Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Casuarineæ

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Syn. : — C. muricata, Roxb. 623.

Vern. :— Jangli saro, janglijháú, Viláyati saro (H.) ; Ján (B.); Jurijur, muj-jun (Sind) ; Sarpúbala, sarova, suru (Mar.) ; Chouk, shavuku-maram, shavuku-pattay (Tam.) ; Serva, chavuku-mánu, chavuku-patta (Tel.) ; Kásrike (Mysore) ; Sura (Kan.) ; Aru, chavaka-maram (Mal.).

Habitat : --On the east side of the Bay of Bengal from Chittagong southwards, cultivated elsewhere in India. Introduced into the plains as a roadside tree, and from its resemblance to the Tamarix received the vernacular names of this plant.

The tree is very useful in the reclamation of land near the sea, and is much valued in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies for planting on sand-dunes along the coasts of Coromandel and N. Kanara.

A large, evergreen tree, tall, straight-stemmed. Bark brown, rough, fibrous, peeling off in vertical strips. Wood reddish-brown, very hard, cracks and splits. The ends of branches thickly set with numerous, long, slender branchlets, which are mostly deciduous and fulfil the function of leaves. Branchlets jointed, the internodes 1/6-¼in. long, 6-8-ribbed, with fine hairs at the bottom of the furrows between the ribs and stomata in the furrows only. The ribs of each joint terminate upwards in the teeth of a membranous sheath, alternating with the ribs of the next joint above. Opposite these teeth are axillary vegetative buds, of which, as a rule, only one or few grow out into branchlets. These axillary buds mostly develope at the ends of branchlets where the joints have not yet lengthened out. Here the teeth of the annular sheaths are much longer (up to ¼in.) than on the lower and older joints, and they are densely clothed with fine hairs. Flowers uni-sexual. Males monandrous, axillary, under the teeth of the annular sheaths of terminal, short jointed, cylindric spikes lin., long. Perianth of 2 large scales enclosing the anthers and 2 smaller at right angles to the first, anthers ​oblong, 4-celled ; filament short. Females in small ovoid spikes at the ends of lateral branchlets, consisting of very short joints, one flower under each tooth of the annular sheath. Perianth of 2 large scales enclosing the ovary, which, as the seed ripens, grow out into 2 large woody valves, more or less hairy, supported before maturity by the tooth of the sheath. Ovary 1-celled, with 2 pendulous; ovules, only one of which developes into a seed. Style short, dividing into 2 long filiform, garnet-coloured branches. Fruit a woody, globose cone, ¾in. diam.; testa aduate to the walls of the achene, which terminates in a long membranous wing. Albumen ; embryo straight, radicle superior; cotyledons flat. The tree is monoecious the male and female flowers are sometimes, found on the same branch, but (as often happens with monoecious trees) some trees habitually bear male and other female flowers only. (Brandis).

This is one of the most interesting plants in the vegetable kingdom as regards its morphological peculiarities as well described by Brandis.

Uses : — The bark, according to Dr. Gibson, is an excellent and often readily available astringent in the treatment of chronic diarrhœa and dysentery. In infusion it is employed as a tonic.

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