Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/456

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
1206
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.


whose composition is C15H14O6. The analytical results given by these substances were nearly identical.— J. Ch. S. 1905 T. p. 717.

1192. A. Lakoocha, Roxb., h.f.b.l, v. 543; Roxb. 634.

Sans. : — Lakucha.

Vern. : — Tiun, tinu dheu, daheo, (Pb.) ; Dahu dhan, barhal, lakûch, dhâvâ (H); Láhu (Bomb, and Duk.); Votamba (M.); Vonte (Kan.); Dháo (Kumaon); Dephal, dahu, dehua, lakúcha, mádár (B.); Dahu (Santal ; Kol.); Dewa, chama, chamba (Ass.); Dawa (Cachar) ; Barrár (Nepal) ; Kamma régu ; Lakuchamu nakka-rénu (Tel.).

Habitat : —Tropical Himalaya, from Kumaon eastwards to Burma, and southwards to Travancore.

A large, deciduous tree. Bark dark coloured rough. Wood hard, sapwood large, white and soft ; heartwood yellow, hard, shining, mottled. Branchlets densely grey or rustytomentose. Leaves ovate or obovate, 3½-12in. by 2-6in., shortly finely acuminate or cuspidate at apex, truncate or sub-cordate at base ; margins entire, sometimes serrate or subundulate in young leaves, coriaceous, glabrous, shining above, densely grey-downy beneath ; lateral nerves 8-12 pair, prominent and with a fine, distinct reticulation between beneath. Petioles ½-lin. long. Stipules small, pubescent, caducous. Flowers in shortly pedunculate or sub-sessile, axillary, globose heads, ½-1 in. diam.; bractioles peltate. Male flowers :— sepals on sub-sessile receptacles, 3-4, triangular, truncate, pubescent, 2-3, says Trimen. Stamen 1 ; filaments broad at base, tapering upward. Anther exserted, broad, 2-celled. Female flowers on shortly peduncled receptacles. Anthocarps flat, smooth, at apices, completely united. Fruit oblong, irregularly globose, 2-3in. diam., minutely velvety, yellow when ripe, edible. Seeds oblong, lin. thick, flat.

Use : — In Bengal, one or two seeds or a small quantity of the milk is popular as a purge. (DymocD Fruit eaten raw or dried and pickled. (Talbot.) In the Ratnagiri District and Bombay, it is curried, as well as pickled. (K. R. Kirtikar.)