Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Olacineæ
N. 0. OLACINEÆ.
276. Olax scandens, Roxb. h. f. b. l, i 575 ; Roxb. 55.
Vern. : — Dheniani (H.) ; Koko-arn (B.); Rimmel (Kol) ; Bodo-bodo-ria (Yriya); Hund (Santal) ; Harduli ; Urchirri (Mar) ; Kurpodur ; marki ; malle, turka-vepa; bapanamushti ; kotiki (Yel). Kakundan (Jabalpur) ; Kadalracnhi (Tam.).
Habitat :— Tropical Western Himalaya in Kumaon ; Oudh Berar ; Central and Southern India. Rohilkund, Tenasserim, Burma, Ceylon (dry country rather common.)
A large, rambling shrub, sometimes a climber. Bark grey, ¼in. thick, deeply cleft vertically, vessels large. Wood porous, yellow- white, soft (Gamble.) Trunk as thick as a man's thigh. A few stout thorns on the older branches. Branches terete, more or less puberulous, prickly, stout, curved. Branchlets, petiole and midrib puberulous. Leaves distichous, ovate, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2-3in. long, yellowish-green, glabrous or sometimes puberulous beneath. Petiole 1/12-1/6in. Racemes solitary, axillary half the length of the leaves. Peduncles erect, twice the length of the minute bracts. Flowers many, white, sweet-scented, small, ⅛in. Bracts ovoid caducous. Buds ovoid. Calyx puberulous or glabrescent. Petals 3-5-6, irregularly cleft. More or less cohering, says Brandis ; linear, acute, recurved. Fertile stamens 3, anthers oblong. Staminodes 2-fid. Ovary ovoid-oblong, 1-celled, 1-rarely 2-ovuled. Drupe ovoid, a globose, yellow, ¾ covered by the accrescent membranous calyx, apiculate.
Use:—— In Chutia Nagpur, a preparation of the bark is given for proverty of blood during fevers (Campbell).
277. 0. Nana, Wall h. f. b. i., i. 576.
Vern. :—Merone met (Santal) (Porebunder and Guj.) Sudi ; Himi. Tadholi, called Shigroti at Junagadh (J. Indraji).
Habitat : — Hot valleys of the Western Himalaya, from Nipal westward and in the Punjab, Porebunder.
An undershrub, with a woody root-stock, from which annual shoots, about 2ft. high, spring up during the rains. Stems ribbed. Leaves alternate, 1½-2½- by ⅓-½in., oblong lanceolate, subsessile, glabrous and light green above, glaucous beneath ; margins recurved ; midrib prominent beneath, straight ; lateral nerves indistinct. Flowers solitary, 2/5in. across ; buds ovoid. Calyx minute, accrescent. Petals 3, oblong-lanceolate; fertile stamens 3, opposite to the petals. Staminodes 5-6, bifid, longer than the fertile Stamens. Ovary 1-celled. Style simple, terminal. Fruit the size of a pea, globular, (Kanjilal).
On the crest of the Saharanpur, Sewalik, behind Rampur. Hot valleys of the Western Himalaya. From Nepal westward and in the Punjab. Bengal, in the grass lands of the sub-Himalayan tract.
Use:— The fruit is used medicinally by the Santals (Campbell).
278. Sarcostigma Kleinii, W. and A. H. F. B. I., i. 594.
Vern: — Puvana, puvenagah ( = the plank) adul, odul ( = the oil).
Habitat: — Eastern and Western Peninsulas; Cochin, Malacca, Maingay, and Travancore, the Concan, in evergreen parts.
A climbing, branched shrub. Wood without zones. Branches terete. Leaves alternate simple, coriaceous, 4-10 by 2-4in., glabrous, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, pale on both surfaces; base rounded; nerves prominent beneath. Petiole ¾in., transversely wrinkled. Rachis extra-axillary angular, covered with brownish strigose hairs. Flowers ⅛in. diam. Male flowers: — Calyx minute, pilosulous, cup-shaped, obscurely 4-5-lobed. Petals 1/12in., glabrous, oblong, acute. Stamens as long as the petals, filaments glabrous, flat, strap-shaped ; anthers 2-celled. Rudiment of pistil conical. Female flowers:— Calyx and Corolla as in the male. Ovary obovoid, pilosulous, surrounded by 5 hypogynous abortive stamens. Stigma subsessile, conical. Ovules 2, collateral. Fruit 1-1½in. olive-shaped, somewhat compressed, bright orange-red, rugose and strigose externally, smooth within.
Use :— The oil is highly esteemed in the treatment of rheumatism (Drury).
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