Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/197

Rh long rough plates" (Gamble). Branchlets tomentose. Leaves near the ends of the branchlets, palmately 5-lobed, 4-9 in. diam., lobes shortly acuminate entire, grey-tomentose beneath, old leaves glabrous. Petioles slender, 4-6 in. Flowers 4-5 in. diam.; golden yellow in few-flowered terminal panicles. Sepals silky. Petals obovate, notched. Capsules pear-shaped, 3-4 in. long, 5-lobed. Flowers— February- April. Seeds covered with a kind of silk-cotton, called the "Kapok" fibres of India.

Parts used : — The gum and cotton. Uses : — The gum has been proposed as a substitute for tragacanth. It is used in coughs, also in gonorrhœa (Indian Medical Gazette, 1875, p. 39). In Patna, the dried leaves and flowers are used as stimulants. (Irvine, p. 78).

Vern. : — Latkan, Watkana (H. and B.); Kong, Kuombi (Santal.); Jarat, Jolandhar (Ass.); Gulbas (Uriya); Powasi (Chittagong); Reipom (Manipur) Shal-ke-pandi-ka-jhar (Deck.); Kisri, Kesari, Kesuri, Shendri (Mar. Bom.); Jupharachettu, Jafra vittulu-chettu, Kurungu-menjivittulu-chettu (Tel.); Japhramaram, Jafra-virai-maram (Tam.); Kuppamankala, Rangamali (Kan.) Korungoomunga (Mal.) Gowpurgee (H.). Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India for the dye.

A large evergreen shrub or small tree. Bark brown, ⅛ in. thick. Wood pinkish-white, soft, even-grained. Annual rings marked by a line without pores. Pores moderate-sized, in radial strings of 3 to 6, prominent on a vertical section. Medullary rays fine, closely packed, bent round the pores, or groups of pores, so that the distance between the rays is less than the transverse diameter of the pores (Gamble). Leaves simple, 4-8 by 2½-5 in., cordate, acuminate, glabrous. Stipules minute. Petioles slender, 2-3 in. Flowers in terminal panicles, bisexual, large, 1-2 in. diam.; pink or white; purple say H. ƒ. and Th.; sepals 5, imbricate deciduous. Petals 5, contorted in bud. Anthers numerous, opening by two terminal pores. Ovary 1-celled; style slender, curved; stigma notched ovules many,