Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/471

curved, slender, pale-yellow, ½-lin. long ; stamens 2, free; bracts lanceolate. Females : as long bracts as in the male, small pale. Capsules sessile, narrowly conic, glabrous or slightly hairy at base. Stigmas 2, sessile, entire.

Uses : — The leaves and bark are considered tonic, possibly from the salicine in them. (Stewart.) They are still much used by native practitioners as astringents and tonics, chiefly in the treatment of intermittent and remittent fevers. (Punjab Products.) The bark is also said to be anthelmintic. (Watt.;

Vern.: — Sûfeda (Pb.) ; Frast (Kashmir) ; Prost, farsh, kramali, biûns, (Himalayan names) ; Yarpa, yûlatt, changma, kabul, kaull (Ladak).

Habitat : — Cultivated here and there in the N.-W. Himalaya, from Simla westward.

A large, deciduous tree. Bark thick, grey or blackish-grey, rough, with numerous characteristic, deep, vertical fissures. Wood soft, even-grained ; sap wood white, heartwood reddish-brown. Gamble further adds : — " The variety of the Black Poplar, found in the Himalaya, is almost always the fastigiate form known as the Lombardy Poplar; it is very common and conspicuous in avenues in Kashmir, and some trees are 90-100ft. in height and 6 to 7ft. in girth. From the Kuram Valley, Aitchison and Hemsly have described a variety, afghanica, with slender branches and small leaves." Branchlets and leaves glabrous. Buds viscid. Leaves with penni-nerved midrib and 3 basal-nerves ; almost triangular, acuminate, crenate ; blade 2-4in. Petiole l-2½in. long. Catkins glabrous. Males pink, stamens 15-30. Females lax, drooping, disk shallow ; pedicel short. Fruiting catkins 4-6in. long.

Uses : — The bark is officinal in the plains, an arak [liquor] being extracted from it, which is considered depurative. (Dr. Stewart.)

In Tuscany, an ointment prepared from the buds is used for hæmorrhoids, and the balsam obtained from the same source is a popular remedy for colds. (Watt.)