Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Euphorbiaceæ

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Syn. :— E. parviflora, Linn., Roxb. 394.

Vern. : — Hazârdâna (Pb.) ; Nâyeti Dudh mogra (Bomb.) , Dhâkti-dudhi (Mar.) ; Ela-dâdâ-kiriya (Sing.).

Habitat : —Common throughout the hotter parts of India, from the Punjab to the Southern Deccan.

A rather slender, rarely stout annual, 3-18in. long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, erect or decumbent. Leaves ½-lin., rarely more or less, not coriaceous, more or less serrulate on all the margins except toward the base, opposite, obliquely, broadly or narrowly oblong, obtuse; nerves distinct; base rounded or cordate. Stipules minute, setaceous, lacerate or 0. Involucres, very minute, turbinate, glabrous, with quite entire, minute bracts at the base of the pedicel ; glands very shortly stipitate ; lobes usually projecting above the glands; limb of the latter white or pale-pink, always small, but very variable in size, sometimes 0. Styles, very short. Capsule sub-globose, 1/12in. in diam. Cocci more or less pubescent or glabrous. Seeds ellipsoid, 4-angled, with a thin, mucous coat, bluish when dry, very variable as to the amount and depth of the shallow depressions on the faces which are often obsolete. ​ Uses : — It is given with milk to children in colic (Stewart). It possesses properties similar to those of E. pilulifera and E. thymifolia iS. Arjun). Dr. W. Zollickoffer (in Am. Journ. of Med, Soc. XL 22) recommends an infusion of the dried leaves as a remedy in dysentery, diarrhœa, menorrhagia, and leucorrhœa, and finds that it affects the system as an astringent and feeble narcotic.

Syn. :— E. hirta, Linn. Roxb. 394.

Vern. :— Buru keru (B.) ; Dudhi (H); Pusi-toa (Santal) ; Gordon (C. P.) ; Nayeti (Bomb.) ; Dudhi or mothidudhi (Mar.) ; Dudheli (Guz.) ; Amumpatchay-arissi (Tam.) ; Bidarie, nânâbeeam, nanabâla (Tel.).

Habitat :— Throughout the hotter parts of India from the Punjab eastwards and southwards to Ceylon and Singapore.

An annual herb, erect or ascending, hispid with copious, crisped hairs. Stem and branches l-2ft. Leaves very short, opposite, elliptic-oblong, obovate, or oblong-lanceolate, acute, toothed or serrulate, ½-1½in. long; base usually narrow and obliquely cordate ; nerves distinct. Stipules minute, linear ; petiole distinct, very short. Involucres numerous, in axillary and terminal dense-fid, sessile or peduncled cymes, minute, about 1/20in., pubescent ; limb or glands very narrow or obsolete ; glands small, globose. Capsule 1/24in. diam., appressedly or patently hairy. Seeds pale-brown, acutely-angled, transversely, shallowly rugulose, ovoid.

Uses. — Reported to have been successfully used in asthma and chronic bronchial affections. It is used in the forms of decoctoa or concentrated essence (Christy's New Plants and Drugs No. V., p. 64, 1882 ; No. VI., p. 93, 1882 ; No. VII., p. 47, 1884 ; No. VIII., p. 55, 1885 ; No. IX., p. 35, 1886). " Dr. Daruty informs me that the juice of both the Euphorbia pilulifera and E. hypericifolia is given with benefit in dysentery and colic, and that the milk is applied to destroy warts" (Christy, N. C. P., No. IX., p. 36).

The plant is chiefly used in the affections of childhood, in worms, bowel complaints and cough. Sometimes prescribed ​ also in gonorrhœa (S. Arjun). The root is given by the Santals to allay vomiting, and the plant to nursing mothers when the supply of milk is deficient or fails (Revd. A. Campbell). It has a reputation as a vermifuge (Dymock).

The capital symptom calling for this new remedy is paroxysmal spasmodic dyspnoea Dr. Tison gives favourable reports of this medicine in dyspnoeas of cardiac origin In all his patients the heart and kidneys seem to have been sound. The Euphorbia pilulifera has not seemed to have any action on the cough and expectoration in chronic bronchitis, nor it seemed to modify the rales of humid asthma In its mode of action it acts in two ways : locally on the stomach, and, after having been absorbed, on the respiratory functions.

1, The active principle of euphorbia pilulifera is soluble in dilate alcohol and water, insoluble or but little soluble in ether, chloroform, di-sulphide of carbon and essence of turpentine. 2. It is toxic in small doses to small animals, killing them by arrest of the respiratory movements and cardiac pulsations, which are first accelerated, then slowed. 3. Its effects are not cumulative. 4. It seems to act directly on the respiratory and cardiac centres ; it leaves intact the other organs. 5. It seems to be eliminated by the liver. 6. Locally it is without action on the skin and mucous membranes, except the gastric mucous membrane, which it irritates. 7. It gives good results in attacks of dyspnœa caused by spasmodic asthma, emphysema, or chronic bronchitis. It ought to be employed in daily doses corresponding at the most to one gramme of the dried plant, and should be taken well diluted with water at meal time. (Quart. Therap. Rev., Jul. 1885.)

The entire plant of Euphorbia pilulifera L. which had been obtained from the Fiji Island, was examined. The air dried material was extracted with alcohol, and the extract distilled with steam, when about 0.02 per cent, of an essential oil was obtained. The following substances were isolated from that portion of the alcoholic extract soluble in water : gallic acid, quercetin, and a new phenolic substance, C₂₈H₁₈O₁₅ . The aqueous liquid also contained amorphus glucoside material and a lsevo-rotatory sugar which yieided alphenyl-glucosazone. The soft resinous material left aftertreating the alcoholic extract with water amounted to about 3.2 per cent, of the original air dried material. This yielded the following substances : tricieontane and apparently a little ceryl alcohol ; a new monohydric alcohol, euphosterol, C₂₅H₃₉OH, m. pt. 274°— 275°C, giving an acetyl derivative m. pt. 295°— 297°C, and a bromo acetyl derivative m. pt. 183°— 186°C, a phytosterol m. pt. 132° — 133°C; a phytosterolin ; Jambulol C₁₆H₃O₄ (O. H) ₅ ; melissic acid and a mixture of higher fatty acids. Euphosterol is evidently closely related to taraxasterol and homotaraxasterol.— (Abstract from Ph. J. of 1913 in the J. Ch. I. for May 15, 1913, p. 505.)

Among the various constituents, there is none to which any specific physiological action may be ascribed. Such therapeutic virtues as the plant ​ has been presumed to posses would, therefore, not appear to depend upon any single substance of a definite chemical character. (Hooper.)

Sans. :— Rakta vinda chada.

Vern. : — Dudiya sweta kerna (B.) ; Dudhi, chotka dudhi (H); Bara dodak, hazârdâna (Pb.) ; Chinamam ; Sittra paladi ; Patcha arise (Tam.) ; Reddi vâri mânu bâla ; Biduru nâna biyyam (Tel.); Nâyeti (Bomb.); Mathi-dudhi (Mar).

Habitat : — Throughout India in the plains and lower hills, ascending in Kashmir to 5,500 ft,

A small, pubescent, much-branched, annual herb ; stems 4-12in. divaricately branched, spreading flat on ground, stipular, minute, serrate. Leaves opposite, oblong, ¼in., obtuse; teeth acute or rounded. Involucres campanulate, minute, axillary ; teeth 4 ; lobes very short ; glands green, narrowly bordered with a white petitles ; very short, rounded limb, sometimes absent. Styles short. Capsule pubescent with bluntly keeled lobes ; seeds wrinkled.

" The whole plant has often a coppery tinge," says Trimen. It flowers all the year round. Colour pink, a common weed. Flower heads very small ; sessile, l-3in. axil. Trimen makes the following remark, which is well worth quoting here : — " The severed end of a branch, made to touch lightly the surface of water, has the singular effect of violently repelling to considerable distance all floating particles in the neighbourhood."

Uses : — The expressed juice or powdered plant with wine is given as a remedy for the bites of venomous reptiles, and is applied externally to the bitten part ; with milk it acts as a purgative and expels all noxious humors from the body. According to Ainsile, the Sanskrit name is Rakta-vindu-chhada, which would imply that it is a remedy for Rakta-vindu, " gonorrhœa with sanious discharge." He remarks :— " The very small leaves and seeds of this low-growing annual plant, which, in their dried state, are slightly aromatic and a little astringent, are given by the Tamool doctors, in worm cases, and in certain bowel affections of children ; they are commonly administered in the form ​ of powder, and in buttermilk, to the quantity of one pagoda and a quarter weight in the course of the day on an empty stomach. The leaves when carefully dried smell something like tea." (Mat. Ind ., ii., 75.) Irvine states that it is used as a stimulant and laxative in Northern India. In the Concan the juice is used to cure ringworm, and mixed with chloride of ammonium for the cure of dandriff. O'Shaughnessy says that the juice is a violent purgative, and that the fresh plant is, by the Arabs, applied to wounds. In the Dict. Econ. Prod, of India, it is stated, on the authority of the Rev. A. Campbell, that the Santals use the root of this plant, which they call Nanha-pusi-toa, as a remedy for amenorrhœa. (Dymock.)

Chemical composition. — An alcoholic extract of the whole plant was mixed with water acidulated with sulphuric acid, and successively agitated with petroleum ether and ether, and then reagitated with ether from the solution rendered alkaline with sodic carbonate. The petroleum ether extract contained a large amount of colouring matter; it had a very faint bitter taste ; on standing, dark, and what appeared to be crystalline, points separated, but which, on microscopic examination, were destitute of regular structure. Euphorbon was specially sought for, but we arrived at no definite conclusion relative to its presence.

The acid ether extract was of a greenish colour, and partly soluble in water, the solution giving a greenish coloration with ferric chloride, and precipitating gelatine, but giving no reaction with cyanide of potassium.

After washing off by cold alcohol the extractive adhering to the sides o the capsule, and which was insoluble in water, a sulphur-yellow deposit was left, which, on microscopic examination, consisted of very minute needles. This principle was present in only minute traces, and was soluble even in warm alcohol with difficulty ; it gave the reactions of quercitrin.

The aqueous original acid solution, before the addition of sodic carbonate, was of a bright claret colour ; on the addition of the alkali sage-green flocks separated, the addition of acids causing solution, and reproducing the original claret-coloured solution but, after standing, the flocks became insoluble in acids, and only a faintly yellowish-red tint was produced by their addition.

The alkaline ether extract contained an alkaloidal principle which crystallized in fine colourless feathery crystals; it possessed no bitter taste. With Frohde's reagent in the cold a very faint-yellow tint was produced, which was changed to greenish on gently warming. Concentrated nitric acid gave a yellowish tint. Sulphuric acid and potassium bichromate no colour reaction. (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 251-252,)

Vern. : — Chhoto-Kernee (B.) ; Dudhia-phul (Santal).

Habitat : — Bengal, Bundelkand and Southern India. ​ An annual herb, quite glabrous or sparsely hairy. Stems very many, prostrate and spreading from the root ; leafy, very slender, and much distichously branched, spreading in a whorl from the root, 4-10in. long, whitish brittle. Leaves always small, opposite, 1/6-¼in., very short, obliquely-oblong, rounded- oblong or sub-quadrate, coriaceous, opaque, sometimes as broad as long, spreading at right angles ; if toothed, only at the broad end ; nerveless. Stipules minute, triangular, 2-partite or laciniately toothed. Involucres numerous from the base to the tip of the stems and branches, minute, campanulate, very shortly pedicelled. Bracts at the base of the pedicels, subulate ; lobes triangular, acute, nearly entire ; glands very shortly stipitate. Style very short. Capsule shortly pedicelled, 1/10in. diam. Cocci obtusely keeled, glabrous. Seeds smooth, bluish, when wet mucous.

Use: — In Chutia Nagpur, a preparation of this plant, along with that of Cryptolepis Buchanani is given to nursing mothers when the supply of milk fails or is deficient (Revd. A. Campbell).

Sans. : — Ganderi, trikantaka, vajradruma, dandasinhâ.

Vern. : — Sehnd, thohar, sehunr (H.) ; Lanka sij, lâtadâona (B.) ; Siju (Sant.); Seju, ksharisíju, lanka (Uriya) ; Thora, Thúr (Sind.) Niwal nivali shera, seyr, teg, vajraduhu (Mar.); Thordandalio (Guz.) ; Tirukali, kalli, kombu-kalli (Tam.) ; Jemudu, kalli (Tel.); Kodukalli, mondugalli (Kan.) ; Tirukalli ; kâteruma (Mal.).

Habitat : — A native of Africa, naturalized in Bengal, the Konkan and the Deccan, as also in Sindh. Thrives very well at Karachi.

A large, unarmed, milky shrub or small tree, 10-20 ft. Bark brown or greenish-brown. Wood white or grey, moderately hard. Trunk 6-10in. diam., green, cylindric, densely branched above. Branches terete, smooth, green, jointed, slender like stout rushes, becoming as thick as the little finger. Leaves ​fleshy, linear or linear-cuneate or obtuse, sessile, up to ½in. long, turbinate, crowded at the ends and in the forks of the branches, sub-sessile, with 2 small leaves at the base of the pedicel ; lobes short, hairy ; glands transversely ovate, punctate ; bracteoles very numerous, lacerate. Capsules ¼in. long, darkbrown, deeply 3-lobed, villous ; cocci compressed, velvety. Seeds ovoid, smooth.

Uses : — The fresh milky juice of E. Tirucalli is said to be an effectual application for the removal of warts, and, incorporated with any bland oil, is used in common with the milky juice of other species as a rubefacient embrocation in rheumatism. The inspissated milky juice formerly enjoyed great repute in India as an antisyphilitic (Ives Voyage to India, p. 462, and Sonnerat Voyage, vol. L, p. 146) ; and Dr. J. Shortt reports having found it an excellent alterative in these cases in doses of five grains night and morning. (Ph. Ind.)

In the Concan 1 to 4 drops of the milky juice are given with treacle or the flour of cicer Arietinum as a purge, and the charcoal, which is very light, is used in making pastilles. Dr. G. Y. Hunter speaks of the juice as a good application in neuralgia. (Dymock.)

Syn. : — E. ligularia, Roxb. 391.

Sans. : — Snuhi ; Vujri ; Sehunda.

Vern. : — Sehund, kutte ki jibh ki send va patta, thohar, sij (H.) ; Mansa sij (B.) ; Gangichû (Pb.) ; Nivadunga, minaguta, (Mar.) ; thohur (Sind) ; llaik-kalli (Tam.) ; Aku-jemudu (Tel.) ; Yalekalli (Kan.).

Habitat : — Deccan Peninsula ; common in rocky places ; cultivated in Bengal and elsewhere in native villages.

A small, erect, fleshy, glabrous tree, armed at the nodes with a pair of sharp spines, ⅓-½in. long. Bark reticulated ; pith large, round. Wood white, soft, even-grained. " Stems cylindric, branches round, but the nodes arranged in 5 more or less spirally twisted ribs ; branchlets 5-angled. Leaves few, deciduous, 6-12in. long, terminal on the branches, waved, narrowed ​ into a very short petiole, cuneate or oblanceolate, usually acute or mucronate. Involucres yellowish, in small, compact, shortly pedunculate, dichotomous cymes from the sinus between the nodes ; lobes large, erect, roundish, cordate, fimbriate. Styles connate, high up, undivided ; stigmas capitate. Capsule about ½in. broad, deeply 3-lobed. Cocci compressed, glabrous.

Uses :— The root enjoys repute as a remedy in snake bites, but there is no reliable evidence of its utility in these cases. The expressed juice of the leaves is reported to prove very effectual in relieving the paroxysms of spasmodic asthma. (Ph. Ind.)

In Hindu medicine, the milky juice is considered purgative and rubefacient. As a purgative it is generally used in combination with other medicines which are steeped in it. Chebulic myrobalan, long pepper, tivrit root, etc., are thus treated and administered as drastic purgatives in ascites, anasarca and tympanites. It enters into the composition of several compound prescriptions of a drastic character (Dutt). " The juice is employed in ear-ache and, mixed with soot, in ophthalmia as an anjan" (T. N. Ghose, in Watt's Die).

Hemaglutinins (rabbit blood) were found in 26 of 47 Types of Euphorbia examined. The agglutinating action on different bloods (pigeon, rabbit, guinea pig, rat, sheep, goat) differed. The active substance of Euphorbia neriifolia is fairly resistant to boiling. When hemaglutinins are contained in the vegetative parts of the plant they can be absent from the seeds and vice versa. (Ch. Abs. 10th Jan. 1913 p. 104.)

Syn. :— E. neriifolia, Roxb. 392.

Vern. :— Thohar (H.); Shij (B.) ; Newran (Mar.) ; Ellaculli (Mal.) ; Elakullie (Tam.) ; Akoo-jemoodoo (Tel.)

Habitat:— N.-W. Himalaya; on dry rocky hills. Guzerat, the Deccan Peninsula and Sindh.

A large shrub or tree, 20-25ft. Branches in whorls of four, fleshy, nearly cylindric, with vertically or spirally arranged tubercles, each supporting a pair of stipular prickles. Leafless in cold and dry season. Leaves alternate, 6- 12in. long, ovate- oblong or linear ; tip rounded ; midrib much elevated beneath ; ​ lateral nerves indistinct. Involucres 3 together, central sessile with male flowers, lateral, pedunculate with only male or both male and female flowers ; lobes fimbriate, erect, ovate. Bracteoles many. Capsule |in. diam. Seeds smooth. (Kanjilal.)

Uses : — The juice of the leaves used internally as a purgative ; mixed with nim oil externally applied in rheumatism. On the Western Coast bark of the root boiled in rice water and arrack given in dropsy. Leaves, simply warmed in the fire, will promote urine, ex ternally applied, while their juice warmed is a good remedy in ear-ache and occasionally rubbed over the eyes to remove dimness of sight. (Ainslie and Rheede.) The pulp of the stem, mixed with green ginger given to persons bitten with mad dogs, previous to the appearance of hydrophobia. (Journ. Agri-Horti. Soc. X 37.) Horsfield (Asiat. Journ., vol. vii , p. 265) mentions a case of dropsy in which he prescribed the inspissated juice of E. Nivulia in doses of a few (?) grains as a diuretic, and states that it was productive of evident relief. (Ph. Ind.)

Chem. Comp.— The dried juice contains 35 per cent, of Euphorbon, 25.40 per cent, of resin soluble in ether, 13.70 of resin insoluble in ether, 1.50 per cent, of caoutchouc, and the other constituents of commercial gum euphorbium. The dried juice of E. Tirucalli was also found to be of a similar nature, and to contain 4 per cent, of caoutchouc. Henke examined the juice of sixteen species of Euphorbia and ascertained that they all contain euphorbon, so that we may fairly suppose it, as well as an acid resin, malate of calcium, and caoutchouc, to be a constant constituent of the milky juice of all the plants belonging to the genus. (Archiv. d. Pharm. Vol. 224, 729-759.)

Sans. :-— Sihunda, vajra, vajrakantaka.

Vern. : — Tindhâra sehund, tidhâra-sehur (H.) ; Narasij, tekâtâsij, bâjbâran, lariya-dâona (B.) ; Etkec' (Sant.) ; Dokânâ-siju (Uriya) ; Shidu (Michi) ; Naraseja (Mar.) ; Tandhári-send (Guz.) ; Shadhurak-kalli, tirikalli (Tam.) ; Bomma jemudu, bonta-chemudu (Tel.); mudu, mula-jemudu (Kan.) ; Katak-kalli (Mal.).

Habitat .-—Throughout the hotter parts of India in dry places.

A polymorphous plant (Wight), attaining 25ft. (Kurz), 15-30ft. (Trimen). Trunk stout, often 3ft. or more in circum​ ference, cylindric or fluted. Bark thick, very rough and corrugated, brown. Branches numerous, curving upward, young whorled, stout, fleshy, green, jointed with 3 very wide, thick wings, which are narrowed to either end in each joint, and very coarsely repand-crenate. Leaves very small, ¼-½in., sessile on summit of each crenation, cuneate, truncate, glabrous, fleshy, almost nerveless, soon falling. Stipullary spines short, sharp divaricate, persistent ; flower-heads in small, shortly stalked cymes of 3, the central, sessile, the 2 lateral on long, stout pedicels. Bracts opposite, obovate. Bracteoles abundant, fimbriate. Involucre-glands 5 ; very large, much broader than long, yellow, fleshy. Male flowers (stam.) numerous, mixed with many laciniate branchlets ; female flowers : —ovary, nearly sessile ; styles combined, for half their length ; capsule 3-lobed, rather depressed ; lobes ovoid, slightly compressed. Flowers greenish-yellow or pink. Usually appears leafless, as the small, fleshy leaves are quickly deciduous ; contains abundance of pith in the centre ; and the whole plant contains a very viscous, acrid, milky juice.

Uses : — A plaster, prepared from the roots and mixed with asafœtida, is applied externally to the stomachs of children suffering from worms. The bark of the root is purgative, and the stem is given in decoction in gout (Wight and Rheede). The juice, which flows from the branches, is used as a purgative to relieve pain in the loins. It is an acrid irritant in rheumatism and tooth-ache. When taken internally, it acts as a drastic purgative. It is also employed in nervine diseases, dropsy, palsy, deafness and amaurosis (Baden-Powell). A preparation from this plant is in Chutia Nagpur given as a cure for cough (Revd. A. Campbell).

In the Nighantas the plants are described as purgative, pungent, digestive, bitter and heavy, and are said to be useful in constipation, flatulent distention, tumours, swellings, abdominal enlargements, rheumatism, spleen, leprosy, mania and jaundice.

They abound in an acrid milky juice, which is a popular application to warts and other cutaneous affections. The native doctors purify arsenious acid by packing it in n hole made ​ in a piece of the stem, closing the hole and exposing the stem to the action of fire until it is charred. The milky juice of E. neriifolia is usually administered internally by soaking other purgatives and aromatics in it, so that by absorption of the juice their purgative properties become increased. A similar method is adopted when the juice is applied externally, a tent or issue pea being prepared with some finely powdered drug and steeped in it. Ainslie tells us that the native practitioners prescribe the juice as a purge and deobstruent, in those visceral obstructions and dropsical affections which are consequent of long-continued intermittent fever, the quantity given for a dose being about ¼ of a pagoda weight (20 grs.). Externally, mixed with margosa oil, it is applied to limbs which have become contracted from rheumatism. (Mat. Ind., Vol. II., p. 97.) In Bombay the root is mixed with country liquor to make it more intoxicating, and the juice is used to kill maggots in wounds, and is dropped into the ear to cure earache, a practice common to many parts of India. In the Concan the stem is roasted in ashes, and the expressed juice, with honey and borax, given in small doses to promote the expectoration of phlegm ; sometimes the juice of Adulsa is added. For asthma, Mudar flowers, Aghada root, and Gokaran root are steeped in the juice, powdered and given with honey and chebulic myrobalans. Dose about 4 grains. The author of the Makhzan-ul-Adwiya, under the name of Zakûm (Euphorbia), describes four Indian species, which are probably E. antiquorum, E. neriifolia, E. Nivulia and E Tirucalli. The milky juice of the first, he says, is mixed with the flour of Cicer arietinum, roasted, and administered in pills as a remedy for gonorrhœa. It has a strong purgative action. (Dymock.)

Vern : — Shakar pitan, thar(Pb.); Sali, chula, shún, chu, duro (Himalayan names) ; Sihund (Kumaon) ; Afarbioon (Sind).

Habitat ' — Outer Himalaya, in dry hilly tracts from Kumaon to the Jhelum. Salt Range.

A small tree with fleshy branches. Wood soft, white, spongy. Attains, 15-16ft., and has a girth up to 6ft. Branches with 5, sometimes 7, broad, flat faces, separated by sharp undulating ​ angles ; spines in pair at the nodes. Leaves few or wanting. Involucres ½in. diam., yellow or green-yellow, hemispheric, in compact sessile, 3-fid cymes, from the sinus between, the nodes ; styles free nearly to the base. Cocci compressed, glabrous. Capsule ¾in. diam.

Use : — The acrid, milky juice possesses cathartic and anthelmintic properties (Watt).

Vern : — Hirtiz (Kashmir).

Habitat : — Western Tibet, Leh and Gilgit.

Perennial herb, quite glabrous. Stems a foot high, simple, sparingly leafy, from a stout perennial stock, unbranched, scaly at the base. Leaves ½-¾in., or even ¾-1½in. broad, coriaceous, dull yellow when dry, upper and under surface alike ; sessile elliptic or ovate-obtuse or sub-acute ; nerves few, obscure, ascending, floral, broader, involucral, 2 sub-orbicular. Rays 3-6, longer than the floral leaves. Involucres campanulate, glabrous, without, with 4 hairy lines within ; ⅛in. broad ; lobes small, fimbriate ; styles long, slender ; glands sub-stipitate, transversely oblong. Capsule shortly stipitate, ⅓in. long, ¼in. diam. ; cocci not separate by a deep sulcus, oblong. Seeds smooth, pale, oblong, 1/6in. long ; caruncle small, peltate. A very distinct species.

Uses : — The crushed root-stocks are employed by the natives of Kuram as detergents for washing the hair, and, when boiled, are given as purgatives (Aitchison).

In Kashmir, the root-stock is employed to adulterate " kut " (Saussurea Lappa) and is called by the Kashmiris " Hirtiz." The stem, root and leaves are said to be used medicinally. (Aitchison).

Vern. :— Hirruseeah ; Mahabi (H.) ; Gandabuti, dudai, kulfa-dodak, chatriwal (Pb.).

Habitat : — Throughout the Punjab plains and the Siwalik tract, ascending to 7,000 feet in the outer Himalaya. Introduced into the Nilghiri hills, ​ An erect annual, dichotomously branched above. Stem often very stout and copiously umbellately branched above," with divaricate branches. Leaves 2in. long and under, membranous, alternate, shortly petioled, obovateor spathulate, serrulate ; floral large, similar ; involucral, orbicular or oblong, 2-4, small. Involucre 1/10in. diam., glabrous ; lobes, turbinate, small, oblong ; glands reniform, fimbriate. Capsule smooth, globose, ⅛in. diam. ; cocci round at back. Seeds deeply reticulated, pitted, turgidly oblong or sub-globose.

Uses: — The milky juice is applied to eruptions, and the seeds are given with roasted pepper in cholera (Honnigberger). The juice is also used in the form of a liniment in neuralgia and rheumatism, and the root is employed as an anthelmintic (Murray). It is used as a hydragogue cathartic, and the juice is applied to remove warts. Dr. Bandry has reported a case of severe ulceration resulting from the application of a poultice of the bruised plant. (Dymock.)

Vern : — Richni, sudáb (the fruit), Kangi (the plant) (Pb.) ; Jy-chee, Chhagul-puputi (B.) ; Parwa (Santal) ; Tilla kâda (Tel.).

Habitat : —From the Punjab to Behar in the plains and low hills, and southward to Canara and Coromandel.

An annual. Stems erect, many from the root leafy, 12-18in. high, often extensively branched dichotomously ; branches divaricate. Leaves sessile, linear-lanceolate, sub-acute, rarely rounded, or sub-cordate, l-l½in. long, involucral, shorter 2, broader at the base. Involucres solitary, hairy within, turbinate ; lobes ovate, ciliolate ; glands semi-lunate ; styles short, free. Capsule smooth, ⅛-1/6in. diam., hardly depressed. Seeds oblong with a white tuberculate testa.

Use: — The fruit is officinal and used to remove warts (Watt).

The seeds yield a limpid, clear, yellowish or greenish-yellow oil, used as a drying oil and for burning. In 1843 it was pronounced in London to be as valuable as linseed oil. It is only used locally. (Agric. Ledg., 1911-12, No. 5.) ​

Vern :- Shanda laghuue (Afg.); Chikri (Kashmir) ; Papri, papur, paprang, shamshád, shumaj (Pb.).

Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Kumaon to Simla and Bhotan. Punjab on the Salt Range, etc.

A small, evergreen shrub or tree. Bark grey, soft, corky, cut into small plates by deep horizontal and vertical cracks. Wood yellowish-white, hard, smooth, very close-and even-grained. Branchlets and young leaves pubescent. Branchlets 4-sided. Leaves opposite, coriaceous, varying from lanceolate to ovate, quite entire, l-3in. long, narrowed into a short petiole. Flowers yellowish, monoecious, in dense, short, axillary spikes ; smell unpleasant ; the terminal flowers usually female. Male flowers : — Sepals 4, biseriate, imbricate ; stamens 4 free, opposite to sepals, inserted round a 4-sided rudimentary ovary. Female flowers : — Sepals 6, in two circles of 3 each ; ovary 3-celled, 3-cornered ; top flat ; the corners terminating in thick, short styles. Capsules coriaceous, 3-valved, each valve ending in 2 horns, being the halves of 2 styles ; dissepiments attached to the valves. (Brandis) ; seeds oblong, trigonous, with a black shining testa and fleshy albumen.

Uses : —The wood is diaphoretic ; leaves bitter, purgative and diaphoretic, useful in rheumatism and syphilis. Said to be poisonous to camels. A tincture from the bark is used as a febrifuge (Stewart).

Syn. : — B. spinosa, Roxb. 706.

Vern. : — Pathor, mark (Pb.) ; Khâja, kâj, kassi, gauli (H.) ; Kharaka, kaka (Kol.) ; Kûj (Mongyr) ; Kadrû pala (Santal) ; Gaya (Dehra Dun) ; Gauli (Garhwal) ; Lamkana, augnera (Rajputana); Geio(Nepal); Pengji (Lepcha) ; Kashi (Garo) ; Kamkûi (Chittagong) ; Kasi, kosi (Uriya) ; Mulluvengay, kamanji (Tam.) ; Kormânu, pedda-âvem, danki-bura, dudi mâddi, kora madi, (Tel.) ; Kassei (Gond.) ; Gûnjan, kati ain, asána (Bhil.) ; Phatarphod, asana, asauna (Bom.) ; Sun (Duk.) ; Asuna, goje (Kan.) ; Adamarathu (Tinnevelly). ​ Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India, along the foot of the Himalaya from Kashmir to Mishmi.

A deciduous tree, 50-60ft., with thorns on the back of young stems. Bark ¼in. thick, grey or brown, rough with longitudinal cracks and exfoliating in long irregular plates. Wood moderately hard to hard, grey to olive-brown, close-grained ; seasons well.

Leaves coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, ovate or obovate, acute, obtuse or rounded at the apex, the base usually rounded, bright-green and glabrous on the upper surface and turning pinkish-purple before falling, often finely tomentose beneath ; main lateral nerves 15-25 pairs, straight, prominent, finely reticulate between ; petioles ¼-½in. long, stipules ovate-lanceolate, unequal at the base, deciduous. Flowers dioecious, greenish-yellow, sessile or shortly pedicelled, arranged in dense axillary clusters or in long axillary or terminal panicled spikes exceeding the leaves ; bracts small, obtuse, villous Calyx ⅛in. in diam. ; lobes fleshy, spreading, triangular-ovate, acute, glabrous and often tinged with red ; tube pubescent. Petals of males obovate, pectinate ; of the females subspathulate. Disk of male flower thick and pulpy ; of the female truncate, enclosing the ovary. Drupe fleshy, subglobose, ⅓in. in diam., seated on the persistent hardly enlarged calyx, flesh-coloured or purplish-black when quite ripe. (Duthie.)

Uses : —The bark is a strong astringent and is used in Western India as a lithontriptic (Dymock). Used as a liniment with gingelly oil in rheumatism (Surg.-Major Ratton in Watt's Dictionary). Root astringent (J. J. Wood's Plants of Chutia Nagpur, p. 135).

Chemical composition.— The bark afforded 41.7 per cent, of water extract, containing 39.9 parts of tannic acid. The tannic acid gave a greyish-green precipitate with plumbic acetate, and a blue-black colour with ferric chloride. The air-dried bark left 7.35 per cent, of ash on incineration. Although this is one of the most astringent barks in India, it does not appear to be known to, or used by, Europeans in the arts.

Vern. :— Kargnalia, khaja, geia, kusi (H.) ; Gondni (Saharanpur) ; Geio (Nepal) ; Kaisho (Ass.) ; Kurgnulia (Kumaon) ; ​ Asáná (Mar. and cutch) ; Asano (Bom. and Guz.) ; Faturfoda (Goa) ; Vengemaram, venge (Tam.) ; Gundebingula, pantangi, áuem (Tel.).

Habitat: — Along the foot-hills of the Himalaya, from the Punjab to Bhotan ; Khasia Mts., Behar on Parusnath ; Coromandel.

A. moderate-sized, grabrous deciduous tree. Wood grey, moderately hard, nearly glabrous. Branches often pustulate. Leaves membranous, very variable, 3-5in. long, obovate or broad elliptic, glabrous or shining above, paler beneath ; lateral nerves 10-15 pair, more or less arched ; cross nervules rather strong ; petiole 1/10-⅓in. long ; stipules deciduous. Flowers monœious, says J.D. Hooker. But Rai Bahadur Upend ranath Kanjilal says thus: — I have seen several trees with only male, and several others with only female flowers, and so far none with both" (Forest Flora, United Provinces, Siwalik and Jaunsar divisions, p. 346, foot- note, 1911, Calcutta). The flowers are small, greenish-yellow, shortly pedicelled ; bracts many and crowded, membranous pubescent. Calyx 1/10-1/5 diam. ; lobes triangular-ovate, unaltered in fruit. Ovary enclosed in disk. Styles 2, 2-fid. Petals oblanceolate Fruit ovoid, 1/5in. long, black when ripe, seated on the unaltered calyx. The fruits are not eaten, says Kanjilal.

Uses: — Reported to possess anthelmintic properties. Much used in Bombay and Goa as an astringent medicine. (Watt.)

Syn. : — Cluytiacollina, Roxb. 704.

Vern. : — Woadugu maram(Tam.); Kadishen, Korsi (Tel.); Garrar, garári (H.) ; Karada (Uriya) ; Parasu, pas, pasu, larchuter (Kol.) ; Kargalli (Santal) ; Ghara (Berar) ; Garari (Mar.); Kergali (Karwar) ; Ganari (C. P.).

Habitat : — Dry hills in various parts of India from Simla to Behar, and southward to Central India, and the Deccan Peninsula.

A small, deciduous tree. Bark ¼in. thick, dark-brown, almost black, often with a reddish tinge, rough with numerous ​ cracks, exfoliating in rectangular woody scales. Wood dark, reddish-brown, tough, hard, close-grained ; heartwood small. Branches spreading, rigid, twiggy, smooth or pustulate. Foliage bright-green. Leaves coriaceous, orbicular, broadly ovate or elliptic; tip rounded or retuse, glaucous beneath, 1¼-4 by 1½-3in., pale when dry, loosely reticulate, young, membranous and faintly pubescent beneath, old 4-8 pair, spreading, very slender ; petiole ¼in. Flowers yellowish-green, in small axillary, silky clusters ; calyx-lobes lanceolate, or ovate-lauceolate. Calyx ¼in. male, pulvinate, of female conical with a thick margin. Ovary quite glabrous, globose, styles free thick ; stigmas fleshy, lobed. Capsule -¾in., obscurely 3-lobed, woody sessile ; rarely 4-lobed, dark-brown, shining and wrinkled when dry, top not lobed. Seeds 3, 1/6in. diam., globose chestnut-brown ; albumen scanty.

Uses : — The bark or outer crust of capsule said to be exceedingly poisonous (O'Shaughnessy.)

In Chutia Nagpur the fruit and bark are employed to poison fish ; the latter is also considered a useful application in cutaneous diseases. For severe headache, the head and upper part of the body are bathed in water in which the leaves have been steeped (Revd. A. Campbell.) An extract of the leaves and fruit acts as a violent gastro-intestinal irritant.

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Vern. :— Kurkni, gurguli, kurkuli (Pb.).

Habitat : — Central and Western Temperate Himalaya, from Nepal westwards to Murree.

A small shrub with slender branches. Young shoots, petioles, and underside of leaves hairy. Wood white, moderately hard-grained. Leaves l-2in. long, ovate-oblong, obtuse or mucronate, pale when dry, nerves very slender. Petiole filiform, ¼-¾in. Flowers fin. diam., monoecious, axillary on long, filiform pedicels, ½-1½in long. Calyx segments obovate, acute, enlarged in fruit. Petioles keeled, spathulate ; disk of 5 flat, bifid, membranous glands. Fruit ¼in. diam., depressed, globose, ​ supported by the enlarged calyx. Seeds broadly trigonous, dorsally rounded.

Use : — The twigs and leaves are said to kill cattle when browsed in the early morning on an empty stomach. (Stewart).

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Sans. : — Krishna-kamboji.

Vern. : — Panjoli, mâkhi, buin-owla, kâle-madh-kâ-per (H.) ; Panjuli (B. and Pb.); Kabonan (Raj.) ; Kâmohi, fruit =pika- pirû, leaves = kâmohi jopun, bark = kâmohi jochodo (Sind); Pâvana (Bomb.) ; Datwan (Guz.) ; Pulavayar-puttay, pillanji, karappu-pillânji (Tam.) ; Nalla-puruguddu, purugudu, nella- purudûdû, phulser (Tel.).

Habitat : — Throughout tropical India, in the plains from Sind, Behar, Rohilkund, Sikkim and Assam to Travancore.

A large straggling or climbing shrub, 8-10ft. Bark brown, thin. Wood reddish or greyish-white, hard, close-grained. Shoots glabrous or finely pubescent. Branches lenticillate, numerous, stout ; woody branchlets long, drooping. Leaves l-2in., oblong or elliptic, tip rounded, acute or obtuse ;"variable," says Trimen, "lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, nearly rotundate, glabrous or slightly pubescent, somewhat paler beneath;" nerves 6-8 pairs; slender. Petiole 1/12-1/6in. ; stipules small, subulate, persistent, hard. Flowers pink, solitary or several together on slender, axillary peduncles. Calyx- segments ovate, membranous, alternating with glands of the disk. Male flowers : —Stamens 5, filaments of the 3 inner longer, connate. Female flowers: — Ovary, 5-10-celled (Brandis), 4-5-celled ( Trimen ) ; styles short, minutely lobed ; stigmas short ; ovules 2 in each cell, superposed. Fruit a purple berry, sweetish when ripe, shining, smooth, depressed, globose. 1/6-⅛in. diam., often racemose on leafless branches. Seeds 8-14, triquetrous, finely granulate, superposed in each cell, bluntly trigonous.

Uses : — The leaves are employed as a diuretic and cooling medicine in Sind. (Stocks.) The bark is considered alterative ​ and attenuant, and is prescribed in decoction in the quantity of four ounces or more twice daity. (Ainslie.) The juice of the leaves is used medicinally in the Konkan. It is made into a pill with camphor and cubebs, which is allowed to dissolve in the mouth as a remedy for bleeding from the gums, it is also reduced to a thin extract along with the juice of other alterative plants and made into a pill with aromatics. This pill is given twice a day, rubbed down in milk as an alterative in ' heat of the blood'. (Dymock.)

Sans. : — Dhâtriphala, Amritaphala, Amalakam, Shri-phalam, Sainam.

Vern.—Aonlá, (H.) ; Ambliy (Arab.); Amelah (Pers.) ; Ambul, ambli (Pb.) ; Amla, àmlaki (B. and Ass.); Ambari (Garo) ; Neli, nellekai (Tam.); Shabju, zíphiyusí (Burm.) ; Anvala (Mar.).

Habitat : — Throughout Tropical India, wild or planted, from the base of the Himalaya, from Jummoo eastwards, and southwards to Ceylon.

A moderate-sized, deciduous, pretty and ornamental tree. Bark somewhat less than ⅓in., thick, light grey, exfoliating in irregular patches; inner substance red. Wood red, hard, close-grained, warps and splits in seasoning ; no heartwood. Branchlets mostly deciduous, finely pubescent or glabrous. Foliage feathery, light green. Leaves equal and distichous, symmetrically close ; set like the leaflets of a pinnate leaf, glabrous, puberulous beneath, ⅓-½in. long, sub-sessile, linear-oblong, acute or mucronate. Stipules minute, ovate, finely acute. Flowers apetalous, monoecious, greenish-yellow, in axillary clusters. Male flowers : -Numerous and shortly pedicillate ; stamens 3, joined in a short column. Disk, of distinct glands, alternating with the calyx-segments, rarely 0. Female-flowers few, sub-sessile. Sepals as in male. Disk cupular, lacerate. Ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell ; styles 3, connate at the base, twice bifid, ​ Fruit a capsule of three 2- valued cocci, ½-7/10in. diam., obscurely 6-lobed, globose, fleshy, pale-yellow, dehiscent when dry, sometimes reddish when ripe, acid, astringent, and bitterish, 3-celled, 6-seeded.

Uses : -The fresh juice is cooling, refrigerant, diuretic and laxative. The exudation from the incisions on the fruit is used as an external application in inflammation of the eye. (Dutt.)

In the fresh state they are round, of the size of a gall-nut, with six valves projecting externally ; pulp fleshy, acidulous, enveloping white angular seeds, and possessed of purgative properties. In the dry state they are roundish, sub-hexagonal, wrinkled, of a blackish-grey colour, slightly aromatic odour and acidulous astringent taste. In the latter state, they are employed in the process of tanning, and are highly valued as an astringent in bowel complaints. Bontius (Diseases of India, p. 200) testifies to their value in the treatment of diarrhœa and dysentery, in the hospitals of Batavia in his day. Antiscorbutic virtues have also been attributed to them by Dr. D. McNab (Calcutta Med. Phys. Trans., vol. viii., and Calcutta Quart. Med. Journ. 1837, vol. L, p. 306) ; but Dr. Irvine (Med. Topog. of Ajmeer, p. 118) is of opinion that they do not possess any peculiar virtue in this respect, and that they are not superior to any other acid vegetable astringent. He mentions that they contain a large proportion of gallic acid. The flowers of this tree are employed by the Hindu doctors for their supposed refrigerant and aperient qualities (Ainslie, Mat. Ind., vol. ii., p. 244). The bark partakes of the astringency of the ripe fruit. Dr. M. Ross reports having prepared from the root, by decoction and evaporation, an astringent extract equal to catechu, both for medicinal purposes and in the arts ; he adds that chips of the wood or small branches thrown into impure or muddy water, clear it effectually ; hence the wood is much employed by the natives in making well rings. This point is worthy of further inquiry. (Ph. Ind.) In the Concan, the juice of the fresh bark, with honey and turmeric, is given in gonorrhœa. (DymocL) ​ The leaves are, in Baroda, used as an infusion with fenugreek seeds in cases of chronic dysentery, and are also considered a bitter tonic. In the same locality the milky juice is considered a good application to offensive sores.

Chemical composition. — The pulpy portion of the fruit dried at 100°C, and freed from the nuts, had the following composition :—

Ether extract (gallic acid, &c.)	11.32
Alcoholic extract (tannin, sugar, &c.)	36.10
Aqueous extract (gum, &c.)	13.75
Soda extract (albumen, &c.)	13.08
Crude cellulose	17.80
Mineral matter	04.12
Moisture and loss	03.83
Total	100.00

The acidity of the fruit was found to be equal to 9.6 per cent., calculated as acetic acid. The amount of tannic acid, estimated with acetate of lead solution, was 35 per cent, and 10 per cent, of glucose was estimated by means of Fehling's solution on an infusion of the pulp after. the removal of the tannin.

Löwe considers this tannin to be identical with the ellago-tannic acid of Divi-divi. (Pharmacogr. Ind. Ill 263.)

Vern. : — Nala userekee (Tel.) ; Kanocha, hazarmani (H.).

Habitat: — Drier parts of India; from Banda, throughout the Deccan Peninsula to Ceylon.

An annual herb, but sometimes very woody at base. Stem l-3ft. erect, with long, slender, ascending, glabrous branches. Leaves on very short petioles, small, ¼-½in., cuneate-obovate, much tapering to narrower base, rounded truncate, but often apiculate at apex, glaucous and with lateral veins, conspicuous beneath. Stipules linear-lanceolate, very acute. Flowers on very short pedicels, male in small clusters, female solitary ; sepals 6, obovate-rotundate, obtuse. Male flowers : — Stamens 3, filaments connate. Female flowers : — Styles 3, very small. Fruit dry, very small, under ⅛in., depressed, 3-lobed, glabrous. Seeds very finely muricate in lines. Disk of glands in both sexes. Anthers almost sessile on the column, erect, apiculate. ​ Use : —The leaves are used in infusion by the Vaidyas in Southern India as a remedy for headache. (Ainslie.)

When soaked in water the seeds immediately become thickly coated with a semi-opaque mucilage ; the kernel is oily and has a sweet nutty taste ; the seeds are used medicinally on account of the mucilage which they afford. (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 265.)

Sans. : — Tâmra-Valli.

Vern. : — Hazar munee (B. and H.);Yerra userekee (Tel.) ; Lâl-bhuin-ânvalah (H. ) ; Badar-zhapni (Santal) ; Shirappunelli (Tam.) ; Chiru-kizhukânelli, chukanna-kizhânelli (Mal.).

Habitat : — Throughout India, from the Punjab to Assam and Ceylon.

An annual low or tall, diffusely branched, erect or decumbent herb (becoming perennial in some soils), slender, glabrous. Leaf-bearing branchlets short, flattened or shortly winged, often tinged with red. Leaves numerous, closely placed, distichously imbricate, nearly sessile, small ¼-⅓in., oblong, rounded at base, apiculate, paler or silvery beneath. Stipules peltate, very acute. Flowers yellowish, all the year round, numerous, very minute, nearly sessile, solitary. Sepals green, ciliolate, those of the male's sub-orbicular ; of the females oblong, not enlarged in fruit. Fruit very small, scarcely ⅛in., depressed globose, scarcely lobed, muriculate or echinate. Seeds transversely furrowed. Styles with hooked arms. Filaments very shortly united. Anthers erect, didymous, not apiculate.

Use : — Medicinal properties similar to those of P. Niruri.

In Chutia Nagpur, the root is believed to be sudorific, being given to sleepless children along with Zornia diphylla. (Campbell.)

Vern. :— Tandî meral (Santal); Bhuiâvalî (Mar.); Uchchi usirika (Tel.). ​ Habitat : — Throughout India, in the plains and low hills, from Kumaon to Assam and southward to Travancore.

A perennial herb, often woody below, with a long tap-root and numerous, elongated, slender, prostrate or ascending, slightly-branched, compressed, glabrous stems. Leaves numerous, small, ¼-½in., on very short petioles, closely placed and often overlapping, linear-oblong, obtuse, apiculate ; stipules peltate, sagittate, brown, scarious. Flowers normally solitary on slender solitary pedicels ; females larger ; sepals oblong, obtuse ; stamens 3, distinct ; styles short, bifid. Fruit very small, under ⅛in., on somewhat enlarged sepals, globose, faintly 3-lobed, usually tubercled. (Trimen). Seeds minute, trigonous, rounded on the back, finely tubercled, dark-brown.

Var. :—Oblongifolia. — Stem erect, diffusely branched. Leaves ½-¾in. long, elliptic-oblong, sub-acute ; female pedicels ½-¾in. Dekkan Peninsula and Ceylon. (J. D. Hooker.) A very variable plant in habit.

Uses:— The natives use the fresh leaves, flowers and fruit, with cumin seeds and sugar, of each equal parts made into an electuary, for the cure of gonorrhoea, a teaspoonful is given twice a day. The fresh leaves, bruised and mixed with butter milk, make a wash to cure the itch in children. (Roxburgh).

The root is used in Chutia Nagpur as an external application for mammary abscess. (Campbell.)

Sans. : — Bhudhâtri, Bahupatri, Amrita-Amlika, Shina.

Vern. : — Bhûin-anvalah (Hind, and Dec.); Kizhkây-nelli (Tam.) ; Néla-usirika (Tel.) ; Kizhâ-nelli (Mal.) ; Kiranelli-gidá (Kan.); Miziphiyu (Burm.); Bhui âvali (Bom.); Bhuiaola (Uriya); Niruri (Sind).

Habitat : —Throughout the hotter parts of India ; from the Punjab to Assam ; and southward to Travancore. A reddish petioled variety found wild and common in the Thana district. (K. R. K.) ​ An annual weedy herb, 6-18in. high, branched from the base, with an erect stem, naked below, and slender leafy, angular branches above, glabrous. Leaves numerous, crowded, distichous, somewhat imbricated, spreading, nearly sessile, ½-¾in., oblong-oval, obtuse thin, pale beneath. Stipules very acute. Male flowers : — sepals 1/40in. long, rounded ; stamens 3. Female flowers: — sepals oval, sub-acute, with broad, white margins. Fruit very small, 1/16-1/12in., depressed globose, faintly 3-lobed, quite smooth. Seeds with slender ribs. Flowers all the year, yellow (Trimen).

Uses : — The young shoots in infusion are given in dysentery. The leaves are stomachic. (Watt.) The juice of the stems mixed with oil employed in ophthalmia. Leaves and root pulverised and made into poultice with rice-water said to lessen œdematous swellings and ulcers. (Drury.) " The Rev. Dr. John informs me that he has known the fresh root prove an excellent remedy for the jaundice- About half an ounce, while fresh, was given, rubbed up in a cup of milk night and morning, the cure was completed in a few days without any sensible operation of the medicine." (Roxb.)

" Phyllanthus Niruri, Linn., and P. urinaria, Linn., two plants indigenous throughout India, are held in considerable repute by the natives as diuretics, and as such are much employed in dropsical affections, also in gonorrhœa, and other genito-urinary affections. They have been mentioned favourably by Horsfield and others, but they do not appear to possess any special claims to notice.

" The decoction of the root and leaves is very bitter and is a favourite remedy among the natives of Porto Rico, for the cure of intermittent fevers. I have myself many times proved its efficacy in preventing the expected paroxysm. I was accustomed to employ a tincture made by myself with the'whole plant, the dose being two drachms in the morning. Sometimes I repeated the dose, which acted upon the bowels as a slight purgative and this is very useful in inveterate intermittents with infarcts of the spleen and liver. The infusion of the root and leaves is a good tonic, and a diuretic when taken cold in repeat​ ed doses." (Dr. A. J. Amadeo, in Pharmaceut. Jour. Ap. 28. 1888.)

According to Muhammadan writers, the milky juice is a good application to offensive sores ; a poultice of the leaves with salt cures scabby affections, and without salt may be applied to bruises, etc. In the Konkan, the root rubbed down with rice water is given as a remedy for monorrhagia. (Dymock.)

Regarding the chemical composition of this and of P. urinaria, Linn., the authors of the Pharmacographia Indica write : —

Syn. :— P. longifolious, Jacq. Roxb. 684.

Sans. : — Lavani.

Vern. : — Harfarauri, chalmeri (H.) ; Noari, loda, fruit— hariphûl (B.) ; Narkulî (Uriya) ; Cherambola (Goa) ; Arunelli (Tam.) ; Râcha usirike (Tel.) ; Kirnelli (Kan.) ; Nelli (Malay).

Habitat : — In gardens throughout India.

A deciduous tree. Bark, says Gamble, grey ; smooth, very rough, says J. D. Hooker. Wood light-brown, moderately hard, 20-30ft., quite glabrous; with very robust branches and slender leafy branchlets, l-2ft., terete below, angular above, mostly ​ deciduous. Leaves rather membranous, pinnately distichous, 2-3in., petioled, obliquely ovate, acute, pale beneath ; base usually rounded. Nerves 5-8 pair, arched. Petiole 1/12-⅛in.; stipules toothed. Flowers brownish-red, minute, most densely clustered, 1/16in. diam. ; clusters axillary or in slender racemes from the thick, old branches, shortly pedicelled ; occasionally 2-sexual, sometimes 3-4-merous ; pedicels capillary, ¼-½in. Sepals 1, orbicular ; filaments free. Disk of male, of large glands ; of female, annular crenate. Stamens 4, recurved ; anthers shortly oblong, slits lateral. Ovary ovoid ; styles 3-4, reflexed from the contracted top, 2-partite ; arms subulate, acute. Fruit globose, often crowded. Pericarp fleshy, acid, seed-lobed, generally 6-S grooved. Endocarp 3-4-celled ; parts 1-celled, 1-seeded.

Use : — The fruit is acid and astringent, the root is an active purgative, and the seed is also cathartic.

Syn. :— Phyllanthus leucopyrus Koen., Roxb., 679.

Vern. : — Parpo (Goa). Páudharphali, kánte puwan (Bomb). Dalme (H.) ; Rithoul (Dehra Dun).

Habitat: — The Punjab Plains. Deccan Peninsula, from Canara southwards.

A small, deciduous tree or large shrub. Bark smooth, thin, rusty or reddish-brown. Wood red, hard, close-grained. "A graceful little tree of slow growth," says Gamble. Glabrous, unarmed ; branchlets slender, angled and compressed, marked with small, white specks. Branches straight and regularly fluted or angular. Leaves very variable, l-4in. long, elliptic-ovate, obovate or orbicular, membranous, but tough, rather glaucous beneath ; tip rounded, obtuse or acute, rarely acuminate or retuse ; lateral nerves 6-8 pair, very slender; petiole 1/10-⅓in., slender. Flowers diœcious, very small, pedicelled, usually in axillary fascicles. Sepals 5, imbricate. Male flowers: — Stamens 5, alternating with disk-glands, but opposite to the sepals ; pastillode large, 3-fid. Female flowers: — Ovary, ovoid, on an annular disk ; styles 3, 2-fid. Fruit of two sizes, mostly small and dry, ​ about 1/10-1/6in. diam., with a few larger ones, ⅓in. diam. which are white and fleshy ; seeds 3-6, punctate (Kanjilal).

Use :—The juice of the leaves, or the leaves made into a paste with tobacco, are used to destroy worms in sores. (Dymock.)

Chemical composition. — The bark contains 10 per cent, of a tannic acid, giving a violet-black colour with ferric chloride, and the mixture becomes red on the addition of ammonia. An alkaloid is also present, giving a purplish-red colour, afterwards turning to green, with Fröhde's re-agent, and a violet colour with strong sulphuric acid and permanganate of potassium. The alkaloid is soluble in excess of alkalies. The infusion was somewhat frothy, but no sapogenin could be isolated from it after boiling with acid.

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Syn. :— Phylianthus rhamnoides, Willd.

Sans. : — Aruni.

Vern. : -Surasaruni (H), Tikkar (Oudh.)

Habitat: — Throughout tropical India, from Oudh eastwards to Upper Assam and southwards to Travancore.

A small tree or bush, quite glabrous, with many long horizontal, bifarious, flexous branches. Bark yellowish-grey or greyish-brown, rough. Wood reddish, hard, close-grained. Twigs angular, glabrous. Leaves numerous, membranous, distichous, spreading on short petioles, 1-1½in., oval, acute at both ends, entire, glabrous, thin, pale beneath ; veins inconspicuous. Stipules minute, subulate. Flowers yellow, very small, on slender, filiform pedicels. Male flowers very small in clusters; female solitary. Male flowers :— Calyx turbinate ; segments short, obtuse, inflexed, nearly closing to mouth. Stamina! column short. Female flowers : — Calyx cup-shaped, segments acute. Ovary much-exserted, oblong, truncate. Styles very short. Fruit small, globose, ⅛in., seated on the scarcely enlarged calyx, smooth, dull-red. Seeds ⅛in., aril O ; testa imperforate except at the very base.

Uses : — According to Ainslie, it was brought to Dr. F. Hamilton while in Behar as a medicine of some note ; the dried leaves are smoked like tobacco, in cases in which the ​ uvula and tonsils are swelled. The bark is astringent. Further information upon the medicinal properties of this plant is wanted. (Dymock.)

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Syn. :— Nageia Putranjiva, Roxb. 716.

Sans : — Putra-jiva.

Vern. : — Jiaputa, joti, pútr-jiva, (H.) ; Putranjiva, jiáputa (B.) ; Pitoj (Sant) ; Patájan, jiyaputra, seeds — jíapota ; leaves = pútrajívak (Pb.) ; Puta-jan, putra-jiva, jiv-putrak, jiwan-putr (Mar.) ; Karupali (Tam.) ; Kadrajuvi, kudrajinie, maháputra jívi yárala, kuduru juvir (Tel.) ; Pongalam (Mal).

Habitat : — Wild and cultivated throughout Tropical India, from the Lower Himalaya in Kumaon, eastwards and southwards to Pegu and Ceylon.

A handsome, evergreen, moderate- sized, tree generally with pendant branches. Branchlets slender, minutely pubescent ; petioles pubescent ; foliage dark-green. Bark dark-grey, whitish when young, with numerous horizontal oblong lenticels. Wood grey, moderately hard, close-grained. Leaves]obliquely obovate or ovate lanceolate, serrulate, 2-3in., obtuse, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, shining, base unequal-sided. Main lateral nerves 8-10 pair, besides secondary nerves and reticalate veins. Petiole 1/5-3/10in. long ; stipules subulate, deciduous. Disk 0. Male flowers short, pedicelled, in axillary clusters which are often spicate ; calyx 3-5 partite ; stamens 3 ; filaments free or connate at the base. Female flowers long, pedicelled, axillary, solitary or in twos or threes; calyx 5-6-cleft, segments small, imbricate; stamens 3, filaments more or less connate. Ovary tomentose ; styles 3 ; stigmas crescent-shaped, fleshy. Fruit drupe, ½in. long, ovoid or globose ; white tomentose on pedicels, ½in. long. Putamen hard, pointed, rugose ; seed one.

Uses : — The leaves and stones of the fruit are given in decoction in colds and fevers. (Stewart.)

The nuts are hung rouud the necks of children to keep them in good health. They are mentioned in the Nighantas as being ​N. O. EUPH0RBIACEÆ. 1149

also Garbha-kara, "productive of impregnation," and medicinal properties are attributed to them. The hard wrinkled nuts are generally worn only as a charm, but are sometimes given internally in colds on account of their supposed heating properties, (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 271.)

The seeds yield a rather turbid oil of an olive-brown colour, which on standing deposits the more solid portion. It is used for burning. In 1905 the seeds were tested in the Indian Museum and found to give 28.86 per cent, of kernels and the kernels yielded to other 42*9 per cent, of a clear light-yellow oil.— (Hooper.)

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{

Syn. : — Stilago Bunias, Linn, Roxb. 713.

Vern. : — Ariya poriyam (Mal.) ; Āmati (M.).

Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India, from the Nepal and Sikkiin Terai and Assam southward to Singapur and Ceylon. (J.D.Hooker.) Western Ghats from the Konkan forward. (Gamble.)

A small, evergreen tree. Bark greyish-brown. Wood red, hard ; young parts pubescent. Leaves very variable, rather large, 4-6in. by 1¼-2½in., lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, tapering at base, slightly acuminate, apiculate, glabrous, shining. Petiole short, stout ; stipule acicular, hairy, quickly deciduous. Flowers numerous, lax, reddish; spikes solitary, l-3in. stalked, terminating branchlets. Male flowers sometimes branched at base, sessile ; female flowers slightly stalked. Male calyx tomentose ; segments 3, shallow, rounded ; disk lobed, glabrous ; stamens 3, exserted ; pistillode, short, truncate. Female flower: — Ovary glabrous ; stigmas 3, large, short, dilated, spreading. Fruit ⅓in., globose, ovoid, stalked, smooth, very juicy, black when ripe, previously red. The fruit is acidulous and pleasant to taste. (Trimen.)

Uses :- -The acid leaves are used in snake-bites, and, when young, are boiled and used in syphilitic cachexia. (Lindleyi)

Vern. : — Noli-tali-marum (Tam.).

Habitat : — Southern Deccan Peninsula. ​ A much-branched, small tree. Young shoots glabrous. Wood hard, usually red, smooth, apt to split and warp. Leaves glabrous above, l-3in., sub-sessile, from oblong or lanceolate to orbicular-ovate or-obovate obtuse, acute or acuminate, brown when dry, reticulate and shining on both surfaces, coriaceous ; nerves usually very slender and obscure ; petiole very rarely , 1/12 in. Spikes simple or panicled, slender, pubescent, l-l½in. ; calyx 4-lobed, very minute. Disk glabrous ; stamens 3. Female flowers shortly pedicelled. Stigmas very short, sub-lateral. Fruit ¼in. diam., gibbously orbicular, turgid.

Use : — The leaves in decoction are used for snake-bites. (Balfour.)

Sans. : — Nikumba.

Vern. : — Addalay (Tam.) ; Dundigapu ; Nela-amida (Tel.) ; Lál-bherenda (B.); Verendi (Kol.); Undar-bibi, jangli-erandi (H.) ; Totla-gida (Kan.).

Habitat : — Deccan Peninsula, from the Concan southwards.

N.B.— The legend concerning the first springing up of the plant at Pandarpur mentioned by Dyniock (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 272) and Cooke (Flora of Bomb. II. 597) is not true (K. R. K.).

A shrub or small, glaucous-looking, evergreen tree, with much clear yellowish juice ; trunk short, stout, dichotomously- branched, glabrous. Leaves 3-4in. long, and as broad, deeply 3-5-lobed ; lobes obovate or elliptic acuminate, or acute at the apex, leafy, cordate at the base, sharply serrate with glandular bristles at the serrature tips ; lateral nerves numerous, slender ; petioles 2-3in. long, not glandular, nor hairy. (K. R. K.). Stipules divided into capillary gland, tipped ; segments bracts setose and glaudular. Flowers greenish yellow, (Hooker, but Dymock says "dull red "), glandular, in long peduncled corymbose cymes. Male flowers greenish-yellow. Calyx ⅛in. long, glabrous, very deeply divided ; lobes ovate, obtuse. Corolla 5-lobed 5 lobes obtuse, 1/6in. ; tube very short. Stamens 8, connate at the base into a column, free above. Disk of 5 glands ​ at the base of a staminal column. Female flowers: — Calyx divided to the base or nearly so ; segments 5. ovate, acute. Ovary glabrous. Fruit smooth, ellipsoid ; capsule ½in. diam., slightly 3-lobed ; seeds ellipsoid oblong, smooth, shining, black. (Talbot, Brand is and Gamble.)

Uses : — The seeds yield by expression a fixed oil, held in much esteem by the Hindus as a stimulant application in rheumatism and paralysis. (Ainslie quoted in Ph. Ind.)

The oil possesses purgative properties. It is also used as an application to sinuses, ulcers, foul wounds and ringworm. The root brayed with water is given to children suffering from abdominal enlargements. It purges, and is said to reduce glandular swellings. The juice of the plant is used to remove films from the eyes. (Dymock.)

Vern. : — Kirkundi (Mar.).

Habitat : — The Concan ; stony places near Poona and Bombay, etc

A dwarf, glabrous, sparingly-branched shrub, l-2ft., no glandular bristles. Leaves broadly cuneate at base, entire or 3-lobed ; entire lobes broad, acute, 3-5in. diam. Petiole very short, stout, ⅛-1/6in. ; stipules not seen. Flowers glabrous, sepals entire. Styles slender, stigmas capillate.

Use:— The juice is employed as a counter-irritant in ophthalmia. (Dymock.)

Habitat :— Native of South America, cultivated and naturalized in various parts of India. ​ A glabrous tree-like shrub. Bark light -brown, shining. Leaves orbicular, palmately cut into numerous narrow, entire or sub-divided, caudate, acuminate segments, 3-9in. diam., glaucous beneath. Petiole about as long as the blade. Stipules capillary, multifid, eglandular ; bracts and entire sepals glabrous. Cymes long, peduncled. Flowers and peduncle, scarlet ; petals free ; anthers linear. Disk of female flower areolate. Observe the presence of the corolla in this plant unusual in the Euphorbiacæ.

Uses : — The seeds are regarded as a powerful purgative. Dr. Waring once saw a case of poisoning from three of these nuts. Violent vomiting and purging, intense pain and heat in the stomach, with great prostration of the vital powers, were the principal symptoms. The patient recovered under the use of lime juice, diluted with water, and stimulants. (Ph. Ind.)

Vern. : — Bagberenda, safedínd (H. and B.) ; Kadam (Nepal) ; Kaat-amunak (Tam.); Nepalam (Tel.') ; Thinbankyeksu (Burm.); Mogali-eranda (M.); Yerand, Jepal (Bomb).

Habitat: — Common near villages, cultivated and naturalized throughout India.

An everegreen shrub. Trunk short, irregular. Young shoots and cymes glandular, tomentose, with an opaque, saponaceous juice ; bark grey or light-brown, smooth, shining, peeling off in thin papery flakes. Wood white, or greyish-white, spongy, solt, corky in texture, loaded with starch. Pith well-marked and dense in young and topmost branches. Leaves angular or 3-5- lobed or broadly cordate, 4-6 by 3-5in. Lobes acute or obtuse, quite entire. Petiole 5-9in. long. Flowers yellow or yellowish- green, monoecious in terminal or sub-terminal corymbose cymes. The central flower in the cyme or in its fork is always female. Bracts small, entire, one below each sub-di vision of the cyme, and generally one pressing on the calyx. Sepals 5 imbricate, slightly puberulous, lanceolate, greenish. Corolla tubular, villous within ; limb 5-lobed. Stamens 10 in 2 series. (Kanjilal.) ​ Filaments of the inner series connate. Anthers yellow, brownish- black when dry. Seeds oblong, large, black, ½-¾in. long ⅜in. broad, smooth. Albumen oily.

Uses: — The seeds yield an oil which is used as a purgative and emetic medicine, and also as an application in cutaneous 'diseases. (Gamble.) In overdoses the seeds act as an acronarcotic poison. The diluted oil forms a useful embrocation in chronic rheumatism. The leaves are extensively used in the Cape de Verd Islands, in the form of decoction and cataplasm to the mammas, as a lactagogue. (Pharm. Tnd.)

The root-bark is applied externally for rheumatism in Goa, and the same part of the plant, mixed with assafœtida and butter-milk, is, in the Konkan, prescribed in cases of dyspepsia and diarrhœa. (Dymock.)

According to Dr. Evers the juice is useful as hæmostatic. (I. M. G, 1875, p. 66.)

​

The juice has been very successfully used by me in the treatment of scabies, eczema and ringworm, (B. D. B.)

Syn. :— A. triloba, Roxb. 670.

Sans : — Aksota.

Vern. :— Akrót, Akola, Jangli-akrót, (H. and B.) ; Khasife hindé, Jouzebarri, (Ar.); Girdagáne hindí, Chahár maghze hindí, (Pers.) ; Jangli, Eranda, Jelapa, Jangli ákhróta Jáphala, Akhod (Mar.) ; Akhoda, (Guj.) ; Akrota, (cutch) ; Náttu akrótu kottai, (Tam.) ; Nátu-akrótu-vlttu (Tel.) ; Nát-akródu (Kan.) ; Vadam (Mal.) ; Kakkuna (Singh.) ; To-sikya-si (Burm.) ; Kanyin, Mak yau lik, Mak man yaǘ (Shan) Buah keras, Kanieri (Malay). The names given in most parts of India to this tree are those which more properly belong to the Walnut, the akrót. It is, therefore, advisable to add the word " wild," e.g., Jangalíakrot.

Habitat :— Occurs in various parts of India, especially the Malayan Peninsula. Wild in the Wynaad.

A large, evergreen tree, 40-60 ft., indigenous probably in the Malay Archipelago, cultivated in most tropical and subtropical countries, and here and there naturalized. Shoots, young leaves ​ and inflorescence densely clothed with brownish or grey stellate tomentum. Leaves ovate to ovate-triangular, often lobed, 4-12in. Petiole 2-5in. Flowers monoecious, white in large cymose, terminal panicles. Calyx velvety, bursting into 2 valvate lobes. Petals 5, ¼in. long. Male flowers: — Stamens 15-20 on a hairy receptacle. Ovary 2-ceiled, hairy ; styles bifid to the base. Drupe 2-2½in. diam. Seeds large, oily.

Uses : —The oil obtained from the kernels by expression, has been found in doses from one to two ounces to act as a mild and sure purgative, producing in from three to six hours after ingestion free bilious evacuations. It was found to approach nearly to Castor oil in the mildness and certainty of its operation, but superior to it as having neither taste nor smell, and as producing its cathartic action without any nausea. It may be worthy of further attention. (Ph. Ind.)

A French chemist has made the following analyses of the kernels : —

Water	5.000
Oil	62.175
Nitrogenous material	22.653
Non-Nitrogenous material	6.827
Ash	3.345
Total	100.000

Specific gravity of the oil 0.940.

The results obtained at the Imperial Institute by the analysis of oil extracted from the present sample of seeds, and those obtained by investigators who have examined Candle-nut oil previously, are given in the following table :—

	Oil from Aleurites triloba, examines at the Imperial Institute	Oil from Aleurites moluccana, examined by	Oil from Aleurites moluccana, examined by	Oil from Aleurites moluccana, examined by
		Lewkowitsch.	De Negre.	Fendler.
Specific gravity	0.9274(15°C)	0.92565(15.5°C)	0.920(15°)	0.9254
Acid value	1.72	--	--	--
Saponification value	204.2	192.62	184-187.4	194.8
Iodine value	139.7	163.7	136-139	114.2
Hehner value	96.4	95.5	--	--
Wollny -Reichert value	1.98	--	--	--
Titler test	17.8°C	--	20°-21°C	1.8

​

These results indicate that the oil belongs to the class of drying oils typified by linseed oil, and would be suitable for the manufacture of soft soap and in the preparation of oil-varnishes, paints and linoleum and other similar purposes, to which oils of this class are applied industrially. (Agricultural Ledger— 1907— No. 4.)

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Vern. :— Pándhari or pándharisálá (Mar.).

Habitat : — Deccan Peninsula, from the Concan southwards.

A shrub with slender, terete branches. Branchlets, leaves beneath and inflorescence silvery, lepidote. Leaves ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, quite entire, shortly 3-nerved at the base, opposite and alternate, 4-10in., smooth and glabrous above, base acute or rounded ; petiole ½-l½in., rusty, lepidote. Racemes few-fid, shorter than the leaves. Sepals of male oblong ; margins woolly, twice as large as the woolly oblong petals. Stamens glabrous except at the villous base, 15-18. Sepals of female linear, oblong, accrescent in fruit, sometimes ½in. long. Ovary globose, stellately lepidote. Styles very variable, usually 2-partite, with long, slender, unequally 2-fid arms. Capsule ½in. long, broadly oblong, stellately lepidote.

Use:— The bark is used as a bitter and stomachic. (S. Arjun.)

Vern. :— Chucka (Patna) ; Baragach (B.) ; Arjunna (Oudh) ; Ach (Nepal) ; Kurti, konya, kuli, poter (Kol.) ; Putri (Lohar-dugga) ; Gote (Santal) ; Kote, putol (Mal.) ; Burma, parokupi (Ass.); Bhutan kusam (Tel.) ; Gonsur (Goa) ; Ganasura (Mar.).

Habitat : — Bengal, Ceylon, Behar, Central India and the Deccan Peninsula.

A small, deciduous, often gregarious tree. Bark lin. thick, grey or brownish, inner bark red, coarsely fibrous. Wood yellowish-white, moderately hard. Branches rather stout. Shoots, young leaves, branchlets, inflorescence, calyx and ovary densely clothed with minute, orbicular, silvery scales. Leaves rather coriaceous, pale-green, glabrous when full grown, oblong-lanceolate, penninerved, more or less serrate, blade 5-10in. ; petiole ​ l-2in. long, very variable, ½-2½in., rather slender. Racemes often fascicled, elongate erect; pedicels long or short. Stamens 10-12, woolly below, glabrous above. Sepals of male broadly oblong ; petals as long as sepals, woolly ; disk glands 5, rounded. Sepals of female oblong ; petals small, linear ciliate ; disk depressed. Ovary oblong, 3-gonous, styles 2-partite. Capsule globose, ⅓in. diam., lepidote, 3-lobed ; top depressed.

Uses :— The seeds and fruits are purgative.

" The Goanese and inhabitants of Southern Concan administer the bark in chronic enlargements of the liver and in remittent fever. Tn the former disease, it is both taken internally and applied locally. As an application to sprains, bruises, rheumatic swellings, etc., it is in great request." (Dymock.) In the Southern Concan, it has a reputation as a remedy in snake -bites (Pharmacogr. Ind. III 287).

The Santals use the bark and root as a purgative and as an alterative in dysentery. (Campbell.)

Syn. :— C. drupaceum, Roxb. 688.

Vern.:—Nan bhantúr (Beng.) ; Takchabrik (Lepcha) ; Wnsta (Uriya).

Habitat: — Eastern Himalaya ; Sikkim and Bhotan. Assam, Bengal and Sylhet to the Deccan.

A large straggling shrub, more or less scandant. Stem often attaining 1-1½ft. Girth, branchlets, petioles, young leaves and inflorescence rough with stellate hair. Bark thin, grey. Wood white or yellowish-white, hard, close-grained. Leaves very variable, smaller l-3in., ovate-cordate; larger 4-7in., orbicular-cordate ; margin denticulate or rather coarsely toothed, often with a gland at the sinus or the teeth glandular, upper surface smooth or scaberulous, lower scabrid or tomentose ; nerves 2-3 pair above the basal, pubescent above ; glands minute. Petiole l-2in., scabrid ; stipules lacinate, glandulose. Racemes very long, slender, 4-10in. solitary, terminal. Bracts subulate or 0. Pedicels long or short. Male flowers tomentose ; sepals and petals of equal length. Disk-glands minute ; receptacle villous with white hairs. Stamens 18-30, often far exserted ; filaments ​ silky below. Female flowers : — sepals ovate, or oblong sub-acute, scabrid ; petals very minute, subulate, long-ciliate ; disk low, hirsute. Ovary densely woolly ; styles bifid, arms long, slender. Capsule large, globose, or broadly oblong, woody, ⅔-lin. long or broad, terete or with 6 slender ridges, densely rusty, scabridly pubescent, 6-valved, from the top downwards. Seeds very variable, dorsally compressed, slightly rugose. The variable fruit is the remarkable character of this plant. (J. D. Hooker.)

Use : — Mr. Home says the leaves are applied as a poultice to sprains.

Sans. : — Jayapála ; Kanakaphala.

Vern. : — Jaypál (B.) ; Jamál-gota (H. and Mar.) ; Napál (Guz. and Kan.) ; Nerválam (Tam.) ; Nepála-vitna (Tel.) ; Nir válam (Mal.)

Habitat : — Bengal, Assam and southward to Malacca, Burma and Ceylon.

A small, evergreen tree. The youngest shoots sparsely stellately hairy. Leaves membranous, glabrous, ovate, acuminate, more or less serrate, 2-4in., glands minute, sessile, 3-5 basal-nerves. Petiole l-2in. slender. Racemes 2-3in. Rachis glabrous ; bracts subulate. Male flowers : — pedicels stellately hairy ; sepals nearly glabrous, tips bearded ; petals narrow, woollyedged. Stamens 15-25, glabrous, receptacle, villous ; disk-glands 5, small. Female flowers : — Sepals villous at the base within. Petals 0. Disk obscure, annular. Styles slender, 2 partite. Ovary, stellately hispid and oblong. Capsule ¾-lin. long, white, turbinately obovoid, obtusely trigonous. Seeds ½-⅔in., oblong, obtusely trigonous, pale.

Use : — The seeds and oil are officinal in both the Pharmacopeias and their uses are too well known to be mentioned here.

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Vern. : — Tappal buti, nilam, kukronda (Pb.) ; Shadevi, sonballi, subali (H.) ​ Habitat : — The Punjab, Salt Range, Sindh and the Deccan.

An annual, prostrate herb. The whole plant softly clothed with stellate tomentum. Root stout. Branches 6-10in. Leaves thick, softly tomentose on both surfaces, 1½-2½in. long, from ovate and sinuate-toothed or entire to rounded and obtusely-lobed. Petiole often Sin Racemes short, lengthening in fruit. Male flowers numerous ; calyx globose, segments 5, valvate ; petals 5 ; disk obscure ; stamens 5-20. Female flowers : — pedicels at length decurved and sometimes 3in. long in fruit ; calyx and petals of the male. Ovary and capsule stellately tomentose and clothed with silvery scales; capsule ⅓in. diam. (J. D. Hooker.)

Uses: — Lindley mentions it as possessing emetic, drastic and corrosive properties.

Dr. J. Hornsey Casson, Physician to Her Majesty's Legation in Persia, called the attention of the Director of Kew gardens to this plant which caused the death of 6 persons with symptoms of severe jaundice, abdominal pain, bilious vomitting, dilatation of pupil, bleeding from the nose, bloody urine tinged with bile and stupor. (Ph. J. Dec. 28, 1889, p. 504.)

Syn. : — Croton plicatum, Willd, Roxb. 687.

Vern. : — Shahdevi, súbali, sonballi (H. and Sind) ; Okharada (Guz.) ; Khúdiokra (B.) ; Pango nari (Santal) ; Pút kanda, nilkhanti, nil-ak-rai (Pb.) ; Gurugu chettu, linga miriyam (Tel.).

Habitat : — Throughout India, from the Punjab to Travancore and from Bengal to Pegu and Burma.

An erect hoary annual herb up to 2ft. high, with a long straight slender tap-root. Stem usually naked below, sparingly branched above. Leaves 2-4 in. long, ovate to orbicular, often obscurely 3-lobed, thick, rugose, pale-green, stellate-hairy on both surfaces ; petioles l-2in. long. Male flowers : — Calyx ⅛in. long. Petals smaller, very thin, ovate-lanceolate. Stamens 15, in two whorls. Fern, flowers : — Sepals 1/12in. long, triangular. Petals shorter and narrower. Capsules ⅓in. in diam., densely stellate-hairy, but without silvery scales. (Duthie). ​ Uses : -The ashes of the root are given to children for cough. The leaves are considered depurative. The seeds are used as purgative. (Stewart.) Its value in leprosy is asserted. (Drury.) The Santals mix the root with that of Carissa Carandas for blistering purposes. (Revd. A. Campbell.)

Syn.:—Acalypha betulina, Retz. ; A. amentacea, Roxb. 686.

Vern. : — Chunm maram (TaM.) ; Chinni ; Tsiuni (Tel.); Chinni-ká-jhar (Dec).

Habitat :— Deccan Peninsula.

A low shrub, more or less covered with yellow, waxy glands, strong smelling or fœtid when bruised, very much-branched ; branches slender, virgate, spreading or ascending, glabrous; young parts scurfily pubescent. Leaves alternate, numerous, but rather distant, ¾-2in., oblong or rhomboid-ovate, acute at base, shortly acuminate, coarsely or finely crenate-serrate, glabrous, with small punctiform, orange, scattered glands beneath. Petiole ¼-1¼in., slender. Stipules minute, persistent. Flowers minute, sessile, on strict pedicels in clusters, crowded on short axillary spikes ; male very numerous, with minute bracts. Stamens 8. Female 2 or 3 at base of spikes, each with toothed bracts ; styles 3, split into many filiform segments. Capsule with 3 rounded lobes, densely pubescent ; seeds smooth. (Trimen).

Uses : —Leaves attenuant and alterative and an agreeable stomachic in dyspepsia and other ailments. The dose of the infusion of the leaves as ordered by the Vaidyas in Southern IndIa is half a teacupful twice in the day. (Ainslie.)

{{C1153. A. indica, Linn., h.f.b.l, v. 416 Roxb., 685.}}

Syn. : — A. spicata, Forsk. ; A. ciliata and A. canescens.

Vern. : — Kuppi, khokali (H.) ; Khokli, khájoti (Mar.) ; Vanchhi kánto (Guj.) ; Muktajuri, shet basanta, murkanta (Beng.); Indra-maris (Uriya) ; Kuppaimeni (Tam.); Kuppai- chettu, murkanda-chettu, (Tel.) ; Chalmari, kuppi (Kanara). ​ Habitat : — A small annual shrub occurring as a weed in gardens and road-sides throughout India.

A pubescent, herbaceous, erect annual, l-3ft. Branches numerous, long, ascending, angular, finely pubescent. Leaves l½-3in, rhomboid-ovate, tapering at base, acute, serrate, glabrous, thin, somewhat 3-nerved at base, pale-green. Petiole usually longer than leaves, slender, spreading. Stipules minute. Flowers sessile, green, in numerous lax, erect, axillary spikes ; males very small, clustered near summit. Stamens 8 ; females solitary, scattered, each with a large, leafy, truncate, dentate bract. Ovary hispid. Capsule small, quite concealed by enlarged bract, often only 1-seeded. Seed ovoid, acute, smooth.

A common weed flowering all the year round.

Uses : — There is no mention of this plant in Sanscrit works on Medicine. It is used as expectorant as a substitute for senega. It has also a diuretic action. It is a useful remedy for bronchitis, asthma and pneumonia ; also for rheumatism. It was formerly employed as a purgative and anthelmintic.

" The roots, leaves, and tender shoots are all used in medicine by the Hindus. The powder of the dry leaves is given to children in worm cases, also a decoction prepared from the leaves with the addition of a little garlic. The juice of the same part of the plant, together with that of the tender shoots, is occasionally mixed with a small portion of margosa oil, and rubbed on the tongues of infants for the purpose of sickening them and clearing their stomachs of viscid phlegm. The hakims prescribe the koopamaynee in consumption." (Ainslie, Mat. Ind. II., 16 L.) " The leaves with garlic are regarded as anthelmintic ; mixed with common salt the leaves are applied externally in scabies, and the juice rubbed up with oil is used externally in rheumatism." (Balf. Cycl.) According to Rheede, the root is used as a purgative on the Malabar Coast. (Hort. Mai, X, 161.) This property " is confirmed by Dr. H. E. Busteed, who has used it as a laxative for children." A contributor in Dacca informs me he uses it as a laxative, and in an official correspondence with the Government of India, Rai Kanai Lai De, Bahadur, includes the muktajhuri amongst emetics. In ​ Bombay " the plant had a reputation as an expectorant, hence the native name khokli (cough)." (Dymook, Mat. Med. W. Ind., 588.) " Dr. George Bidie furnishes the following remarks : 'The expressed juice of the leaves is in great repute, wherever the plant grows, as an emetic for children, and is safe, certain and speedy in its action. Like Ipecacuanha, it seems to have little tendency to act on the bowels or to depress the vital powers, and it decidedly increases the secretion of the pulmonary organs. Probably an infusion of the dried leaves or an extract prepared from the green plant, would retain all its active properties. The dose of the expressed juice, for an infant, is a teaspoonful.' ' (Pharm. Ind.) A decoction of the leaves is given in ear-ache ; a cataplasm of the leaves is applied as a local application to syphilitic ulcers, and as a means of relieving the pain of snake-bite. (Drury.) According to Nimmo the roots " attract cats quite as much as those of valerian." (Voigt, 160 ; Treasury of Botany.)

"Much used by Mahomedan practitioners in treating cases of acute mania in early stage. The fresh juice (3i) with (6 gr.) chloride of sodium dissolved in it and dropped in both nostrils every morning, followed by cold shower-baths for three mornings regularly, proves highly successful. Thus it is supposed by them to act as a ' brain purge,' so called probably owing to a quantity of mucus and other matter escaping from the nostrils immediately after the application of the above recipe. I have given it internally; it acts as an anthelmintic and laxative." (Surgeon E. W. Savinge, Rajamundry, "Juice of the fresh plant emetic, laxative ; dose one to four drachms, according to age. Fresh leaves ground into a paste, made into a ball, to the size of a large marble and introduced into the rectum, very useful in relieving obstinate constipation of children." (Apoth. Thomas Ward, Madanapalle, Cuddapah.) " The juice or the bruised leaf is applied to the skin to allay the irritation caused by the bite of the centipede." (Surgeon Ruthnam T. Moodelliar, Chingleput.)

" The juice of the fresh leaves mixed with lime is applied in painful rheumatic affections." (Surg.-Maj. John Lancaster, ​ M. B., Chittur.) " Used in scabies and ringworm, also internally as a carminative." (Surg.-Maj. F. F. L. Ratton, Salem.) " The root possesses purgative properties ; the leaf-juice is a safe, useful emetic, especially adapted for children." (Surg.-Maj. F. M. Houston, Travancore, and Mr. John Gomes, Trivandrum.) "The juice of the fresh plant is given to children as an emetic in f> to §1 doses." (Apoth. F. Norman, Chattrapur, Ganjam.)

"This plant is called in Kanara chalmari as well as kûppi (the latter word means a ' heap,' the plant being found in waste places and rubbish heaps). The natives use it in congestive headaches : a piece of cotton is saturated with the expressed juice and inserted into each nostril, relieving head symptoms by causing hæmorrhage from the nose. The powder of the dry leaves is used in bed sores and wounds attacked by worms. In asthma and bronchitis T have employed it with benefit both in children and adults.

" Mode of preparation. — Macerate 3 oz. of the fresh leaves, stalks, and flowers, with a pint of spirits of wine, in a closed jar for 7 days, occasionally agitating the same. Strain, press, filter, and add sufficient spirits of ether to make one pint.

" Physiological effects. — In small doses it is expectorant and nauseant : in large doses emetic.

"Dose. — Minims 20 to 60, frequently repeated during the day in honey," (Surgeon-Major E. H. R. Langley, Bombay.) "One drachm of the expressed juice of the fresh leaves is an easy and rapid emetic in children. The bruised leaves are useful as an application to maggot eaten sores." (Surgeon W. D. Stewart, Cuttack)

" The root, bruised in hot water, is employed as a cathartic, and the leaves as a laxative in decoction mixed with common salt. The leaves are used in scabies, and mixed with chunam in other cutaneous diseases (Drury)."

Chemical composition. — The whole plant of A. Indica was dried at a low temperature, reduced to powder, and exhausted with 80 per cent alcohol. The alcoholic extract was mixed with water, acidulated with sulphuric acid, and agitated with petroleum ether, and ether ; the solution was then rendered alkaline and agitated with ether. During agitation with petroleum ether, a quantity of dark matter separated, which was partly soluble in ether, and in alkalies, and contained much colouring matter. The petroleum ether extract ​

Syn. : — Caturus speciflorus, Linn., Roxb, 714.

Vern. :— Watta-tali (Mal.).

Habitat : — Cultivated in gardens.

" This is included by J. D. Hooker (see p. 417, Vol. V., F. B. In.) among the doubtful and excluded species " with the following remark : — " Caturus spiciflorus Roxb. Fl. Ind. Ill, 760), with very long spikes minute bracts and very long styles is a garden plant only in India." Roxburgh's description is as follows : — " Shrubby. Leaves long-petioled, cordate, serrate. Spikes pendulous, longer than the leaves." Male calyx absent ; Corolla trifid. Female calyx three or four parted ; corolla absent, Styles three. Capsule tricocous. With regard to the figure of Acalypha hispida Burin., from Burmans' Flora Indica, 1768, which is reproduced in this work (Plate 875 A), Roxburgh says that same would be a tolerable representation of the female if the spikes were longer and pendulous."

Uses : —Flowers said to be specific in diarrhœa and similar disorders ; boiled in water or administered in the form of a ​N. O. EUPHORBIACEÆ. 1165

conserve. (Lindley.) Tts leaves are beaten np with green tobacco leaf and infusion of rice and applied to inveterate ulcers. (Rheede).

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Sans. : — Pindâra, Karahâta, Kurangaha.

Habitat. : — Common in the hotter parts of India.

A deciduous dioecious moderate-sized tree. Bark smooth grey. Wood white soft not durable. Young shoots, inflorescence and sometimes full-grown leaves clothed with flocculent cottony wool or sometimes nearly glabrous. Leaves ovate, opposite, 5-7in., cordate at base, entire, acuminate, glabrous above, finely stellate-hairy on veins beneath, thin, bright green, -somewhat 3-nerved at base. Petiole cylindric, 2-3in., finely pubescent. Stipules minute, acute, soon falling. Male flowers : — on slender horizontal pedicels. Racemes spicate, 4-6in., buds globose. Sepals valvate, concave. Female flowers : — Ovary globose, densely stellate-hairy style yellow thick erect, stigmas very long ½-¾in. Fruit about ½in., roughish with scattered stellate hairs. Seed brown, broad pericarp thick, almost woody. Flowers pale green.

Uses. : — It is described in the Nighantas as sweet and cooling, useful for the removal of swelling, bile and phlegm ; the root is prescribed in gouty or rheumatic affections.

Rheede states that the root in decoction is used to relieve flatulence, and is applied locally in gout (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. III., p. 295).

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Syn. : — Rottlera tinctoria, Roxb. 737 ; R. aurantiaca, Hook. and Arn.; R. affinis, Hassk.; R. Montana and Mollis, Wall; Croton philippinensis, Lamk.; C. Punctatus, Retz. C. coccineus, Vahl. G. montanus, Willd ; C. distans, Wall.; C. cascarilloides, Rauesch.

Sans. :— Kapilâ, Kampilla rechanaka Madhukah (Punnaga ​ is incorrectly given in many books as Sanskrit for this plant, — see Calophyllum inophyllum),

Vern.: — Kambilá, kamúd, kamelá, rori rohini, chamar gular, hingur, sendúr, kúnkú, sinduri, kambhal, vasanta-gandha (powd.), (H.) ; Dhola sindur, kamila, túng, késar ( = saffron), kamalá guri (the dye powder), (B.) ; Kumala, súndragundi, bosontogundi, (Ur.) ; Rora, (Sant.) ; Gangai, puddum, jaggarú, hibang, lasson, (Ass.); Chinderpang, machugan, (Garo) ; Sinduria, safed mallata, (Nep.) ; Puroa, tukla, numboongkor, (Lep.); Baraiburi, sindurpong, (Michi) ; Koku, (Gond) ; Kaimbil, (Kash ) ; kamela, kambila, kámal, reini, rúlya, (Pb ) ; Kámbaila (Push.) ; kamala, kunkuma, kapil, shendri, shindur ; (Mar.); kapilo, (Guz.) ; kapila, kamela-mavu (? pod = pollen), thavittai, kuran gumanjanathi kapila rung, kapilapodi, thiruchúrna maram, (Tam.) ; kúnkuma, kapila, vasantagandhamu (powder), chendrasinduri, sundragundi, (Tel.); rangamále, corunga-manje, sarnakesari, hulichellu, kunkuma, kesalay, kamela, (Kan.); Ponnagam (? Calophyllum inophyllum), (Mal.); tawthidin, pothidin, thidinhmok (the dye) (Burm.) ; Tawthadin, (Shan) ; Hamparandella, (Sing.).

Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton called the tree corunga munji maram or " Monkey face tree," because these animals paint their faces red by rubbing them with the fruit.

Habitat : — A small, evergreen tree, found throughout tropical India ; along the foot of the Himálaya from Káshmir eastwards (ascending to 5,000 feet) ; all over Bengal and Burma, Singapore, and the Andaman Islands ; and from Sind southwards to Ceylon. Distributed to China, the Malay Islands, and Australia.

A large shrub or small evergreen tree, 25-30ft., with usually " buttressed " trunk, says Gamble. Bark ¼in. thick, grey, inner substance red, marked with irregular cracks. Wood smooth ; grey to light red, hard, close-grained, no heartwood. Young shoots, inflorescence, and sometimes full growth leaves beneath clothed with flocculent cottony wool. Branches rather slender. Leaves 3-9in. long, alternate, ovate, ovate-oblong or lanceolate, acuminate entire or sinuate- toothed, glabrous above, beneath subglaucous, puberulous covered with scarlet glands, ​ base narrowed acute obtuse ; Basal nerves 3, midrib penninerved. Petiole l-3in. Flowers small, dioecious in terminal often panicled brown brick-red still spikes. Calyx 3-cleft. Petals distinct, and globose. Female flowers solitary. Ovary 3-celled. Cells 1-ovuled. Styles 3, papillose inside. Fruit 3-lobed, Capsules loculicidally 3-valved ⅓-½in. diam., densely covered with a bright red or crimson powder when ripe. " The bright red or crimson powder consists of resin mixed with stellate hairs." (Brandis). Seeds globose, smooth, black.

Uses: — The powder prepared from the tricoccous fruit is used as an anthelmintic, vermifuge and purgative medicine. It is also said to possess cathartic properties.

Rottlerin, C₁₁H₁₀O₃ , the principal constituent of Kamala, crystallises in thin, salmon-coloured plates melting at 191-191.5°. When heated with caustic potash at 150°, it yields benzoic acid, acetic acid, and an amorphous substance, and when oxidised by means of hydrogen peroxide in alkaline solution the same compounds are obtained. On treatment with cold nitric acid (sp. gr. 1.5 ', rottlerin yields, besides oxalic acid, two new acids melting at 282° and 226,° and having respectively the formulæ C₁₇H₁₄O₉ , and C₁₇H₁₆O₉ . These are readily separated by recrystallisation from alcohol. Boiling nitric acid of sp. gr. 1.5 decomposes rottlerin, forming oxalic acid and a bibasic acid of the formula C₁₃H₁₀O₉ , melting at 232°, and yielding a crystalline silver salt, C₁₃H₈O₉ Ag₂ . When heated with acetic anhydride, rottlerin yields a diacetyl derivative of the formula C₁₁H₈O₃ (C₂ H₃O₂ ). The molecular weight of rottlerin has not yet been satisfactorily determined, but probably about 485.

The resin of low melting point agrees with the formula C₁₂H₁₂O₃ . It resembles rottlerin, from which its formula differs by CH₂ .

The yellow crystalline colouring matter obtained in the first extractions of Kamala with carbon bisulphide is closely allied to rottlerin. It forms a beautiful, glistening mass of yellow needles, and melts at 192-193°.

The wax extracted gave as a mean C=79. 70 p.c., H= 12.86 p.c, agreeing with the formula C₂₈H₅₄O₂ . This wax is a colourless, apparently crystal- line mass melting at 82°,

Irorottlerin C₁₂H₁₂O₅ , crystallises in groups of minute plates melting at 198 199°, and in its appearance greatly resembles rottlerin, from which, however, it is readily distinguished by being practically insoluble in carbon bisulphide, chloroform, and benzene, whereas rottlerin is comparatively soluble in these liquids.

The resin of high melting point is a pale yellow, amorphous substance of the formula C₁₃H₁₂O₄ , closely allied to rottlerin in many of its properties, and which also yields the acid of the formula C₁₃H₁₀O₉ when boiled with nitric acid of sp. gr. 1.5. ​ Kamala was first analysed by Dr. Thomas Anderson of Glasgow in 1855 who found the following constituents in 100 parts :— 78.19 of resinous colouring matter, 7.34 of albumen, 7.14 of cellulose, a trace of volatile oil, 3.84 of ashes, and 3.49 of water. Of the resinous colouring matters Dr. Anderson obtained one in a pure state by allowing a concentrated ethereal solution to stand for two days, drying and pressing in bibulous paper the resulting mass of granular crystals, and purifying them from adhering resin by repeated solution in ether and crystallisation. To this substance he gave the name of Rottlerin. It occurs in crystalline plates of a yellow colour insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, ether and alkaline solutions. The formula was C₁₁H₁₀O₃ .

E. G, Leube, Jr. (Jahresbericht, 1860, 562), however, was unable to obtain any crystalline product, but he describes a resin melting at 80°, having the formula C 15 H l8 4 , and a resin melting at 191°, of the formula C₈H₁₂O₅ . Oettingen of Russia, in 1862, was unable to obtain any crystalline substance from kamala.

A. G. Perkin and W. H Perkin, Jr., in 1886 made a preliminary examination of kamala and separated by means of carbon bisulphide a yellow crystalline body Mallotoxin. On pursuing the investigation, Mr. A. G. Perkin contributed a full account of the constituents in Journ. Chem. Soc. LXI1I. (1893), pages 975-90. Rottlerin, the principal constituent, crystallises in salmon-coloured plates melting at 191-191.5°. When heated with caustic potash it yields benzoic acid, acetic acid and an amorphous substance. A resin of low melting point with the formula C₁₂H₁₂O₈ and closely associated with Rottlerin in many of its properties. When boiled with dilute alkalis the odour of benzaldehyde is noticeable.

A yellow crystalline colouring matter present in minute amount melting at 192-193°.

A wax, having a composition agreeing with the formula C₂₈H₅₄O₂ , and melting at 82°, the melting point of cetylic cerotinate.

The residue left on extracting kamala with carbon bisulphide contains two substances isorottlerin and a resin of higher melting point both soluble in ether.

Isorottlerin crystallises in groups of minute plates melting at 198-199°. Tt differs from rottlerin by being practically insoluble in carbon bisulphide, chloroform and benzene.

The rasin of high melting point is a pale yellow amorphous subtance of the formula C₁₃H₁₂O₄ .

In a subsequent paper on the chemistry of kamala [Journ. Chem. Soc. LXVII (1895), 230], Perkin continued the study of Rottlerin, the principal crystalline constituent, and showed the action upon it of nitric acid and sodium carbonate, the former yielding ortho and para-nitrocinnamic acids and the latter rottlerone. The yellow crystalline colouring matter contained more hydrogen than Rottlerin and is probably a reduction product of this body. The name homo-rottlerin was given to it.

In a further note on Rottlerin (Journ. Chem. Soc. 1899. LXXV., page 827) Perkin deduced from analyses of its mono-substituted salts the formula C₃₃ ​ H₃₀O₉. It contains hydroxyl groups. By fusion with alkalis at 220-240° it yields acetic and benzoic acids together with phloroglucinol. (The Agricultural Ledger, 1905. No. 4. pp. 61-62.)

The ash of Kamala contains a considerable proportion of manganese.

When extracted with ether, Kamala yields a dark, brownish, resinous product from which six distinct substances can be isolated. Five of these, namely, rottlerin, isorottlerin, a wax, and two resins, one of high and the other of low melting point, form the principal constituents, but there is also present a trace of a yellow, crystalline colouring matter.

Kamala contains also a minute amount of an essential oil or similar substances, giving to it when gently warmed a peculiar odour, but from which it can be readily freed by treatment with steam.

Kamala contains, moreover, a small quantity of a sugar, which is extracted from it by water.

Seeds. — The seeds, of which three are contained in each capsule, are black or dark grey, rounded, and slightly flattened on one side. They are about the size of black pepper. Their resemblance to the fruits of Embelia Ribes has been observed in the Panjab where the confusion of the names — baobrang for Mallotus and bebrang for Embelia — has existed. In Katha, Burma, the seeds ground to a paste are applied to wounds and dah cuts.

Greshofl, in 1898, discovered in the seeds a bitter glucoside soluble in water and alcohol, that may be shaken out of a water extract by chloroform.

The seeds analysed in the Indian Museum afforded :— Moisture, 8.75 ; fat 5.85 ; albuminoids, 16.8l ; carbohydrates, 47.49 ; fibre, 17.35 ; ash, 3.75. They are, therefore, not oil-yielding seeds as has been reported.

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Vern. :— Chandkal (Kanara) ; Chándwar, chandâdâ (Mar.); Vattekanni (Tam.) ; Boddichettu (Tel.) ; Chentha-kanni (Mysore).

Habitat:— The Deccan Peninsula; in the Circars and on the ghats, from the Concan to Travancore.

A small or middle-sized resinous tree. Wood reddish brown or soft. Branchlets stout, glaucous, youngest shoots stellateto-mentose. Leaves deltoid-or rhombic-ovate or orbicular, broadly peltate, cuspidate, palmati-nerved, entire or minutely toothed ; 5-8m. diam., coriaceous or thin, glabrous above, except the pubescent nerves, and eglandular at the rounded base, beneath finely pubescent or glabrate and gland-dotted with 6-8 pairs of ​ strong nerves above the basal, and strong cross nervules. Petiole 3-6in., glabrous or puberulous. Stipules ovate or oblong lanceolate, not broad, tomentose. Panicles densely rusty-to-mentose or the branches nearly glabrous. Bracts at the axils and at the bases of the terminal branches very broad, dentate, and often veined, floral hemispheric. Bracteoles concave. Flowers 1/60in. diam. Male flowers : — Clusters enveloped in bracts and bracteoles ; sepals 3 ; stamens 2-5. Female flowers :— panicles simpler, in racemose branches with larger bracts. Calyx-limb obsolete ; ovary densely glandular, 1-celled, glabrous or puberulous ; style lateral. Stigma sessile, persistent, often embracing one side of the ovary, thickly papillose. Capsule globose, ¼-⅓in.diam., covered with hairs and glands. Seed globose ; testa brown, crustaceous, rough.

Uses : — The gum powdered and made into a paste is reckoned a good external application for venereal sores (Drury.)

The country people used the following in jarandi (Liver) : — One part of the young shoots, with three parts of the young shoots of khoreti (Ficus asperimma) are sprinkled with hot water and the juice extracted ; in this is rubbed down two parts each of the barks of both trees. The preparation may be administered twice a day in doses of ⅛th of a seer. (Dymock.)

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Vern. :-Arand ; Eranda,

Habitat: — Cultivated throughout India and naturalized near habitations.

An evergreen, small tree. Shoots and panicles glaneous. Leaves green or reddish, 1-2'ft. diam., membranous, lobes from oblong to linear-acute or acuminate, glandserrate ; petiole 4-12in. Racemes stout, erect. Male flowers: — ½in. diam., being above the female in the same panicle. Stamens numerous. Female calyx ½in. long. Ovary 3-celled ; styles spreading, feathery, often highly coloured, principally crimson. Capsule globose, generally echinate, ½-lin. long. Seeds mottled, oblong, smooth, with fleshy albumen. ​ Uses : — Officinal in both the Pharmacopœias, and its uses are too well known to be mentioned here.

" Leather has examined a large number of seeds from Madras, Bombay, United Provinces and Central Provinces, and shows that they contain from 25 to 35 per cent, of shells, and the kernels, with few exceptions, afford from 60 to 70 per cent, of oil, or 35 to 50 per cent, on the entire seed. Larger seeds as a rule contain more oil than smaller seeds.

Castor oil is a colourless or pale greenish oil having a taste at first mild, then harsh. The oil is very viscous, but does not dry even when exposed in thin layers. Most commercial samples contain only very small proportions of free fatty acids, this is due to the refining process which consists in the coagulation of albuminous matters by steaming and then removing them by filtration. Castor oil is strongly dextro-rotatory. Deering and Redwood examined twenty-three samples of Indian oil and observed that in a 200 mm. tube in a Hoffmann-Laurent polarimeter the variation was from+7.6 to +9.7°. Castor oil may be said to consist of a small quantity of tristearin, of the glyceride of dihydoxystearic acid, and to a large extent of the glyceride of ricinoleic acid.

The physical and chemical constants of the oil have been found as follows : Specific gravity at 155°, 0.963 to 0.964 ; saponification value, 177 to 184 ; iodine value, 81.4 to 85.3 ; Richert-Meissl value, M; Maumene test, 46-47; oleo-refractometer degrees at 22°, 41 to 42.5. Insoluble fatty acids : Melting point, 13° ; iodine value, 86 to 88.

The high specific gravity and acetyl value and its very high viscosity afford ready means of identification. It is also miscible in all proportions with glacial acetic acid and absolute alcohol, but is nearly insoluble in large quantities of petroleum ether, kerosene and higher boiling paraffn oils." (Agricultural Ledger, 1911-12 No. 5 pp. 164-165.)

Ricinin, C₁₇H₁₃N₄O₄ is the poisonous principle of the seeds. The pressed seeds yield 0.3 per cent., whereas the husks yield 1.5 per cent., of ricinin. To obtain the ricinin, the pressed seeds or husks are extracted with boiling water ; the extract evaporated on the water bath, and the residue treated with alcohol. The alcoholic solution is then evaporated to dryness and the residue treated with caustic soda ; by this means, the impurities are dissolved out, and the ricinin which remains behind may be crystallised from alcohol or water. It crystallises in glistening plates ; melts at 194°, has a bitter taste, is readily soluble in water, alcohol, chloroform, benzene and ether; the aqueous solution is neutral and optically inactive. Ricinin may be sublimed when carefully heated ; it is soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid, yielding a colourless solution, which becomes straw-yellow, and then bright claret red, on warming. The colourless sulphuric acid solution gives, with a crystal of potassium dichromate, a bright green coloration ; this is suggested as a test for ricinin. Ricinin does not give the usual tests for alkaloids, neither does it form salts with strong mineral acids ; it yields a bromo-derivative, C₁₇H₁₆Br₂N₄O₄ , which melts at 247°, and a corresponding diloro-derivative, which melts at 240.° With mercuric chloride, it yields the compound, C₁₇H₁₃N₄O₄ , 2 Hg Cl₇ , which melts at 204°, When oxidised, it yields a new acid, C₁₅H₁₄ ​ N₄O₄ , which is termed ricininic acid ; the same acid may also be obtained by the hydrolysis of ricinin with caustic soda. It is a dibasic acid, which melts at 295,° yields a silver salt, a barium salt crystallising with 4 H₂O, and a bromo-derivative, C₁₅H₁₂Br₂N₄O₄ , melting at 180°. (J. Ch. S. 1896, A. I. 386.)

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Syn.:—B. montanum MuelL-Arg., B. polyandrum, Wight ; Croton polyandros, Roxb. 687.

Sans. : — Danti.

Vern. : — Danti, hakum or hakun (H. and B.) ; Konda-âmudam naypawlum, adavi-âmudam (Tel.); Poguntig (Lepcha) ; Jangli jamâlgota (U. P.) ; Danti (Mar.) ; Jamálgota, dantimul (Bomb., Guj. and Cutch).

"The vernacular names of B. Montanum, Croton tiglium, Jatropha glandulifera and J. curcas are confounded with each other in most districts of India, particularly in the Madras Presidency." (Moodeen Sheriff.) Roots sold as Danti-mul in the Bazars.

Habitat :— Tropical and subtropical Himalayas, from Kashmir to Bhotan ; from Assam and Khasia mountains to Chittagong. Deccan Peninsula from Behal and the Concan to Travancore.

A stout leafy undershrub 3-6ft. high with herbaceous branches from the root, glabrous except the young shoots and sometimes the leaves beneath. Leaves firmly coriaceous, very variable in size and shape ; the upper 2-3in. long, lanceolate, penninerved ; the lower 6-12in. long, often palmately 3-5 lobed and with sinuate-toothed margins ; base rounded or cuneate ; petioles 2-6in. long ; stipules of 2 glands. Flowers usually monœcious, arranged in many axillary racemes or contracted panicles, all male or with a few females at the base. MALE flowers -—Calyx globose, 1/10in., 4-5-partite, often slightly hairy ; segments finely mottled. Disk of 6 glands. Stamens about 20. FEM. flowers : — Sepals not enlarging in fruit. Disk thin, 1/10in. in diam. Ovary hairy ; styles about 1/16in. long, thick, 2- partite, dull-red. Capsules ⅓=½in. long, obovoid, usually hairy. Seeds ⅓in. long, smooth, mottled. (Duthie.) ​ Uses:— The seeds are used as a drastic purgative, but in over-doses are an acro-narcotic poison; they are sometimes used as a substitute for Croton Tiglium. They are also used externally as a stimulant and rubefacient. The oil is a powerful hydragogue cathartic and is useful for external application in rheumatism. Madden states that to the east of the Sutlej its leaves are in high repute for wounds, and its sap is believed to corrode iron. The root is considered cathartic, and is used in dropsy, anasarca, and jaundice.

"A decoction of the leave said to be useful in asthma." (Asst.-Surg. Bhagwan Das, Râwal Pindi, Punjab.)

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Sans. :— Vrischi-kali.

Vern. :— Barhanta (H.) ; Bichati (B.) ; Kan churi (Tam.); Sengel, sing (Santal) ; Kinch-kure (Deccan); Kánch kûri, kháj-kolti (Bomb. ) ; China-dúla gondi, révati-dula gondi, truna-dula, gondi, duruda-gunti, tella-dura dagondi (Tel.).

Habitat :— Throughout India, from the Punjab and Lower Himalaya of Kumaon, eastward to Assam, and southward to Burma, Travancore and Ceylon.

A perennial, evergreen twiner, more or less pubescent or hispid and with scattered stinging bristles, rarely almost glabrous. Leaves from linear-oblong to broadly ovate-cordate, acuminate, serrate, and from entire to deeply 3-fid or tripartite, with irregularly serrate or sub-pinnatifid lobes, l-4in., membranous, protean in form. (J. D. Hooker.) Racemes l-2in., slender, hispid or glabrous. Bracts small or minute. Male flowers minute, shortly pedicelled, sepals and stamens 3 ; pistillode 3-fid. Female flowers strigosely hispid, fruiting ¾in. diam., stellately rigid, spreading, oblong, pinnatifid, rarely sub-entire.

Uses : — The root is valued in febricula and in itching of the skin. (Rheede). The Vytians reckon it amongst those medicines which they conceive to possess virtues in altering and correcting the habit, in cases of maygham (cachexia) and in old venereal ​ complaints attended with anomalous symptoms. By the Hindu doctors of the Coromandel coast, it is given in quantity of half-a-teacupful of the decoction twice daily. (Ainslie.) The root forms the basis of an external application in leprosy while the leaves dried, reduced to powder, and mixed with ginger and kaiphul form an " errhine " which is prescribed in cases of headache. (Taylor.) In the Konkan, the root is used to aid the extraction of guinea-worm, a paste made from them being applied to the part. A paste with tulsi juice is also employed as a cure for itchy skin eruptions. (Dymock.) In Chutia Nagpur, the root is given when the extremities are cold during fever ; also for pains in the legs and arms. (Campbell.)

The fruit rubbed over the head with a little water is useful in cases of baldness. (Dr. Thornton in Watt's Dictionary.)

Var. : — Cannabina.

Vern. : — Sirru-kánchari vayu (Tam.).

An erect or climbing shrub 4-5ft. high, not twining, more or less hispid and with stinging hairs. Stems stout, woody. Leaves palmately 3-partite, up to 3½in. long; lobes toothed or pinnatifid, the mid -lobe much longer than the lateral ones. Male flowers and calyx of female flowers as in T involucrata. Styles 3, slightly spreading, not revolute. Capsules ⅜in across, 3-lobed, hirsute ; lobes globose. Seeds globose, smooth, 1/6in. in diam. (Duthie).

Uses: — The root is considered diaphoretic and alterative, and is prescribed in decoction, together with other articles of like virtues to correct the habit ; an infusion of it is also given as a drink in ardent fever in the quantity of half a tea-cupful twice daily. (Ainslie).

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Syn.: — Excœcaria indica, Muell.

Vern. :— Huruá ; Batul (B.) ; Hurná (Bomb.).

Habitat: --Bay of Bengal, from the Sunderbans to Tenasserim. S. Konkan. (Bay plant is growing in the Konkans, but ​ is not indigenous within the limits of the Bombay Presidency (Talbot.)

An evergreen, glabrous tree, 20-25ft., with acrid milky juice. Bark white, smooth, grey, says Gamble. Wood soft, white with small, brown heartwood. Leaves 3½-5in., lanceolate, sub-acute at base, alternate, acute at apex, finely crenate, serrate, glabrous, shining above, venation translucent. Petiole ½in., bi-glandular at tip. Spikes 2-3in., leaf-opposite or sub-terminal. Flowers greenish-yellow, sessile, male numerous in clusters. Female flowers larger, usually 1 or 2 at base of the spike, sepals ciliate. Styles 3, very long. Capsule depressed, globose, not lobed, about lin. diam., glabrous, blackish-green. Pericarp thin. Cocci thick and hard, woody. Seeds ½in., grey.

The woody fruit is characteristic, says Trimen. The young fruit is succulent, says Brandis, mentioned by Graham.

Uses : — The juice of this tree is reckoned of a very poisonous nature. The taste of the fruit is nauseous beyond description. The seeds are used for intoxicating fish. (Roxb.).

The kernels afford to ether 50.3 per cent, of a thick greenish-yellow oil, which, when smeared on glass, dried to a skin in two days. The iodine value was 130.4. This oil is worthy of further notice. (Agricultural Ledger, 1911-12 No. 5. p. 165.)

Syn. : — Excœcaria insignis, Bedd.

Vern. : — Dúdla, bilodar, biloja (Pb.) ; Khinna, Khiria, Khirni Dudla (Bomb.) ; Khirni, lendwa (H.).

Habitat : —Sub-tropical Himalaya from Simla and Kumaon to Bhotan. Chittagong.

A moderate-sized, deciduous, glabrous, milky-juiced tree. Branches thick, soft, leafy toward the end. Leaves alternate, bright-green, toothed, ovate-lanceolate, 6-12in. Stalks l-2in., bearing two large glands near top. Flowers small, yellow- green, appearing before the leaves, on thick, erect terminal. Solitary spikes, 3-10in. long, on different spikes. Male flowers in circular clusters, ¼in. diam., central ones falling off and leaving their short stalks, outer ones sessile. Calyx ​ membranous, deeply 2-lipped ; segments concave, rounded. Stamens 2 ; filaments very short, free. Anthers scarlet. Female flowers solitary, shortly stalked ; spike thickened in fruit. Sepals 2-3, ovate, long-pointed ; ovary globose, 3-celled. Styles 3, free, short, recurved. Capsule ¼in. long, obscurely 3-lobed, fleshy when young. Seeds 3.

Use :— The whole tree is full of an acrid milk which, when applied to the skin, produces vesication. (Lisboa.)

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Vern. : — Gangwa, geor, uguru, geria (B. ) ; Guna (Uriya ; Geva(Bom.); Chilla, tella-chettu (Tel.) ; Haro (Kan.).

Habitat : — Tidal forests on all the coasts of India.

An evergreen, small tree. Bark grey, smooth, shining, with numerous, round, prominent lenticels. Wood very soft, spongy. Branchlets rather thick, marked with leaf scars, smooth. Leaves 2½-3½in., alternate, oval, acute at base, shortly obtusely accuminate, obtuse, entire or obscurely crenate, rather thick ; veins except midrib very inconspicuous. Petiole ¾-lin., slender. Spikes androgynous ; male flowers at the base of spikes. Filaments much lengthening after flowering. Styles free, nearly to the base. Male flowers : — sepals minute, unequal, sub-serrulate. Capsule ⅔in. diam., ¼-⅓in. diam., very variable. (Trimen). Seeds glabrous, smooth. Flowers yellow, fragrant. Grows occasionally to 5ft. in girth and 40ft. in height.

Uses : — The milky juice, which exudes from the bark of this tree when green and fresh, is very acrid and injurious to the eyes, hence it is called " the blinding tree of India."

A decoction of the leaves is occasionally given by Hindu doctors in epilepsy, in the quantity of a quarter of a teacupful twice daily. This decoction is also used as an application to ulcers. (Ainslie.)

From the lower part of the trunk and roots, a soft, light, reddish suber is obtained, which is sold by the itinerant medicine men of Western India, under the name of Tejbul, as an aphrodisiacal tonic. (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 315.) ​ In Fiji, it is employed for the cure of leprosy, its mode of application being very singular. The body of the patient is first rubbed with green leaves ; he is then placed in a small room and bound hand and foot, when a small fire is made of pieces of the wood of this tree from which rises a thick smoke ; the patient is suspended over this fire, and remains for some hours in the midst of the poisonous smoke and under the most agonizing torture, often fainting. When thoroughly smoked, he is removed, and the slime is scraped from his body ; he is then scarified and left to await the result. In some cases he is cured, but frequently the patient dies under the ordeal. (Smith's Econ. Dic.)

Vern. : — Básingh (Kumaon).

Habitat : — Western and Central Himalaya from Nepal to Kumaon. Khasia Mts.

A small evergreen tree, milky, glabrous ; foliage deep-green. Leaves 3-6 by l-2in., alternate, membranous, elliptic, oblong- lanceolate, or oblanceolate, acuminate, serrulate or crenulate ; nerves 8-10 pairs, strong beneath, arched, petiole 1/6-¼in., stout, eglandular, Spikes terminal and axillary, l-2in., slender, androgynous ; bracts rounded or acuminate, broadly ovate, acute, entire, 2-3-fid. Male flowers : — sessile, 2-3 in. ; the axil of a broadly ovate bract. Female flowers pedicelled, at the base of the spikes. Male sepals lanceolate, acuminate, entire ; female sepals broadly ovate, acute, glandular at the base within ; style stout, very short. Capsule about ⅔in. diam., 2-3-lobed; seeds smooth, globosely ovoid, mottled. (J. D. Hooker.)

Uses : — The Bhutias inhabiting East Kumaon use the leaves of this plant as a remedy for rheumatism. (Watt.)

Vern. : — Bhui-Erandi (Concan). ​Habitat : — Behar, Hazaribagh. Deccan Peninsula, from Bombay southwards ; found in the open places and waste ground, common in the Tropics of the Old World generally.

An annual, glabrous herb, with the habit of an annual Euphorbia ; l-2ft. high, with numerous, prostrate or ascending, slender branches from the root. Leaves small, alternate, distant, ½-3in., by ¼-½in., nearly sessile, linear, acute at base, obtuse, apiculate, very minute, serrate, glabrous, often rather glaucous beneath. Stipules ovate, acute, ciliate. Flowers monœcious, yellowish, apetalous. Male very minute in short axillary or leaf-opposed spikes, female solitary at base of the male, or axillary. Male flower : -Calyx minute, 5-lobed, membranous, not covering the stamens in bud ; stamens 1-4, filaments distinct. Pistillode 0. Female flower: — Sepals 3, longer than in male, obovate, acute, lacerate and ciliate, 2- glandular within ; ovary much exserted, 3-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell, styles 3, small, not bifid. Fruit under ¼in., glabrous, smooth, except for the two dorsal rows of spinules, thinly crustaceous, sub-globosely oblong. Seeds oblong, mottled. Endosperm fleshy ; cotyledons broad. (Trimen and J. D. Hooker.)

Uses :— -The juice of the plant in wine is used as an astringent ; a ghrita of the plant is considered to be tonic, and is applied to the head in vertigo. (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 316.)

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​PLATE No. 846.

​ ​ ​PLATE No. 849.

A— EUPHORBIA NERIIFOLIA, LINN.

B-EUPHORBIA TIRUOALLI, LINN. ​

​ ​ ​PLATE No 853.

​PLATE No. 854.

​PLATE No 855.

A— BRIDELIA MONTANA, WILLD.

B— ANDRAOHNE OORDIFOLIA, MVELl. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​