Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Myrsineæ
equalling the blue or red corolla. Corolla ⅓-½in. diam., closing in dull weather, segments often ciliate. Capsule about 1/5in. in diam, dehiscing transversely in the middle ; sttyle persistent. Seeds 3-gonous.
Uses : — Used to intoxicate fish and to expel leeches from the nostrils. For this purpose the juice of the various species of Begnonia would seem admirably suited. It is also used in cerebral affections, leprosy, hydrophobia, dropsy, epilepsy, and mania. Formerly it was used in Europe in epilepsy, mania, hysteria, delirium, enlargement of the liver, spleen, dropsy, emaciation, stone, the plague, bites of serpents and mad animals, and in numerous other diseases (Honnigberger).
Said to be poisonous to dogs, producing inflammation of the stomach (Baden-Powell's P. P, I. 368).
Now it is not used in Europe or Asia. ' What a pity that such a remedy should have been suffered to pass into oblivion" (Honnigberger)-
N. 0. MYRSINÆ.
716. Myrsine africana, Linn, h.f.b.l, iii. 511.
Vern. : — Bebrang, kakhum, kokhúri, gugul, bandáru, atuljan (Pb.) ; Guvaini, Pahari chá, Chapra (U. P.)
Habitat: — Himalaya, from Kashmir and the Salt Range to Nepal.
A small, evergreen, pubescent shrub, sometimes soft. Bark thin, dark-brown, with large lenticels. Wood light-brown, moderately hard. Bractlets and petioles ferruginous-pubescent. Leaves nearly sessile, lanceolate, ½-1in., sharply toothed, midrib prominent. Flowers nearly sessile, small in axillary fascicles ; in clusters of 3-8, less than 1/12in. diam. Calyx and Corolla 4-lobed, 5-merous. Stamens 4. Anthers exceeding corolla, style short ; stigma capitate, covered with minute protuberances. Berry dotted with red glands, usually solitary, smooth, says Kanjilal ; 1/10in. diam., swelling when full ripe. Berry, says Clarke, ⅛-1/6in. diam. ; style branches 2-4, spathulate. Use : — Fruit used as an anthelmintic (especially for tapeworm), sold under the name of Bebrang, and often used as a substitute for that of Samara Ribes (Stewart).
It is also laxative in dropsy and colic. The gum of this plant is a warm remedy for dysmenorrhœa (Balfour).
Continued use is said to produce a high-colored state of urine.
717. Embelia Ribes, Burm. h.f.b.l, iii. 513 ; Roxb. 195.
Syn. : — E. glandulifera, Wight.
Sans. : — Vidanga.
Vern. : — Baberang, wawrung (Hind.) ; Bebrang (Sylhet) ; Himalcheri (Nepal) ; Babrung (Pb.); Váyu-vilamgam (Tam.); Kár-kannie, Warding (Bom.) ; Umbelia (Cingh.).
Habitat: — From the Central Himalaya, throughout India ; common in the lower hills.
A large, scandent shrub. Bark, tubercled, ½in., rough, with conical hard protuberances. Wood light-brown, porous. Climbing by means of rerlexed lateral twigs, which are deciduous except at the basal part, which remains as a woody deflexed spine. Branches extremely long, very flexible, with long internodes, slender, cylindric ; bark of young branches nearly white, very smooth and shining, with large lenticels. Leaves 4-5in., on very short petioles, usually bordered with prominent glands, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute or rounded at base, shortly acuminate, acute or obtuse, entire, perfectly glabrous and shining on both sides, pale and somewhat silvery beneath, coriaceous ; lateral veins invisible, white surface, with scattered minute, red, sunken glands. Flowers very small, Jan., numerous, or white, more or less pubescent, in lax elongated, spreading pubescent panicles, 6in-2ft. long, terminal or in axils of upper leaves; bracts small, ciliate. Corolla split into distinct petals, pubescent on both sides. Stamens 5, erect. Berry about ¼in., nearly globose, tipped with style, smooth, crimson, wrinkled when dry. Uses : — Sushruta describes the fruit as anthelmintic, alterative and tonic, and recommends their use along with liquorice root, for the purpose of strengthening the body and preventing the effects of age. Later writers regard it as carminative, stomachic, anthelmintic, and useful against intestinal worms, dyspepsia, and skin diseases. The berries enter into the composition of several applications for ringworm and other skin diseases (Dutt).
The Hakims consider it to be attenuant and a purgative of phlegmatic humors ; also a valuable anthelmintic, especially against tape-worms (Dymock).
" Vaivarang is common in the neighbourhood of Bombay, and is in high repute as an anthelmintic among the country people, especially in cases of tape-worm. The dose is a teaspoonful of the powder, twice a day for a child, and a dessert-spoonful for an adult ; it can hardly be called a purgative ; the taste is rather pleasant, slightly astringent, and faintly aromatic. The worm is expelled dead. A purgative should be given to prepare the patient for the drug. It is a common practice to put a few berries of the plant in the milk that is given to young children ; they are supposed to prevent flatulence (Dymock).
Dr. Warden has separated an acid, named embelic acid, from the seeds.
This drug would seem to richly deserve being experimented with in Europe. It is an undoubted anthelmintic, quite devoid of the nauseating property possessed by male fern (Watt).
180 grains (a tola) of the powdered seeds administered at bed time in curdled milk, followed by a dose of castor oil on the following morning, has been found an efficacious remedy in tapeworm (Sakharam Arjun).
718. E. robusta, Roxb., h.f.b.i., iii. 515 ; Roxb. 197.
Vern. : — Bayabirang (Hind.) ; Kalay bogoti (Nepal); Bebrang (Oudh) ; Bayabirang ; gaia (Dehra Dun), Kopadalli (Gond.) ; Bharangeli (Kurku) ; Amti, ambat, barbatti (Bom.).
Habitat : — From the Himalaya, throughout India A shrub or small tree, semi-scan dent, by means of its numerous horizontal branch lets. Bark grey, with horizontal cracks and numerous leaticels ; young parts glabrous. Leaves 2-4in., oval or broadly oval, acute or rounded at base, somewhat acuminate, subacute or obtuse, entire, rather undulate, thin, glabrous, pale and often reddish beneath, veins purple, the lateral ones conspicuous. Petiole ½-¾in. ; channelled above, papillose flowers 5 — merous, small, pale yellowish green, on sharp divaricate pedicels, in small axillary and terminal racemes or panicles, shorter than the leaves. Bracts minute. Calyx puberulous, segments lanceolate, acute. Corolla cut nearly to the base, lobes 5-recurved, puberulous on both sides. Berry about 1/6in., nearly globose, apiculate, red, pulp scanty.
Kanjilal, says " Flowers dioecious ; seed usually solitary, globose, with a hollowed base."
Uses : — The fruit is said to adulterate black pepper. It is given as an anthelmintic, and internally for piles.
The young leaves, in combination with ginger, are used as gargle in cases of sore-throat ; that the dried bark of the root is a reputed remedy for toothache, and that the berries, mixed with butter, are used as an ointment, which is applied to the forehead as a specific for pleuritis (Treasury of Botany).
Sometimes used as an antispasmodic and carminative (Surgeon-Major McCanna, in Watt's Dictionary).
719. Ardisia colorata, Roxb., h.f.b.i,, iii. 520, Roxb. 195.
Habitat : — A shrub, frequent in Aasam, Cachar to Mallaca,
A small, evergreen tree, attaining 25ft. Branches round, becoming flattened, only close under the panicle. Branchlets and underside of leaves covered with often shining scales. Leaves lanceolate-oblong, acute at both ends, 9 by 2½in., parallel-sided, glabrous, coriaceous ; base cuneate, petiole f-in., primary nerves nearly at right angles to the midrib. Panicles glabrous or obscurely rusty, 6-1 2in., divided 2 or 3 times, branches flat tened. Pedicels ⅛-¼in., densely umbelled, glabrous or minutely puberulous ; buds 1/6in. long. Flowers small, Calyx teeth, 1/16in., elliptic oblong ; petals 1/9in. ; style ¼in., much longer than the Corolla. Berry 1/5in., globose, smooth, deep-red to black.
Use:— Said to be the dan of Ceylon, the bark of which is used as a febrifuge in fever and in diarrhœa, and also applied externally to ulcers (Watt's Dictionary, I. 290).
N. 0. SAPOTACEÆ.
720. Achras sapota, Linn., h.f.b.i., iii. 534.
Vern. :— Chikku (the fruit) (Bomb.) ; Sapotá (H. and B.) ; Shimai-eluppai (Tam.) ; Sima-ippa (Tel.) ; Kumpole (Kan.) ; Chakchakoti-kajhár (Duk.).
Habitat : — Cultivated in many parts of India.
A native of Tropical America, much cultivated in Indian gardens, most excellent luscious fruit, which should be eaten when slightly overripe, as says Gamble, in which I quite agree with him (K. R. K.). C. B. Clarke says that fruiting branchlets, communicated by Mr. Cantley from Perak, of a tree 80-100 ft. high, yielded gutta plentifully. The wood is reddish brown, hard, with radial groups of pores in oblique patches, fine medullary rays and irregular narrow, wavy, transverse lines (Gamble). Leaves crowded near the ends of thick branchlets, shining, elliptic-lanceolate ; blade 3-6in. Petiole slender, ½-1in. long. Flowers 6-merous, whitish ; stamens 6, alternately with lanceolate staminodes, resembling the corolla-lobes. Ovary 12-celled. Fruit as large as an orange, rind rough, brown, thin. Seeds 5 or more, some undeveloped ones sharp as needles. The fruit must, therefore, be carefully eaten, to avoid the sharp needle-like abortive seeds, at times about 1/6in. long, hurting the mouth or getting into the throat. Seeds black, shining, about ½in. long when mature.
Uses : — In the West Indies, the seeds are known to be aperient and diuretic, and the bark is reputed to be tonic and febrifuge. In the Concan, the fruit soaked in melted butter all
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