Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/403
N. 0. EUPH0RBIACEÆ. 1153
Filaments of the inner series connate. Anthers yellow, brownish- black when dry. Seeds oblong, large, black, ½-¾in. long ⅜in. broad, smooth. Albumen oily.
It is a hardy plant, which has taken quite kindly to the soil of "Western India whether it be in the Konkan or in the Dekkan. In both these divisions of Western India, I have seen it grow profusely as a hedgeplant, where no human hand has watered it. It evidently takes its nourishment from the air, and from the soil in which it grows, depending mainly on the rain-water and dew, whenever it can get it. In the Konkan it gets its water-supply from the monsoon rains from June to October. Hooker says that the plant is ever-green. It is not so in the Konkan. I have seen that in the Thana and Ratnagiri districts it is leafless, though in inflorescence during April and May. Nay in 1898 in Satara (Dekkan) I found the plant leafless in January and February. The plant is a native of Brazil and of the West Indies." (K. R. K.)
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.)
It may be noted here that like the leaves of the Castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, Linn.) the leaves of Jatropha curcas have galactagogue properties. A decoction of the leaves is used in the Cape de "Verd Islands to excite secretion of milk in women (A. A. B. in Maunder's Treasury of Botany, Part I, page 363, Edition 1870). Dr. Bennett of Sydney (Australia) is credited with having made the following observation in his work entitled The Gatherings of a Naturalist : —
"The milky acrid glutinous juice, when dropped on white linen, produces an indelible stain, at first of a light-blue colour, but after being washed changes to a permanent brown : it might, therefore, form a very excellent marking ink." I have not been able to obtain such a stain. Will any of my readers help me in settling this point? (K. R. K.) The oil of Jatropha curcas seeds is said to be of a light colour, and used as a substitute for Linseed oil, as well as for dressing cloth (Maunder's Treasury of Botany.) It is also said to form a basis for the red dye of the cotton fabric known as Turkey red.