Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/354
cence more or less pubescent, sometimes almost glabrous. Leaves subterminal on branches, alternate, 3-6in., thin oblong glabrous above, sparingly pubescent beneath ; tip acute, obtuse or rounded ; nerves 8-10 or 12 pair, joined by finely reticulate veins. Petiole ½-2in. long. Flowers in umbels, corymbose or racemose, usually long pedicelled, few or many, ¼in. before opening, white or yellowish ; perianth very incomplete, or 0. Pedicels clustered on a stout or slender common Peduncle, ¼-3in. long. Bracts 4, more or less tomentose. Stamens 9-20 or more, filaments clothed with long, soft hairs. Fruit ¼in. diam., pea-sized, globose, on the small thickened perianth-tube.
Uses : — The feebly balsamic, mucilaginous bark is one of the best known and most popular of native drugs. Dymock states that it does not appear to have been mentioned by Sanskrit writers, and is only briefly noticed in Muhammadan works. He considers it probable that the drug has been adopted by Muhammadan physicians in India as a substitute for an Arabian drug, called Maghath, the botanical source of which is uncertain. At the present time it is largely employed as a demulcent and mild astringent in diarrrhœa and dysentery. According to Irvine, it is also esteemed as an aphrodisiac in Patna. Fresh ground, it is used either dry, or triturated in water or milk, as an emollient application to bruises, and as a styptic dressing for wounds. It is also supposed to be anodyne, and to act as a local antidote to the bites of venomous animals.
The oil from the berries is used in rheumatism ; the leaves are mucilaginous and have a pleasant odour of cinnamon (Watt).
Chem. comp. — This bark, an authentic specimen of which was supplied by Mr. Hollingsworth of the Madras Medical College, gave, on an airdried sample, 4.6 per cent, of ash, and 14.2 per cent, of alcoholic extract, affording very strong reactions with alkaloidal tests. On separating the alkaloid, it was found to agree with the characters of Laurotetanine, an alkaloid which has been discovered by M. Greshoff in three species of Litsæa in Java, and in several other plants of the natural order Laurineæ. Laurotetanine is crystalline, and has a strong tetanic action on animals ; it is sparingly soluble in ether, more readily in chloroform. It is precipitated by sodium carbonate from solutions of its salts, but readily redissolves in an excess of potash or soda, and is precipitated by the usual alkaloidal reagents.