Vern. : — Madár, ák, ág, árk, ákond, ákan (H.): Âkanda, guartâkand, swet-ákond (B.) ; Ahauna (Santal.) ; Auk (Nepal); Akra, rúi, akandá mândárá (Bomb.) ; Akanda, rui, akda cha jhada (Mar.) ; Akado, ákdámu jhadá, dhola akdo (Guz.) ; Bijelosha (Sind.) ; Yercum, erukkam, erukku (Tam.); Jilledu, jilleru, nella-jilledu, mandaramu, jilleduchettu, yekka (Tel.) ; Yekka, ekke-mále, yokada (Kan."); Erukku, yerica, belerica (Mal.) ; Kádrati (Gond.).
Habitat : — Throughout India, chiefly in waste land.
A middle-sized shrub ; young parts covered with appressed white tomentum ; bark pale. Leaves subsessile, 4-8 by l-4in., obovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, cottony beneath ; base cordate, often amplexicaul. Brand is says the flowers are inodorous. They have a faint odour, not at all unpleasant. Flowers downy outside, on pedicels, arranged in axillary or sub-terminal pedunculate, simple or compound, umbels or corymbs ; bud ovoid. Corolla ½-lin. across, dull-purple or purplish lilac, or white ; lobes ovate-lanceolate, spreading. Corona-scales elongated, but truncate at the apex, hairy. Follicle 3-4in. long, recurved. Seeds ovate, ¼in. long, with a bright, silk-white coma.
Parts used : — The root ; bark ; leaves and juice.
Uses : — " The root-bark is said to promote the secretions and to be useful in skin diseases, enlargements of the abdominal viscera, intestinal worms, cough, ascites, anasarca, &c. The milky juice is regarded as a drastic purgative and caustic, and is generally used as such in combination with milky juice of Euphorbia neriifolia. The flowers are considered digestive, stomachic, tonic and useful in cough, asthma, catarrh and loss of appetite. The leaves, mixed with rock salt, are roasted within closed vessels, so that the fumes may not escape. The ashes thus produced are given with whey in ascites and enlargements of the abdominal viscera. The root-bark, reduced to a paste with sour conjee, is applied to elephantiasis of the legs and scrotum. The milky juice of C. gigantea and Euphorbia nerii-folia, are made into tents with the powdered wood of Berberis asiatica, for introduction into sinuses and fistula in ano. The milky juice is applied to carious teeth for relief of pain" (Dutt).
