Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/470
1206. S. alba, Linn., h.f.b.l, v. 629.
Vern. : — Vivir (Kashmir) ; Bis, yur, changma, mâlchang, châmma, kalchan, chung, bûshan, madânu (Pb.) ; Bed-i-siah (Afg.); Kharwala (Trans-Indus).
Habitat : — Cultivated in the North- West Himalaya and Western Tibet.
A large, deciduous tree. Bark light-brown ; wood white, pink or light-brown, soft, even-grained. Attains a height of 80ft.; flowering after leafing. Branchlets olive, green, yellow, red or purple. Leaves 2-4in., dull-green above, young silky on both surfaces, old glabrous, often glaucous beneath, narrow, lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-denticulate. Stipules silky, ⅓-3/5in., falcately ovate or lanceolate, deciduous ; petioles eglandular, 1/10-½in. Catkins on leafy peduncles. Male cylindric, l-l½in., dense- fid, drooping ; bracts oblong, cilia te ; stamens 2, free. Female 2-3im, lax-fid ; bracts yellow or brown, ciliate. Dish scales 2. Capsules with narrowed tips, sub-sessile, ovoid, glabrous or pubescent ; style very short ; stigmas 2-fld.
Uses : — The bark yields salicin, a drug largely used in the treatment of acute rheumatism. It is recognised as antiseptic, antipyretic and antiperiodic.
1207. S. babylonica, Linn., h.f.b.l, v. 629 ; Roxb. 712.
Vern. : — Tissi, bhosi (Nepal); Giûr (Kashmir) ; Bisa, bada katira, bidâi, bitsu bes, besu, wala, majnun, laila, bed maju (Pb.).
Habitat : — Cultivated in the plains of India, and the Himalaya and elsewhere in gardens, etc.
A deciduous tree, with pendent branches, 50ft. Trunk 12ft., in girth flowering and leafing together ; males much commoner than females. Branchlets glabrous, shining. Buds thin, acute. Bark grey, ¼-½in. thick. Wood soft, porous, even-grained. Leaves 3-6 by ½in.; midrib prominent, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, serrulate, glabrous or sparsely hairy; stipules falcate, serrate. Catkins very slender on leafy peduncles ; males short, cylindric,