Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Ochnaceæ
251.—Gomphia angustifolia, Vahl. h. f. b. i., i. 525.
Vern.:—Valermani (Mal); Bokera (Sinhalese).
Habitat:—Southern provinces of the Western Peninsula. Ceylon, common in low country, upper zone, rare in the dry region. Also on the Malabar coast, Singapore and the Phillippines.
A small much-branched tree, young parts glabrous. Leaves 2½-5in., distichous, nearly sessile, lanceolate, acute at both ends, finely serrate, glabrous, shining, veins very close and numerous, pellucid, with 2 marginal ones near the edge. Stipules deciduous. Flowers numerous, yellow, about ½in., on slender pedicels, in large pyramidal terminal and axillary panicles. Sepals red, oval, acute, glabrous; petals twice as long as sepals, clawed, obtuse. Stamens 10, filaments very short, anthers large, oblong. Ovary carpels ovoid, smooth. Style stout, very much exceeding Stamens. Ripe carpels 5 (or fewer), attached near their base to sides of the very large gynophore, surrounded by the persistent sepals, ¼-⅜in., ovoid, reniform, purple black, shining. Seed erect, embryo green.
Use : — The root and leaves are bitter, and are employed in the form of a decoction in Malabar, as a tonic, stomachic and anti-emetic (0 ' Shaughnessy).
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