey pubescence. Racemes short-peduncled, lax, terminal and leaf-opposed, ¼-½ft. long, with densely grey downy rachises ; pedicels ⅛-¼in. ; erecto-patent. Calyx-tube turbinate, not more than 1/12in. long; limb ¼-½in. not splitting up. Petals oblanceolate, yellow (J. G. Baker), as long as the Calyx-limb, unequal. ' Flowers small, white,' says Brandis. Pale-white, says Kanjilal. Stamens 10, all perfect, united at the base. Filaments and anthers with long hairs. Stigma sessile. Pod thick, generally curved, 4-12in. long, 4in. broad, not venulose, falcate, firm, glabrous, turgid, stalk above an inch long. Seeds 10-20.
Parts used : — Gum and leaves. Use : — A decoction of the leaves is used to allay headache in malarious fevers (Dymock). The gum is used medicinally in South India (I. L. STEWART).
433. B. retusa, Ham. h.f.b.l, ii. 279, Roxb. 345.
Vern. : — Kandla, kanalla, kuyral, gwayral ; Semla(H..; Kurâl (Pb.); Laba(KoL); Thaur (Gond.) ; Nirpa (Tel).
Habitat: — N. W. Himalaya, from the Beas eastward, ascending to 4,500ft ; Central India.
A middle-sized, deciduous, erect tree. Bark ½in. thick, dark brown, with vertical cracks, often much scored by the cut of gum-collectors. Wood red, with irregular dark-red or black patches and streaks near the centre, hard, having pale bands or soft tissue, which alternate with dark bands of firmer texture. Branchlets long, slender, pendulous. Leaves round-cordate, cleft only at the very tip ; coriaceous, broader than long, 3-8in. across, 9-11-nerved, glabrous beneath. Flowers numerous, in pedunculate corymbose racemes, forming long terminal panicles, sometimes 1ft. long, clothed with fine, grey, silky, pubescence, the lower corymbs springing from the axils of reduced leaves. Pedicels long, slender, lower ones ascending, ½-¾ in. long. Bracts and bracteoles minute, caducous. Calyx-limb splitting into 2 or 3 segments 1/6in. long. Bud ovoid. Petals oblong, clawed, hairy outside, blade orbicular, pale-yellow, marked with dark purple veins. Fertile stamens 3 ; style produced, stigma large. Pod late— dehiscing, 4-6 by lin., generally broader at top, glabrous. Seeds 6-8.
Use : — The gum is used as an external application to sores. It is considered as an emmenagogue and diuretic by some native practitioners (DR.EMERSON).
{{c|434. B. Vahlii, W. and A. Prodr. 297 ;n h.f.b.l, ii. ]]279.
Syn. : — B. racemosa, Vahl., Roxb. 346.
Vern. : — Taur (Pb.) ; Malghan, maljan, mahi, marraim, jallaur (H.) ; Chehur (B.) ; Sihâr, maul mahalan (C. P.) ; Borla {Nepal) ; Shioli (Uriya); Adda (Tam.) ; Chamboli, Chambuli. (Dec); Sungungrik (Lep.) ; Jom. (Santal.) ; Lama, rung (Kol.) ; Chambûra, chambûl (Mar.) ; Pair, bela (Gond.).
Habitat :— -Foot of the Central and East Himalayas, Behar, Concan, and Sircars.
A gigantic, climbing tree. Stem irregularly ridged and furrowed, often 100ft. long and 2ft. diam. Bark brown, horizontally waved, wood porous, in broad, irregularly broken, but concentrically arranged, masses with a palmate outline, alternating with red, juicy bast tissue (Gamble). Branchlets, tendrils, petioles, underside of leaves and inflorescence clothed with dense ferruginous, rarely grey, tomentum. Leaves deeply cordate, variable in size, often up to 18in. diam., cleft to about ⅓ of their length, lobes obtuse, basal nerves 11-15, petiole stout, tendrils axillary, often flower-bearing, forked, bifurcations circinate. Flowers creamy-white, on long, slender pedicels, in terminal corymbose racemes. Calyx-tube shorter than the 2-lobed limb. Petals densely hairy, much exserted, l-l¼in. long. Stamens fertile, 3. Ovary hairy. Pod flat, woody, clothed with dense brown felt, 9-18 by 2-3in., bursting open with a loud report. Seeds 8-12.
Use : — The seed possesses tonic and aphrodisiac properties. Leaves are demulcent and mucilaginous (Watt).
435. B, purpurea, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 284, Roxb. 344.
Sans. : — Kânchan.
Vern. : — Kanîâr, kandan, koliâr, khairwâl, kwillar, koilarî, sona (H.) ; Koiral, karâr, karalli, grey (Pb.) ; Deva Kânchan, rakta kânchan, koiral (B.) ; Khwairalo (Nepal) ; Kachic (Lepcha) ; Buruju (Kol ) ; Singyara (Santal) ; Kodwari (Gond) ; Rakta chandan, atmatti, ragta kânchan, deva kânchana (Mar ) ; Penya âre, mandareh (Tam.); Peddaôre, bôdanta-chettu (Tel); Sarûl, sural, kanchivâla (Kan.).
Habitat : — From the foot of the West Himalayas and Khasia Mountains to Ceylon.
A moderate-sized, evergreen, bushy tree, with moderately stout, glabrescent branchlets. Bark about ½in. thick, ash coloured to dark brown. Wood pinkish white, turning dark-brown on exposure, moderately hard ; wavy concentric bands of soft tissue alternating with darker coloured bands of firm tissue. Leaves 3-6in. long, rather large than broad, sometimes overlapping at the inner margins ; petiole l-l½in. long. Flowers deep-rose in paniculate or corymbose racemes ; pedicels 1/5-½in. long, tomentose ; buds obovoid or oblong, acute, strongly 5-ribbed. Calyx-tube 3/1-2/5in., long. Limb nearly twice as long, slit on one-side, 5-toothed at the apex. Petals reddish, l½-2in, long, oblanceolate, clawed, with a distinct midrib and fine straight lateral veins. Stamens usually 3, fertile, slightly shorter than the petals ; staminodes filiform, of varying lengths, oblique. Pod 6-10in. by 3/5-4/5in., on a tomentose stipe, 3/5-1in. long, thick pointed, slightly falcate, greenish-purple, pubescent along the sutures, late in dehiscing. Seed 12-15 (KANJILAL).
Parts used : — The bark, root and flowers.
Uses : — The bark or root and flowers mixed with rice water, used as a maturant for boils and abscesses (T. N. Mukerji). A decoction of the astringent bark is recommended as a useful wash in ulcers (U. C. Dutt). The bark acts as an astringent in diarrhœa (Barren). The root carminative ; the flowers laxative. (WATT).
436. B. variegata, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 284, Roxb. 344.
Sans. : — Kovidâra ; Kanchanâra.
Vera. — Kachnâr, koliar, kurâl padrian, khwairaal, guriâl, gwiar, bariâl, kaniâr, kândan, khairwâl (H.) ; Rakta-kânchan (B); Kurmang (Mechi.) ; Singya (Kol.) ; Jingya (Santal ) ; Taki (Nepal) ; Rba (Lepcha) ; Kanchan, ragtâ kânchan (Mar.) ; Kânchan (Concan) ; Kovidâr (Bomb.) ; Segapu-munthari (Tam.) ; Kanchivalado (Kan ) ; Boraru (Uriya).
Habitat: — From the foot of the Western Himalayas and Sikkim, throughout India.
A middle-sized, deciduous, erect tree, with moderately stout, glabrescent branchlets. Bark grey, with vertical cracks. Wood greyish-brown, with irregular patches of harder and darker wood in the centre, moderately hard ; alternate, more or less concentric, wavy, broken and anastomosing bands of dark firm tissue, and slightly lighter soft tissue. Leaves rather broad than deep, middle-sized, rigidly sub-coriaceous, deeply cordate, the obtuse lobes reaching ¼-⅓ down ; 11-15-nerved ; pubescence grey. Corymbs few-flowered, lateral, sessile, or short peduncled ; bracts minute, deltoid ; pedicels erecto-patent, ¼-½in. Calyx- tube ¾-1in ; limb cordate-ovate, equalling the cylindrical tube. Petals l½-2in. long, an inch or more broad, white, beautifully variegated with red and yellow, glabrous, obovate, clawed, much exserted. Stamens 3-5. Pod ¾-lin. broad, hard, flat, rather decurved, dehiscent, 10-15-seeded.
Parts used : — The bark and root.
Use.— The Sanskrit writers mention two varieties of this Banhinia — the one with purple or deep, rose-colored flowers, and the other with white, yellow or green. The bark is described as alterative, tonic and astringent. Useful in scrofula, skin diseases and ulcers (Dutt). The author of the Makhzan, describes the bark as astringent, attenuant and tonic. He says it is used to check diarrhœa, to remove intestinal worms, and prevent the decomposition of the blood and humors ; on this account it is useful in leprosy and scrofula. A gargle made from the bark with the addition of Akâkiâ (extract of Acâciâ pods) and pomegranate flowers is mentioned as a remedy in salivation and sore-throat, and a decoction of the buds in cough, bleeding piles, hsematuria and menorrhagia (DYMOCK).
In the Concan the juice of the fresh bark with the juice of the flowers of Strobilanthes citrata, 10 tolâs of each, is given as an expectorant, and the bark is used with ginger as an internal remedy for scrofula. (DYMOCK.)
The root in decoction is given in dyspepsia and flatulency ; the flowers with sugar as a gentle laxative ; and the bark, flowers, or root triturated in rice water as a cataplasm to promote suppuration (Watt). The dried buds are used in piles and dysentery. They are considered by natives cool and astringent, and are useful in diarrhœa and worms (Punjab Products.)
437. Neptunia oleracea, Lour., h.f.b.l, ii. 285, Roxb. 420.
Vern : — Pâni-najak ; pani-lâjak (B.); Laj-alu (Patna) ; Panilajak (Bomb.) ; Sunday-kiray (Tam.) ; Niru-tal-vapu, nidrayung (Tel.) ; Nitti-todda-vaddi (Malay.).
Habitat : — In tanks, throughout the greater part of India.
An annual herb, without prickles, stout, wide-creeping, rarely throwing out suberect branches ; producing copious fibrous rootlets from the same nodes that bear the leaves and penduncles. Stems almost entirely prostrate. Leaves bipinnate, with persistent stipules and numerous small strap-shaped, sensitve, membranous leaflets. Pinnae 4-6, 2-3in. long. Rachis glandless ; leaflets glabrous, obtuse, 16-30, ⅓-½in. long. Peduncles ascending, ¼-1ft. ; bracts small ovate, sub-obtuse. Sterile flowers numerous. Staminodes ¼-⅓in,, strap-shaped, yellow. Corolla 1/24in. Pod oblique, oblong, ½-1in. long, rostrate, dry, soon dehiscing by the upper suture, 6-10-seeded.
Use : — Used as refrigerant and astringent (Irvine.)
438. Entada scandens, Bth., h.f.b.l, ii. 287.
Syn. : — Mimosa scandens, Linn., Roxb. 420.
Vern. :— Gila-gach (B.); Gârbi, kârdal, khairi (B.); Gârambi, gardul (Bomb.) ; Geredi (Uriya) ; Pangra (Nepal) ; Taktokhejem (Lepcha) ; Parinkaka-vully (Mal.).
The seeds ; Pitpâpra (Bomb.).
Habitat:— Central and Eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Sikkim, and Western Peninsula.
A very large, woody climber, stems angled and much twisted spirally. Dark-brown, rough. Wood dark brown when dry, in alternate layers of woody and bark tissue. Brandis describes the wood structure more accurately thus :— " The wood to a great extent consists of thin walled parenchyma, in which are embedded longitudinal strands of vessels, sieve-tubes, and wood fibres." Leaves tripinnate, common petioles ending in long, woody, bifid tendrils ; pinnæ stalked opposite, two pair ; leaflets 3-4 pair, l-2in. long, glabrous, shining, oblong or obovate, obtuse or acute, rigidly coriaceous. Flowers 1/12-⅛in. long, pale yellow, crowded in long slender spikes from the axils of the upper leaves, or arranged in terminal panicle. Spikes peduncled, ½ft. long or more, usually panicled from the nodes of old leafless branches. Pedicels short, or absent. Calyx shortly 5-tootbed ; petals 5, stamens free, 10, exserted, anthers tipped with glabrous, deciduous glands. Pods woody, 2- 4ft., or more by 4-5in., curved, constricted between the seeds, consisting of 10-30, one-seeded, flat, square or nearly orbicular joints, the valves thick, separating from the thick rim. Seeds 2in. broad, flat, nearly orbicular, brown, shining, testa hard. The seeds are eaten after being roasted.
Uses : — The kernel of the seeds is employed by the Hill people as a febrifuge. In Java, employed as emetic (DRURY).
An infusion of the spongy fibres of the trunk is used with advantage for various affections of the skin in the Philippines. (Dalzell and Gibson). The seeds are used in pains of the loins and debility (WATT.)
The properties of the seeds do not appear to have been tested in European practice (DYMOCK).
Powdered kernel, mixed with some few spices, is commonly taken by native women for some days immediately after delivery, for allaying the bodily pains and warding off cold (WATT).
Crude saponin was extracted from the seeds after removal of the fat by means of 90 per cent alcohol, and precipitated by ether from the cold alcoholic extract. By precipitation with barium hydroxide solution, a saponin, named " Saponin A. " was removed from the aqueous solution of this crude saponin. The solution thus freed from "Saponin A " was evaporated to dryness, after removing the excess of barium hydroxide, the dry residue extracted with hot 90 per cent, alcohol, and the alcoholic solution fractionally precipitated with chloroform and ether. The aqueous solution of the ether precipitate was dialysed, and the residue evaporated to dryness in vacua over sulphuric acid. " Saponin B " C15H22O10 was thus obtained as a whitish hygroscopic powder, which became brownish on heating to 110°C. It was precipitated from strong aqueous solutions by basic, but not by normal lead acetate. It gave a dark reddish-violet color, with strong sulphuric acid, eventually turning brown. On hydrolysis, a sugar identical with galactose, a sapogeninsoluble in ether and in alcohol, and another body insoluble in those solvents and in ammonia, were formed.— J. S. Ch. I. 16-5-1904, p. 502.
439. Adenanthera pavonina, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. 287, Roxb. 360.
Sans. : — Koochandana ; Kambhoji.
Vern. : — Rakta-chandan, rakta kambal, ranjan (B). ; Vâl, thorali gunj (Bomb.) ; Manjadi ; Anigundumani (Tam.) ; Bandi-gurvina ; Manseni kotta (Tel.) ; Bir-mungara (Santal.) ; Manjati (Mal.); Bâri-gumchi, hati-gumchi (Duk. and Guz.) ; Manjadi (Kan.) ; Chandar (Assam.).
Habitat: — East Himalayas and Western Peninsula.
A deciduous, erect tree, without spines or tendrils. Leaves ample, bipinnate. Bark-grey. Wood bard, close-grained, pinnæ 8-12, opposite, short stalked, 4-8in. long. Leaflets oblong, or elliptic-oblong, evenly alternate, short-stalked, not coriaceous, 12-18, obtuse, ¾-1½in. long. Racemes short-peduncled, 2-6in. long, ½in. broad, simple from the axils of the leaves and panicled at the end of the branches. Flowers fragrant. Pedicels as long as the flowers, ⅛-1/6in. Calyx small, campanulate, teeth short. Petals 5, connate at base. Stamens 10, free, anthers tipped with a deciduous gland. Pods linear, 6-9 by ½in., falcate, curved and twisted when opening. Seeds 10-12, usually bright scarlet, con-colourous, shining, lenticular, compressed, rarely yellow-brown.
Use : — The powdered seeds make a useful external application, hastening suppuration.
A decoction is made from the leaves in South India, and given as a remedy for chronic rheumatism and gout. If used for any length of time, it is said to be an aphrodisiac. This decoction is said to be useful in hæmorrhage from the bowels and hæmaturia.
440. Prosopis spicigera, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. 288.
Syn. — Adenanthera aculeata, Roxb. 361.
Vern. — Shamî (B. and M.) ; Jhand, khar (Pb.) ; Sâmi, sâmadâ, kandi (Sind.) ; Semru, kamra (Guz.); Pirumbe, jambu (Tam.) Chanee(Tel.) Habitat : — Punjab, Sind, Rajputana, Guzerat, Bundelkhand and the Deccan.
A moderate-sized, thorny tree, with slender grey branches. Bark ¾-lin. thick, grey, rough, with deep longitudinal fissures and horizontal cracks. Wood very hard. Sapwood large, whitish, perishable ; heart- wood purplish-brown. Branches and branchlets armed with scattered, broad-based, ⅛-¼in. long, conical prickles. Leaves bipinnate, pinnæ and leaflets opposite, pinnæ 2, l-2in. long ; leaflets 7-12 pair, sessile, ¼-½in., ligulate, grey, glabrous, rigidly coriaceous, caducous. Flowers in short, pedicelled, axillary spikes, 2-3in. long and terminal panicles. Corolla 1/12in. long. Stamens 10, free, exserted, anthers gland-tipped. Pod coriaceous, indehiscent, pendulous, linear, 5-10in. long, filled with a dry sweetish pulp, contracted between seeds. Seeds 10-15, dull, brown, oblong.
Use : — The pod is considered astringent in the Punjab (STEWART).
The bark is used in the Central Provinces as a remedy for rheumatism (Watt).
441. Dichrostachys cinerea, W. and A. h.f.b.i., ii. 288.
Syn. : — Mimosa cinerea ; Linn. Roxb. 422.
Sans. : — Viravriksha.
Vern. : — Vurtuli (H.); Kanlai, kunrat, kheri (Mhairwara); Khen (Raj.) ; Segum kâti (Mar. and Gond.) ; Vadatalla, vadatara Tam.) ; Veturu, yeltu (Tel.).
Habitat : — N. W. Provinces ; Western Peninsula.
A thorny, much-branched shrub or small tree. Bark grey or light brown, very thin, deeply fissured vertically, peeling off in thin flakes. Hear-twood red, streaked with black, extremely hard (Gamble). Spines axillary, strong, straight, sharp, often bearing leaves. Leaves bipinnate, 1¼-2½in. long. Stipules subulate from a narrow base, pinnae 4-10 pair, with stipitate glands between each along the hairy rachis. Leaflets 12-15 pair, minute, puberulous, sessile, 1/10in. long, linear-oblique, closely set, acute at the apex. Flowers crowded, in short, dense axillary spikes, the upper flowers of each spike bisexual, yellow, the lower sterile, white or purple, with long filiform staminodes, ½in. long. Calyx, minute, membranous. Corolla 3 times as long as the Calyx, 1/10in. long. Pod 2-3in. by ¼-2/5in., dark-brown ; irregularly twisted, 6-10 seeded ; seeds obovoid, compressed, glabrous, indehiscent, opening irregularly.
Use : — The young shoots are bruised and applied to the eyes in cases of ophthalmia (AINSLIE).
442. Mimosa pudica, Linn., h.f.b.l, ii. 291, Roxb. 423.
Sans. : — Vârâhkrânta, lajjalu.
Vern. :— Lajâlu (H.) ; Lajak (B.) ; Lâjwanti (Kumaon) ; Lajri (Mar.) ; Total-vadi (Tam.).
Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India, the cultivated and found in the waste lands of the Dun. Flowers in Dûn in August and September. Fruits in November and December.
Sensitive shrubby herb, with stem and rachis copiously bristly and prickly. The copious bristly hairs of the branchlets and petioles deflexed, those of the leaf rachis ascending. Rachis 1-1½in. long. Leaves digitate. Pinnæ of the leaves 3-4, nearly sessile, 2-3in. long ; leaflets 24-40, glabrous, sub-coriaceous. Flowers in small, peduncled, bright-pink heads all down the branches, 1-2 from each axil. Pod small, ½-¼in. long ; sensitive, with very abundant straw-coloured weak prickles from both sutures, as long as the breadth of the pod. Flowers and fruits all through the year in garden, when cultivated.
Use : — Mir Mahommed Husain (the author of the Makhzan) tells us that it is much valued as a medicine by the Indians, and is considered to be resolvent alterative, and useful in diseases arising from corrupted blood and bile. The juice is also applied externally to fistulous sores (DYMOCK).
A decoction of the root of this plant is considered on the Malabar Coast to be useful in gravellish complaints. The Vytians of the Coromandel side of India, prescribe the leaves and root in cases of piles and fistula ; the first are given in powder, in a little milk, to the quantity of two pagodas* weight or more during the day (AINSLIE).
In the Concan, the leaves are rubbed into a paste and applied to hydrocele ; and their juice, with an equal quantity of' horses' urine, is made into an anjan, used to remove films of the conjunctiva by setting up an artificial inflammation (Dymock).
The juice of the leaves is used to impregnate cotton wool for a dressing, in any form of sinus (CALTHROP).
443. M. rubricaulis, Lam. h.f.b.l, ii. 291.
Syn. : — M. mutabilis, Roxb. 423.
Vern. :— Agla-agl, kingli, kacheyta (H.) ; Râl, rianb, didriâr, arlu, alla, kikri (Pb.) ; Hajern (Sind.) ; Aradi (Nepal.) ; Sibriû (Lepcha); Chilatti (Bhil.) ; Shia-kanta, kuchi-kânta (B.) ; Sega janum (Santal). ; Allâ (Raj.) ; Hujiru (Sind.) ; Bida, chandra, undra, ventra (Tel.).
Habitat :— Western Himalaya, Kumaon, westward to Mishuir and Bhotan, and through India Proper.
A large, straggling, prickly, pubescent shrub or small tree. Bark grey. Wood hard, sapwood yellowish white, heart-wood red. Branches, petioles and peduncles, armed with short, curved, sharp yellowish prickles. Stem attaining 5in. diam. Leaves bipinnate, 5-7in. long ; stipules ¼in. long, setaceous ; pinnæ 5-12 pair, shortly stipulate ; the rachis without prickles ; leaflets 6-12 pair, membranous, ¼-3/10 by ⅛in., obliquely-oblong, shortly cuspidate, glabrous above, slightly pubescent beneath ; midrib excentric ; petiolules very short. Flowers 4-merous, pink, in fascicled, axillary, pedunculate heads ; peduncles l-2in. long, slender, pubescent, crowded at the ends of the branches ; bracts small, setaceous. Calyx minute ciliolate. Corolla ⅛in. long, shortly 4-lobed. Stamens 8, long-exserted. Ovary stalked, glabrous. Pod 3-4in. by ½in., stipitate glabrous, falcate, separating in 4-10 1 -seeded joints from the sutural frame which is usually without prickles (TALBOT).
Use : — In Chamba, the bruised leaves are applied to burns, and the fruit is also officinal (STEWART).
- A Pagoda weighs 54 grains.
The leaves are prescribed as an infusion for piles in the N. W. P. (Atkinson).
In Chutia Nagpur, the powdered root is given when from weakness the patient vomits his food ; the fruit and leaves are also used medicinally (RED.A.CAMPBELL).
444. Acacia Farnesiana, Willd., h.f.b.l, ii. 292.
Syn. : — Mimosa farnesiana, Linn. Roxb. 421.
Vern. : — Vilâyati kikar, Vilâyati bâbûl, Gu-kikar (H.) ; Guya bâbla (B.) ; Vedda vala, Piy-Velam (Tam.) ; Pivelam (Mal.) ; Piyi-tnmma, Kampu-tumma, Naga-tumma (Tel.); Jali (Kan.); Gûi-bâbhul (Mar.) ; Talbaval (Guz.) ; Kue bâwal (Sind.)
Habitat : — Himalayas to Ceylon.
A thorny shrub. Bark light brown, rough. Wood hard, close-grained ; sapwood white ; heart-wood irregular. Branches striate, glabrous, curved with pale-brown lenticels. Stipular spines white, straight, ¼-¾in. long, hard, sharp, divaricate. Leaves bipinnate ; rachis l-2in. long, angular, pubescent, with a small raised gland about the middle of the petiole ; pinnae 4 — 8 pair, ¾-1¼in. long ; leaflets 10-20 pair, 1/5-1/7 by 11/12 — 1/20 linear, acute, glabrous, sessile ; base rounded, oblique. Flowers bright-yellow, powerfully sweet-scented, in globose fasciculate heads ¼in. diam.; peduncles f-lin. long, on axillary nodes with a ring of small membranous bracts near the middle or close to the flowers. Calyx carapanulate, very minute. Corolla lin. long ; lobes short, triangular. Pod nearly cylendric pointed at the ends, 2-3½in. long, by ½in. broad glabrous, brown, veined, indehiscent. Seeds in 2 series, embedded in dry, spongy tissue (Talbot).
Use : — The bark is astringent and often used as a substitute for A. arabica bark. A. farnesiana used as an adjunct to aphrodisiacs, in the treatment of spermatorrhœa (Calthrop). The bark is used as an astringent in the form of a decoction. Tender leaves bruised in a little water and swallowed ; said to be useful in gonorrhœa.
The oil of Cassia flowers contains benzaldehyde, salicylic acid, methyl salicylate, benzyl alcohol, an aldehyde, which has an odour resembling that of decyl-aldehyde and forms a semicarbazone melting at 97° and a Ketone, which has an odour of violets and forms a semicarbazone melting at 143°. Eugenol is not present.— J. Ch. S. 1903 A. I, 845,
445. A. arabica, Willd, h.f.b.l, ii. 293.
Syn. : — Mimosa arabica,Lam. Roxb. 421.
Sans. : — Vabhula ; Barbara.
Arab. : — Am-mughilan.
Pers. : — Kare-mughilan.
Vern. .—Babúl, kikar (H.) ; Bábul (B.) ; Bábhul (Mar.) ; Kali-kikar (Dec.) ; Karu-veylam (Tam.) ; Nallatumma, Barburamu, Tumma-chettu. (Tel.)
Habitat : — Punjab to Behar, and Western Peninsula.
A large tree. Bark dark-brown, rough. Wood hard ; sap wood large, whitish ; heart wood pinkish white, turning reddish brown on exposure, mottled with dark streaks. Trunk thick cylindrical. Branchlets straight, finely grey downy, slender. Stipular spines variable, ¼-2in. long, white, sharp, straight, sometimes wanting. Leaves bipinnate, rachis downy, 2-4in. long, pinnae 3-6 pair, ¾-2in. long, with a cup-shaped gland between the lowest and sometimes between the top pair ; petioles l-2in. long, leaflets 10-20 pair, ⅛-¼ by 1/20-1/10in. glabrous, linear acute, sessile, membranous, green. Flowers bright-yellow, in globose, fasciculate heads, about Ta in. diam.; peduncles 2-6 short, slender, grey-downy, with 2 opposite, scaly bracts, about the middle. Calyx minute, membranous. Corolla campanulate, twice the Calyx, ⅓in. long. Pod stalked, 3-6in. long by ½ broad, compressed, moniliform, contracted between the seeds, coriaceous, persistently white tomentose, subindehiscent, 8-12-seeded ; seeds ovoid, smooth, dark-brown. (Talbot).
Parts used : — The bark, gum, leaves, seeds, and pods.
Uses: — The tender leaves beaten into a pulp, are given in diarrhœa as an astringent (DUTT).
Some native hakeems say, it is very useful in diabetes mellitus, as the gum is not converted into sugar (DR.EMERSON).
In the Concan, a strengthening sweetmeat is made by frying the gum, with spices and butter, and making it into balls with sugar. In bloody seminal discharges, 1 tola of the young leaves with 4 máshas of cumin and 2 tolás of sugar are eaten or given as a draught beaten up in milk (Dymock). The bark is a powerful astringent and demulcent. It may be used as a substitute for oak galls. It has been found a valuable remedy in prolapsus ani, as an external applicant in leucorrhœa and has been recommended as a poultice for ulcers, attended with sanious discharge (Ph. Ind.)
446. A. Leucophlœa, Willd., h.f.b.l, ii. 294, Roxb. 421,
Vern. : — Safed kikar, reru, raunj, karir, nimbar, ringa, rinj, rohani, jhind (H.) ; Safed-bâbul (B) ; Sharâb-ki-kikar, hivâr (Duk.) ; Goira (Uriya) ; Safed kikar (Pb.) ; Tumma, reunja, rinja (Gond.); Haribával (Guz.) ; Hivar, pándharya bábhuliche jháda (Mar.) ; Vel-velam, vet-vel, vevay-lam (Tam.) ; (Tella-tuma) (Tel.) ; Bili-jáli, togral naibela, vel-vaila, bilijali topal (Kan.)
Habitat :— Plains of the Punjab, Central and S. India, and Rajputana.
A moderate-sized or large deciduous tree. Bark ⅓in. thick : colour varying with age, grey and smooth when young, dark- brown, almost black and rough when old ; exfoliating irregularly in patches and strips. Wood hard ; sap wood large, heartwood reddish brown, or nearly brick-red, white or grey. Leaves bipinnate, 2-3in. long ; main rachis grey-pubescent, with sessile, cup-shaped, absorption-glands between each pair of pinnae, on the grooved upper-side ; pinnæ 5-15 pair, ¾-1½in. long, nearly sessile ; leaflets 12-25 pair, 1/5in. long, linear, oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, grey, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers pale-yellow or white, in small globose heads, ¼-2/5in. diam., arranged in large, terminal, tomentose panicles ; peduncles shoot with a ring of bracts about the middle. Calyx minute, ^in. long. Corolla twice as long as the Calyx ; lobes subacute. Pods sessile, 4-8 by ¼-3/10in., flat, slightly curved, brown-tomentose, thickened on the sutures, subindehiscent, 10-20-seeded ; seeds compressed, black areolate (Talbot).
Part used : — The bark.
Use : — The bark partakes more or less of the astringent properties of A. arabica (WATT).
447. A. catechu, Willd., h.f.b.i., ii. 295.
Syn. : — Mimosa catechu.
Sans. : — Khadira i.e., the extract.
Vern. : — The extract Katthâ, khair (H.) ; Khayer (B.) ; Khoira, koir (Ass.) ; Khoiru (Uriya) ; Vodalai, vodalam, karangalli, bága, kasku kutti (Tam.) ; Kanchu, Podali-manu, khadirama (Tel.) ; Kadaram (Mala.) ; khair (Mar.)
Habitat : — Through the Himalayas, from the Punjab to Sikkim.
A moderate-sized, gregarious, thorny, deciduous tree. Bark dark grey or greyish— brown, rough, exfoliating in long, narrow stripes which remain hanging. Wood very hard ; sapwood yellowish white ; heartwood either dark or light red. Prickles twin-hooked infra-stipular, compressed, brown, shining. Branch-lets slender, thorny, glabrous, brown or purple, shining. Common petiole 3-4in. long, often armed with scattered prickles. Pinnæ 10-20 pair ; leaflets 30-50 pair, linear, imbricate, glabrous or pubescent, under ¼in. long, turning brown on drying. Flowers pale yellow, in cylindrical spikes ; petals three, the length of the Calyx. Pods thin, brown, shining, dehiscent strap-shaped, straight, dark-brown, shining, 5-6 — seeded, 2-3½ by ½-3/5in ; on a stalk 1/5-3/10in. long. Seeds 1/5in. diam., orbicular.
Uses : — Sanskrit writers consider it to be astringent, cooling and digestive, useful in relaxed conditions of the throat, mouth and gums, also in cough and diarrhœa. Externally, they use it as an astringent and cooling application to ulcers, boils and eruptions on the skin.
In the Concan, the juice of the fresh bark is given with assafœtida in hæmoptysis, and the flowering tops with cumin, milk and sugar, in gonorrhœa (DYMOCK).
Mixed with aromatics it is used by the natives in melancholia; powdered and mixed with water it is used in conjunctivitis (DR.EMERSON.)
Khersal or catechuic acid is found in cavities of the wood. It is valued in native practice as a remedy in chest affections. It is thought to promote expectoration. Kathbol is a mixture of catechu and myrrh, given to women after confinement as a tonic, and to promote the secretion of milk (DYMOCK).
Catechu is officinal in both Indian and British Pharmacopœias.
The extract known as Catechu or Catch is used medicinally as an astringent in fevers and other maladies. It is peculiarly useful in diarrhœa, with pyrosis, depending upon a relaxed state of the intestinal mucous membrane. Locally, it has also been used with much advantage in sponginess of the gums, relaxation of the uvula, hypertrophy of the tonsil, and as an astringent injection in the treatment of leucorrhœa and a tonic in monorrhagia (Ph. Ind).
This contains Catechin which does not appear to be present in Areca Catechu.
The following formulæ have been assigned to catechin : C15H12O6 , air-dried (Svanberg, Ann. Pharm., 1837, 24, 215). C18H10O8 , at 100° (Zwenger, Ann. Chem. Pharm., 1841, 37, 320). C16H 8O8 +2H2O, air-dried (Hagen, ibid,, 336). C16H18O8+H2O, dried in a vacuum over sulphuric acid (Dellfs, Pharm. Centr., 1846, 604). C17H12O10, air-dried (Neubauer, Ann. Chem. Pharm., 1855, 96, 337). C12H12O5 , at 100° (Kraut and Delden, ibid., 1863, 128, 285). C19H18O8(Hlasiwetz, ibid., 1865, 134, 118). C19H18O8 dried at 90° (Etti, Annalen, 1887, 186, 327). C22H22O9 (Schützenberger and Back, Bull. Soc. Chim., 1865, [ii], 4, 5). C15H14O7, at 100° (Löwe, Zeit. anal. Chem., 1874, 13, 113) C21H20O9 +5H2O, air-dried (Liebermann and Tauchert, Ber., 1880, 13, 964). C18H18O8 , dried over sulphuric acid (Etti, Monatsh., 1880, 2, 547). In regard to percentage of carbon, the formulæ C15H12O6, C18H10O8 , C12H12O5 , C19H18O8 , C22H22O9. and C21H20O9 are in fairly close agreement, but it seems likely that the remainder represent analyses of substances not completely devoid of water of crystallisation.
With the majority of workers, it appears to have been taken for granted that but one catechin exists, but this is not so according to others.
The most important decomposition products have been obtained from catechin by means of dry distillation and by fusion with alkali. By the former method, Wackenroder detected catechol, and A. Miller acetic acid, catechol, and phenol ; whereas by the second Hlasiwetz, and also Etti, isolated phloroglucinol and protocatechuic acid, and Gautier the same products together with formic acid. From his results, Etti considered the following constitution for catechin as probable.
- C6H7(OH)2 . CO. O. C6H3(OH). O. C6H3 (OH)2 .
Nieubaner found that catechin was not a glucoside, and considered that this substance and catechutannic acid were related to one another, similarly as gallic acid is to ordinary gallotannin.
According to recent researches the molecular composition of catechin is represented by C21H20O9.— J. Ch. S. 1902 J. 1160-1162. The active astringent principles of cutch. are a tannin formerly known as catechu-tannic acid and a crystalline body namedcatechin. The value of cutch as a dyeing and tanning agent depends upon the amount of these two substances, while at the same time they are a measure of its suitability as a medicine.
{{smaller|According to Professor H. R. Proctor of Leeds, the following are the analyses of extracts from Acacia Catechu : —
| Tanning matter. | Non-tanning matter. | Insoluble. | Water. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Cutch | 58.9 | 1.0 | 19.1 | 12.0 |
| White cutch of kath | 72.2 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 14.2 |
| Yellow cutch, pegu, Burma | 69.2 | 8.0 | 10.4 | 12.4 |
Professor Proctor also forwarded some figures of recent analyses of extracts which were supposed to be derived from Acacia Catechu.
| Mark. | Tanning matter. | Non-tanning matter. | Insoluble. | Water. | Tanning on dried extract. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drysdale | 42.2 | 25.6 | 07.6 | 24.6 | 55.8 |
| Salatiga | 30.8 | 29.7 | 02.2 | 37.3 | 49.1 |
| B.B. Flag I | 62.6 | 12.0 | 10.0 | 15.4 | 73.9 |
| B.B. Leurel II | 59.6 | 15.5 | 07.6 | 17.3 | 72.0 |
| B. Star 3 | 46.5 | 23.2 | 14.9 | 15.4 | 54.9 |
| 41 | 41.5 | 17.6 | 04.6 | 36.3 | 65.1 |
| 42 | 29.6 | 18.8 | 31.1 | 20.5 | 37.3 |
| Pegu | 30.0 | 35.4 | 00.7 | 24.9 | 39.9 |
| Assam | 46.4 | 34.3 | 02.7 | 16.6 | 55.6 |
| Ame | 45.7 | 19.8 | 15.8 | 18.7 | 56.2 |
(Agricultural Ledger, 1906— No. 3 pp. 39-41.)
448. A. ferruginea, D.C. h.f.b.i., ii. 295.
Syn: — Mimosa ferruginea, Roxb. 423.
Habitat : — Western Peninsula.
Vern— Khour (Nepal); Velvelam, sbirnai-velvel (Tam.) Anasandra, vuni or woanee (Tel.) ; Kaiger (Panch Mahals) Sou khair (Berar) ; Kar, khair (Gond.) ; Pandhra ; khair (Mar.) Teori khair (Bhil.) ; Bauni (Kan.)
Of the pods — Babûl-ki-sengriyán(H.) ; Kali-kikar-ki-phaliyan (Dec.) ; Velam-káygal, Karu-velam-kaygal, karu-vel-kaygal (Tam.) ; Nalla-tumma-káyalu, barbúramu-káyalu, tumma-chettu-káyalu (Tel.); Karu-vélakam-káya (Mal.); Kare-jáli-káyi, kare-gobbali-káyi (Can.); Bábul-sim, bábla-sim (Beng.) ; Kala- bábili-cha-phalli, Bábli Siring (Mah.); Kálobával-nu-singo (Guz). Of the gum— The Indian Gum arabic (Eng.); Samaghe-aarâbí (Arab.) and (Pers.); Babul-kâ-gónd, Kíkar-kâ-gónd (Hind.); Káli-kíkar-kí-gónd (Duk.); Vélam-pishin, Karu-vélam-pishin (Tam.); Nalla-tumma-banka, Tummubanka, Barbúramu-banka (Tel.); Véla-kam-pasha, Karuvela-kam-pasha (Mal.); Gobbali-góndu, Karégobbali-góndu, Karé-jali-góndu (Can.); Bábúlêr-gun, Bábla-gun, Bábúl-gun (Beng.); Vabbula-niryásam, vavula-níryâsam, kála-barbúra-niryásam, barbúra-niryásam (Sans.); Kála-bábili-cha-gónda, Bábli-cha-gónda (Mah.); Kalo-bával-nu-gúndar (Guz.).
Of the bark — Babool-bark, bark of the Babool tree (Eng.); Qishrul-mughílán (Arab.); Poóstedrakhte-mughílán (Pers.); Babúl-kí-chhál, kíkar-kí-chhál (Hind.); Kálí-kíkar-kí- chhál (Duk.); Vélam pattaí, Karu-vélam-patai (Tam.); Nalla- tumma-patta, Tumma-patta, Barburamu-patta (Tel.); Karu- vélakam-tóla, Vélakam-tóla, Karu-vélakam-tóla (Mal.); Góbali-patte, Karé-gobbali-patte, Karé-jalí-patte (Can.); Bábúlér-sál, bábla-sál (Beng.); Vabbula-valkalam, Vavula-valkalam, Barbura-valkalam, Kala-barbúra-valkalam (Sans.); Kála-bábili-cha-patta, Bábili-Sál (Mah.); Kálo-babúl-nu-chál (Guz.).
Of the extract—Akákia (Eng.); Aqáqíyá (Arab.), (Pers.) and (Hind.)
A large, deciduous tree. Bark in. thick, rough; wood very hard, harder than that of A. catechu. Sapwood large, yellowish-white; heart-wood olive-brown, nearly glabrous, prickles twin, infra-stipular, slightly curved. Common petiole 3-6in. long; pinnas 4-6 pair; leaflets 15-30 pair, grey, linear, ¼-½in. long. Flowers pale-yellow, in numerous, lax, axillary, dense spikes, which are often panicled, 3-4in. long, at the ends of branches. Pod glabrous, 3-7 by ¾in., finally dehiscent, 4-6-seeded.
Use:—The bark possesses astringent properties (Watt.)
Physiological Actions :—The gum is demulcent, emollient and nutrient, the fresh and young pods dried in the sun, and the extract of the fresh pods or Aqáqíyá are astringent and demulcent; and the bark astringent.
Therapeutic Uses:—Aqáqíyá or a watery extract of the fresh and young legumes of this plant possesses a beneficial influence over the membrane of the alimentary canal and genitourinary organs, and is consequently very useful in diarrhœa, dysentery, gonorrhœa, gleet and chronic cystitis. Although the extract is less effectual in checking dysentery and diarrhœa than opium and some of its preparations, yet it is more efficacious in this respect than all other vegetable and mineral astringents when used alone. When dysentery or diarrhœa is complicated with dropsy, opium and its preparations are often injurious, because they generally increase the latter affection, in the same proportion as they check the two former diseases. It is under these circumstances I have found Akâkiyá more useful and successful in bowel-complaints than opium and all opiates. A simple powder of the fresh legumes dried in the sun before their seeds are well developed and hard, is pretty useful in diarrhœa and dysentery, and its efficacy is much greater if it is combined with some other vegetable astringents, demulcents, stimulants, and with opium, as is the case with the compound powder of Akâkia or Aqáqíyá. A decoction of the bark of this plant, together with that of the Tamarindus Indica and a few other trees, is frequently resorted to by the natives of this country, as a gargle in sore-mouth, and its use has often been attended with success to my own knowledge.
The gum of this plant or the Indian Gum-arabic, in the form of mucilage, is a most common and useful adjunct to other medicines in pulmonary and catarrhal affections, dysentery and diarrhœa, and in irritable states of the genito- urinary organs. It is most frequently resorted to for the purpose of suspending heavy, insoluble or immiscible medicines, such as the preparations of bismuth, &c. If the mucilage is very thick, it forms one of the best mechanical antidotes in cases of poisoning by irritant substances. It envelopes the particles or pieces of the poison on one hand, and sheaths the membrane of the stomach on the other, and thus protects the latter from the action of the former, at least, to some extent. In slight cases of cough or irritation of the throat the natives of this country, especially the Mahomedans, often relieve themselves by allowing a piece of this gum to dissolve slowly in their mouth. I did this occasionally myself with success. It is, according to my own experiments, more adhesive than all the gums produced in India, and is therefore well "suited for the formation of all kinds of lozenges. It is an ingredient in numerous prescriptions described in Persian, Arabic and Hindustani medical works.
Although a powerful astringent, Catechu is not half as useful in diarrhœa and dysentery when administered alone, as it is when used in combination with some other astringent and aromatic drugs, as is the case with all its preparations described in the Pharmacopœia of India. The compound-powder of Catechu is, therefore, very useful in the above-named diseases; in fact, it is one of the preparations most frequently used by me in the Triplicane Dispensary, particularly in the treatment of children. The Tincture of this drug is a very valuable adjunct to Mistura Cretæ, as mentioned in the Pharmacopœia of India and other medical works; but to ensure its best effects, it should always be mixed in each dose of the mixture just before it is administered to the patient. From some cause or other its action is not so satisfactory when it is mixed with Mistura Cretæ and kept for use for a day or two.
According to my own experience, Catechu is, in the form of injection, one of the most useful drugs in the treatment of gonorrhœa. As simple as the following formula is, it has proved successful in many cases, and sometimes even without the assistance of internal remedies : —
- R. Pulveris Catechu 3iss.
- Mucil. Acaciæ 3vi.
- Aqum puræ ad. giss. Misce fiat injectio.
A third part to be injected three times in the 24 hours. To ensure the desired effect, some care is necessary in injecting the medicine. Having filled a glass syringe with the injection, the patient should introduce its bulbous extremity into the urethra to the extent of an inch with his right hand. Then holding upright the penis with his left forefinger and thumb, so as to compress the urethra against the syringe to prevent the escape of the fluid, he should pass the liquid freely into that canal by pressing down the piston with his right hand. The syringe should now be withdrawn, but the orifice of the urethra should still be compressed, and the fluid be retained for two or three minutes. On removing the finger and thumb, the injection will be thrown out by the elasticity of the urethra. (MOODEEN SHERIFF).
449. A. Senegal, Willd. h.f.b.i. ii. 295.
Vern. : — Khor (Sind.) ; Kûmta (Rajputana.)
Habitat : — Sind and Ajmere.
A small, thorny tree. Bark smooth thin, pale, greenish-grey, yellowish under the broad dark flakes which peel off. Wood hard; sapwood yellowish-white heartwood nearly black, irregular. Infra-stipular spines 3, stout, conical, very sharp, dark-brown, shining, the two lateral straight, the third recurved. Branches flexuose, glaucous-grey. Leaf rachises not above an inch long, with a gland at the base, one between the upper pair of pinnae. Pinnæ 3-5 pair. Leaflets 8-10 pair, grey, ciliate, rigidly subcoriaceous, ⅛in. long. Spikes pendulous, 2-3in. long, not very dense. Flowers fragrant, white. Anthers lemon-yellow. Calyx 1/24in, campanulate, glabrous, deeply toothed. Pod 3 by ¾in., thin, grey, indehiscent, 5-6-seeded, narrowed suddenly into a short stalk.
Part used : — The gum.
Use : — The gum is used as a demulcent and emollient. It is used externally to cover inflamed surfaces, such as burns, sore nipples, &c, and it blunts the acridity of irritating matters by being blended with them. The powdered gum has also been found useful in checking hæmorrhage from leech bites, and when blown up the nostrils it checks severe epistaxis.
Internally, it has been found useful in inflammations of the gastric and intestinal mucous membrane. If held in the month in the form of a special preparation, the gum is found serviceable in allaying cough, thus affording relief. Its influence as a demulcent is supposed to extend even to the urinary organs. The gum has also been recommended as a substitute for amylaceous food in diabetes, since it is not converted into sugar, it does but not appear to have been attended with any appreciable benefit (WATT).
450, A. modesta, Wall, h.f.b.l, ii. 296.
Syn. : — Mimosa dumosa, Roxb. M. obovata, Roxb. 422.
Vern. :— Palesa (Afg.); Phulahi (Pb.) ; Kântosariyo Guz.).
Habitat : — At the foot of the Western and Central Himalayas.
A thorny, moderate-sized, deciduous tree. Bark rough, with a multitude of narrow irregular cracks. Wood extremely hard, harder than that of A. Catechu ; sapwood large, white, perishable ; heartwood dark brown with black streaks (Gamble). Branches grey, glabrous, prickles twin, infra-stipular, dark-brown, shining, conical ; leaf-rachis very slender, finely downy, with a small gland at the base and one between the uppermost pinnæ. Leaves pale grey ; common petiole l-2in. long, pinnæ 3 pair ; leaflets 3-5 pair, broad, ovate or obovate, oblique, thin, rigidly subcoriaceous, ⅛-⅜in. long, shortly stalked, glabrous, pale green, obtuse or minutely cuspidate. Stipules minute, deciduous. Spikes 2-3in. long, not very dense, lax, drooping. Flowers white or pale-yellow, sweet-scented. Corolla 1/12in., greenish. Pod 2-3 by ⅜--⅝in., flat, indehiscent, 6-8-seeded, glossy, drab, glabrous, venulose, narrowed generally into a short stalk.
Use :— The tree yields a gum, which is regarded by the people of the Peshawar Valley as restorative (BELLEW).
451. A. concinna, Dc. h.f.b.l, ii. 296.
Syn. : — Mimosa concinna, Willd. Roxb. Fl. Ind. II. 565.
Sans. Saptala.
Vern.: — Ban rithâ, Kochai(B); Aila, Rassaul (Oudh) ; Shika- (Tam.) ; Shikaya, gogu (Tel.) ; Chinik (Mal.) ; Shikekai, chikekai (Dec,) ; Sige (Kan.)
Habitat: — The Eastern Himalayas; Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
A large climbing shrub, suberect up to about middle-age ; stem terete, greyish, brown-with 5 vertical lines of strong conical prickles ; branches grey-canescent. Leaf-rachis 4-8in. long, downy, with a large gland about ½in. above the base and a smaller one between the uppermost pinna). Pinnæ 3-6 pair, 2-3½in. long ; stipules ¼-3/16in. long, lanceolate. Leaflets acid, 6-20, but generally 10-14 pair on each pinna, with a small odd one near the base. ½-3/5 by 1/10-¼in. linear, oblique at the base, quite rounded at the tips, membranous, pale green above, glaucous beneath ; midrib somewhat diagonal. Panicles 3-4ft. long, interrupted with leaves at the base of the ramifications; peduncles l-l½in. long, slender, downy, in fascicles of 2-4, lower in the axils of the leaves, upper bracteate ; bracts 1/10-¼in. long, obliquly ovate-cordate, deciduous. Heads 2/5-½in, diam. 55-60- flowered, brick-red in bud. Flowers 1/5in. long. Calyx deep crimson, about 1/10in. long, tubular, deeply 5-toothed ; teeth subacute. Petals acute, white with a reddish median line, slightly exserted ; stamens numerous, much exserted, at first white, withering yellow ; filaments very slender. Pod 3-4 by 7/10-1in., straight, thick, fleshy ; 6-10-seeded, slightly idented between the seeds. Sutures broad-
Use : — The pod is acid, bitter, and has a singular pungency ; its qualities are allowed to be deobstruent and detergent and expectorant ; it is commonly ordered in cases of jaundice and other biliary derangements, and is, besides, used by the Indians like soap -nut for washing the head. The small leaves are frequently put into pepper-water to keep the bowels open or work off bile (AINSLIE).
The soft parts of the dried berries contain 5 p. c, and those A. concinna, var, rugata 4 p. c. of the Saponin C20H32O10.-J. Ch. S. 1901 A.I. 648.
452. A. intsia, Willd., h.f.b.i., ii. 297.
Syn. : — Mimosa intsia, Linn Roxb. £24:.
Habitat : — The Tropical Himalayas, Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
Vern. : — Arhai-ka-bêl (Sutlej) ; Kartar (Kumaon) ; Kondoo-janum (Santal.) ; Kundaru (Kol.) ; Harrari (Nepal) ; Payirrik, ugrœmrik (Lepcha) ; Korinta, Korendam (Tel. ) ; Chilâri (Mar.)
A large prickly climber, at first with 5 vertical lines of hooked prickles, afterwards deeply 5- flu ted along those lines, suberect and bushy in early youth. Bark pale grey. Wood white soft, porous. Leaf-rachis 5-7in. long, angled ; with a gland near the base, and or 2-3 below the upper pinnae ; pinnae 6-8 pair, 2-3in. long. Leaflets 8-12 pair 3/10-½in. by 1/6-1/5in., ligulate, dark green, nearly glabrous and shining above, pale beneath. Panicles large. Heads pale yellow, peduncled, 2/5-½in. diam. brown in buds, generally 1-4 together. Pod 4-6 by 7/10-1 1/5in., strap-shaped, dark-brown, dehiscent finely pubescent, hardly- stalked. Seeds 8-12.
Use : — 'The flowers are used by Santal women in deranged courses.' (Rev. A Campbell, Santal Mission, Pachumba).
453. A. pennata, Willd, h.f.b.i., ii. 297.
Syn : — Mimosa pennata, Lin. Roxb. 424.
Vern : — Agla, awal (Kumaon) ; Kumdaree (Kol) ; Arar (Kharwar) Biswool (H.) ; shembi (Bomb.) ; Undaru (Santal) ; Arfu (Nepal) ; Tolrik (Lepcha.)
Habitat : — The Central and Eastern Himalayas, Behar, Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
A large climbing shrub. Bark reddish brown, ¼in. thick, with horizontal cracks. Wood porous, moderately hard ; reddish brown prickles on branchlets petioles and inflorescence ; branch-lets and petioles pubescent. Pinnae 20-40 pair, leaflets ⅛-1/5in. long, 30-60 pair, narrow-linear, overlapping, making each pinna like the feather of a bird. Flower-heads white or pale yellow, 4-8 together in the axils of leaves or bracts, forming large racemiform panicles, bracts linear minute. Pod shining, very thin, straight, strap-shaped, glabrous, dehiscent, 6-8 by ¾-1½in., distinctly stalked, 8-12-seeded, the sutures rather raised, slightly repand.
Uses : — In the Concan, the leaf-juice mixed with milk is given to infants who suffer from indigestion of milk with black stools. In bleeding from the gums the leaves are chewed with cumin and sugar, they are also rubbed to a pulp and mixed with cow's milk, cumin and sugar, as a remedy for scalding of the urine. (DYMOCK.)
454. Albizzia Lebbeck, Benth. h.f.b. I., ii. 298.
Syn :— Mimosa Sirissa, Roxb. 417.
Sans : — Shirish.
Vern :— Siris, sirin, mathirsi, lasrin, kalsis tantia (H.) ; Sirisha (B); Sirasa, shirrus, suri, (Sind); Vaghe, kat vaghe (Tam.) ; Dira san (Tel.) ; Chapot siris (Santal) ; Tinia (Uriya) ; Kalbaghi, bengha, dirisana, goddalmnse (Kan) ; Chichola, mothâsiras (Mar.) ; Doli, saras (Panch mahals) ; Pilo sarshio (Guz.).
Habitat : — From tropical Himalayas throughout India.
A large, deciduous, unarmed tree. Bark brownish grey, rough, with numerous short irregular cracks. Wood hard ; sap- wood large, white or yellowish ; heart-wood dark-brown, streaked with lighter or darker streaks. Leaves with glabrous or downy rachises and a gland near the base of the main petiole ; pinnæ 4-8, with or without a gland between the lowest. Leaflets short-stalked, rigidly sub-coriaceous, obliquely-oblong, l½in. long, glabrous or finely grey, downy ; mid-rib prominent ; reticulate veins, nearly as prominent as secondary nerves. Flower- heads many, large, white, fragrant, on penduncles, 2-4in. long, in fascicles of 2-4 from the upper axils, forming short corymbose racemes. Flowers 1½in. long to the extremity of stamens ; pedicels very nearly as long as Calyx. Calyx half the length of Corolla. Corolla greenish yellow, fin. ; teeth short, lanceolate. Style filiform. Pods thin, straw- coloured strap-shaped, firm, yellow-brown, dehiscent, 8-12 by l-2in., 6-10-seeded.
Parts used : — The seeds, bark, flowers and leaves.
Uses : — The seeds form part of an anjan used for ophthalmic diseases (Stewart). The oil extracted from them is considered useful in leprosy. The bark is applied to injuries to the eye, (Madden.)
The bark and seeds are astringent, given in piles, diarrhœa, etc. The flowers are used as a cooling medicine, and also externally applied in boils, eruptions and swellings. The leaves useful in ophthalmia (Baden-Powell's Punj. Products, p. 345).
" Powdered seeds have been successfully administered in cases of scrofulous enlargement of the glands. A paste of powdered seeds and water is useful as a local application at the same time (Asst-Surg. Gholam Nabi). " The powder of the root-bark is used to strengthen the gums when they are spongy and ulcerative (Native-Surgeon, R. Moodeliar, Madras).
455. A. odoratissima. Benth. h.f.b.i., ii. 299.
Syn.: — Mimosa odoratissima, Linn. Roxb. 418.
Vern : — Siris, bhandir, bersa, bansa (H.); Lasrin, karambru, polach (Pb.); Jatikoroi (Ass.) ; Siras (Bomb.) ; Kal-thuringi, Karvaghe, bilwara (Tam.); Shinduga (Tel.); Siris, chichna chichâda, siras (Mar.) ; Kalo-sarasio (Guz.) ; Pullibaghi, billawar, bilvara (Kan.)
Habitat : — From the foot of the Central Himalayas throughout India.
A large, deciduous tree, with dark green-foliage, and without prickles. Bark ¼in. thick, grey, with irregular cracks and darker patches, granular. Wood hard ; sapwood large ; white heart- wood dark-brown, with darker streaks. Branchlets petioles and inflorescence pubescent ; leaf rachis finely downy, with a gland at the base of the petiole and of the 1-2 upper pinnæ ; pinnæ 3-8 pair ; leaflets 10-25 pair, ¾-lin. long, oblong- obtuse, unequal-sided, somewhat falcate, pale glabrous or pubescent beneath. Flower-heads pale yellow, fragrant, in compact corymbs arranged in large terminal panicles. Corolla and Calyx densely strigose, with short hairs, the former campanulate, 5 times longer than the Calyx. Anthers yellow. Pods 6-8in. long, lin. broad, dehiscent, tomentose when young, glabrous when ripe.
Parts used : — The bark and leaves.
Use : — The bark applied externally, is considered efficacious in the leprosy and in inveterate ulcers. The leaves boiled in ghi are used by Santals as a remedy for coughs. (Revd. A Campbell, in Watt's Dictionary).
456. A. Julibrissin, Durazz. h.f.b.i., ii. 300.
Syn : — Mimosa Kalkora, Roxb. 418.
Vern.: — Kolkora (B.) : Sirin, kurmru, surangrn, shrish, buūa tandai, mathirsi, brind (Pb.) ; Lâl siris, baraulia, baran, bhokra (H.)
Habitat : — Throughout the Himalayas, from Hazara to Sikkim. A large shrub or middle-sized, unarmed, deciduous tree. Young shoots, inflorescence and common petiole tomentose or pubescent. Leaf-rachis, with a small gland, at the base of the petiole, and between the upper pinnæ ; pinna3 6-12, says Brandis ; 8-24, says J. G. Baker. Leaflets 10-30 pair, membranous, sessile, sensitive, ¼in. long, cuspidate, straight on the upper side, rounded on the lower, ⅛in. broad. Heads globose on clustered erecto-patent peduncles, from the crowded leaflets upper nodes. Flowers 1-1½in. to extremity of stamens. Calyx ⅛-1/6in., funnel-shaped, shortly-toothed ; filaments rose-red, Calyx and Corolla both hairy outside. Pod softly pubescent white, young, glabrous when mature, membranous, grey or pale brown, 5-6,¾: by lin., 8-12-seeded, narrowed to a beak and short stalk, inclehiscent.
Use : — Used like A. lebbeck.
457. A. amara, Boiv. h.f.b.i., ii 301.
Syn.: — Mimosa amara, Roxb. 418.
Sans.: — Krishna sirish.
Vern.: — Lulai or lâli Mar. ; Moto sarsio (Guz.) ; Thuringi, wûnja, suranji, shekram (Tam.) ; Nallarenga, shekrani, sikkai, narlingi (Tel.); Wusel (Madura, Madras) Bil-kambi (Kan.); Kadsige (Coorg) ; Dosulay (Mal.).
Habitat : — Western Peninsula.
A middle-sized, deciduous tree. Wood very hard ; sapwood large white; heart-wood purplish-brown, beautifully mottled with alternate, concentric, light and dark bands. Branchlets, petioles and inflorescence soft yellow- tomentose. Leaf-rachis, with a small gland on the petiole and between the lowest pair of pinnæ. Pinnæ 6-15 ; leaflets linear, 15-24 pair ; peduncles copious, axillary, densely tomentose, crowded at the upper nodes in the axils of much-reduced leaves. Flowers yellow, fragrant, ⅓in. long to the end of stamens. Calyx 1/24in. funnel-shaped, shortly stalked. Corolla 3 times as long as the Calyx. Calyx- teeth lanceolate. Pod 5-9in. by ¾-1in., 6-10-seeded, oapque grey-brown. Parts used : — The seeds, leaves and flowers.
Uses: — Described by Hindoo writers as cooling and useful in inflammatory affections ; the oil of the seeds is given in white leprosy, and the powdered seeds, as an astringent ; the flowers and leaves are applied in local inflammations, such as boils, erysipelas, &c. (DUTT).
The seeds are astringent, given in piles, diarrhœa, gonorrhœa, &c; the oil extracted from them is said to cure white leprosy. The flowers are considered by the natives as a cooling medicine, and are externally applied to boils, eruptions, and swellings. The leaves are regarded as useful in ophthalmia, and afford good fodder for cattle. (Baden- Powell's Punjab Prod. s. v. Acacia speciosa, page 345.)
458. Pithecolobium Bigeminum, Benth.h.f.b.i., ii. 303.
Syn.: —Mimosa lucida, Roxb. Fl. Ind. n. 544. Inga bigemina Willd.
Vern.: — Kachlora (H.).
Habitat :- -Forests of the outer Himalaya, from the Ganges eastward and of South India.
A large tree ; wood light brown, soft, subterete. Branchlets, common petioles and inflorescence rusty-puberulous. Pinnæ and leaves long-petioled. Pinnæ 2-3 pair; leaflets of the lowest pinnæ 1-3, of the terminal 3, sometimes 4 pair, elliptic, acuminate, glabrous, dark-green. Flowers cream-coloured, ⅓in. long to extremity of stamens, sessile or shortly pedicelled in 2-5-fid heads. Heads in slender, terminal or supra-axillary panicles. Pod flat, not indented between seeds, 3-5 by ¾in , bright red within, curved into a ring or spiral.
Use: — A decoction of the leaves is a medicine for leprosy and is used as a stimulant to promote the growth of hair, (ATKINSON).
.djvu-213.png)
.djvu-215.png)
.djvu-217.png)
.djvu-219.png)
.djvu-221.png)
.djvu-223.png)
.djvu-225.png)
.djvu-227.png)
.djvu-229.png)
.djvu-231.png)
.djvu-233.png)
.djvu-235.png)
.djvu-237.png)
.djvu-239.png)
.djvu-241.png)
.djvu-243.png)
.djvu-245.png)
.djvu-247.png)
.djvu-249.png)
.djvu-251.png)
.djvu-253.png)
.djvu-255.png)
.djvu-257.png)
.djvu-259.png)
.djvu-261.png)
.djvu-263.png)
.djvu-265.png)
.djvu-269.png)
.djvu-271.png)
.djvu-273.png)
.djvu-277.png)
.djvu-281.png)
.djvu-283.png)
.djvu-285.png)
.djvu-289.png)
.djvu-291.png)
.djvu-293.png)
.djvu-295.png)
.djvu-297.png)
.djvu-299.png)
.djvu-301.png)
.djvu-303.png)
.djvu-305.png)
.djvu-307.png)
.djvu-309.png)
.djvu-311.png)
.djvu-313.png)
.djvu-315.png)
.djvu-317.png)
.djvu-319.png)
.djvu-321.png)
.djvu-323.png)
.djvu-325.png)
.djvu-327.png)
.djvu-329.png)
.djvu-331.png)
.djvu-333.png)
.djvu-335.png)
.djvu-337.png)
.djvu-339.png)
.djvu-341.png)
.djvu-343.png)
.djvu-345.png)
.djvu-347.png)
.djvu-349.png)
.djvu-351.png)
.djvu-353.png)
.djvu-355.png)
.djvu-357.png)
.djvu-359.png)
.djvu-361.png)
.djvu-363.png)
.djvu-365.png)
.djvu-367.png)
.djvu-369.png)
.djvu-371.png)
.djvu-373.png)
.djvu-375.png)
.djvu-377.png)
PLATE No 365
.djvu-379.png)
BAUHINIA VAHHLII, W. & A.
.djvu-381.png)
.djvu-383.png)
.djvu-385.png)
.djvu-387.png)
.djvu-389.png)
.djvu-391.png)
.djvu-393.png)
.djvu-395.png)
.djvu-397.png)
.djvu-399.png)
.djvu-401.png)
.djvu-403.png)
.djvu-405.png)
.djvu-407.png)
.djvu-409.png)
.djvu-411.png)
.djvu-413.png)
.djvu-415.png)
.djvu-417.png)
.djvu-419.png)
.djvu-421.png)