Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/228

148 This is the Gamboge tree, and yields abundant of that pigment. The gamboge of commerce, says Trimen, is obtained from Siam, and is the produce of a variety (Var. pedicellata, Hanb.) of this species, recently raised to the specific rank as G. Hanburii H. F. (Fig. 33. Med Plants. Bentley and Trimen).

Habitat :— Forests of Eastern Bengal, the Khasia Mountains, the Western Peninsula, in Malabar, Canara and Ceylon.

A small pyramidal tree, with spreading branches. Bark smooth brown, young twigs quadrangular. Wood hard, yellowish brown. Leaves 3-4½in., broadly lanceolate or oval, acute at base, subacute, shining, paler beneath; lateral veins very oblique, inconspicuous; petioles ¼in. Flowers greenish white, sessile, in axils of fallen leaves; Male 2 or 3 together, Female solitary; Sepals and petals 4 each, the latter longer; Male flowers :— Stamens monadelphous; filaments combined into a sub-quad- rangular central column, but free at their summits; anthers dehiscing transversely. Female flowers: — Stamens about 12 in a ring round the ovary, connate at base; Ovary globular, smooth; 4-celled; stigma peltate, irregularly lobed and tubercled. Fruit small, ¾in., globose, surrounded at base by persistent sepals, glabrous. Seeds 4, ovoid, kidney-shaped, slightly compressed, testa finely muriculate, blackish-brown. Parts used :— The gum and branches.

Use:— The gamboge is officinal in the British and Indian Pharmacopœias. It is considered a valuable hydragogue cathartic. It also possesses anthelmintic properties. It is used in dropsical affections, amenorrhea, obstinate constipation, and as a vermifuge.

The stem rubbed with water is a household remedy amongst natives, as a local application to rising pimples and boils, and often cuts them short. 'Dr. Gray in Watt's Dictionary.)

Syn.: — Xanthochymus pictorious Roxb., 445.

Vern: — Dampel; tamál, (H.) ; Tamál, (B) ; Tepor, Tezpur,