Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/223

Rh length of the ovary, equalling the stamens. Capsule ⅛ in., egg-shaped.

Parts used :— The leaves and the whole plant. Use :-— It is recommended in Arabian medicine as a vermifuge, also used to cure piles, prolapsus uteri et ani (Honning-berger, Vol. TL, p. 289,. The herb is bitter and astringent, and was recommended by Arabic writers as a detersive, resolutive, anthelmintic, diuretic and emmenagogue and, externally, as excitant, but it does not appear to be used in modern medicine (Watt).

The plant is certainly astringent and aromatic; taken internally, it occasionally acts as a purgative, but not powerfully. In country districts, it is sometimes used still as a medicine, and oil, in which the shoots or flowering tops have been steeped, is sold by herbalists as " oleum hyperial." The leaves have been used as a vermifuge (Sowerby's English Botany).

 

Vern. :— Mangustan (Bomb.); Mengkop (Burm.).

Eng. : —The Mangosteen. Habitat : — Cultivated in some parts of the Madras Presidency, as at Barliyar in the Nilghiri Hills;Tenasserim. Malay Peninsula (doubtfully Avild) Gamble says it has never been successfully grown in Northern India as it requires, a very hot, moist and uniform climate. " Home unknown; cultivated in moist regions of tropical Asia" (Brandis). Found in Cochin- China, Java, Singapore. An evergreen, small, conical tree, 20-30 ft, glabrous. Branches many and decussate. Under favourable circumstances, says Brandis, the tree attains 60ft. and more. " Bark dark brown or almost charcoal-black, inner bark yellowish. Wood brick-red, hard. Pores moderate-sized, scanty, single or in small groups surrounded by loose tissue, the groups very irregularly 