Habitat : — Hilly parts of the Western Peninsula ; Ceylon, dry country.
A shrub or small tree. " Bark dark brown, thick, rough. Wood very hard. Sapwood white; heartwood dark reddish- brown, with a pleasant resinous smell ; takes a beautiful polish. Pores very small, very numerous, often in radial strings or patches in lighter tissue. Medullary rays short, very fine, uniformly distributed " (Gamble). Leaves cuneate, l-2in. long, dull, not shining, glaucous-brown beneath, when dry; stipules triangular, long, acuminate. Pedicels about as long as the petiole. Flowers greenish-white, axillary generally in fascicles of 1-4, bisexual, pentamerous. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals with a scale, generally bifid at the top of the claw. Stamens 10. Styles 3, combined nearly at the apex, longer than the stamens. Stigmas clavate. Drupe oblong, triangular, 3-celled, 2 of the cells long, abortive ; apiculate, bright scarlet when ripe, supported by the persistent sepals and stamens.
Parts used : — The leaves, wood and bark.
Uses : — Dr. Bidie says that " during the Madras famine the leaves were largely eaten by the starving poor, and as there is nothing in them structurally likely to satisfy the pangs of hunger, it seems probable that they contain some principle like that of E. Cocoa."
Subsequently, the leaves were examined by Dr. Waddel, Officiating Professor of Chemistry, Calcutta Medical College, for alkaloid, but he could not discover any. (Vide I.M.G., September 1884.)
According to Dr. Moodeen Sheriff, an infusion of the wood and bark is stomachic, diaphoretic and stimulant diuretic ; useful in some slight cases of dyspepsia and continued fever, and also in dropsy as an adjuvant to some other and more active medicines. The leaves are refrigerant.
Dr. Bidie mentions the powder as used medicinally as a substitute for sandal wood.
The pulp beaten into a liniment with gingelly oil is used as an external application to the head.
