Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/231

Rh

Sans : — Punnága.

Vern.: — Sultána champa, Surpan, surpunka undi (H.); Súltan champâ, punnág (B.); Polong punang, (Uriya); Surangi, purreya, duggerfúl, undi (Sind.); undi (Bomb.); Udi (ditch.); Surfan, undi, surpanka (Dec.); Undi, undelar wundi, surangi, nagchampa, pumag, undag (Mar.); Bintango, punna, Ponna (Mal.); Pinnay, pungam, punnaivirar, punnagam (Tam.); Pùna, púnás, ponna pumágamu, ponna-chettu, ponna- vittulu (Tel.); Wúma pinne, ponna bija(Kan.)

Habitat: — Western Peninsula, Orissa and South India.

An evergreen, middle-sized, ornamental tree or shrub, glabrous. Buds only with minute rusty hairs. " Bark grey or blackish brown, smooth. Wood reddish brown, moderately hard, close-grained. Pores moderate sized, arranged in groups or oblique strings. Medullary rays extremely fine and numerous, bent round the pores. Occasional interrupted concentric lines of darker, but softer tissue, prominent on all sections" (Gamble). Leaves elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or obovate, coriaceous; blade 4-8in., by 3-4in., narrowed into petiole, ½-1½in. long, shining on both surfaces; veins many tine. Flowers scented, pure white, ¾to 1in. diam., in axillary racemes; Racemes in upper axils loose, 4-6in. long, shorter than the leaves, lax, few-flowered. Pedicels slender, 1-2 in. Petals 4, like the inner sepals. Stamens numerous; filaments in 4 bundles. Rumphius and Blume say that the petals are sometimes 6-8. Ovary globose, stipitate; style much exceeding the Stamens. Stigma peltate, lobed. Fruit yellow, round, 1 in. diam., smooth, pulpy. The seeds yield oil used for lamps; often cultivated.

Parts used : — The oil of the seeds, and seeds.

Uses:— The kernels of this tree yield a grateful-smelling fixed oil, held by the natives in high esteem as an external application in rheumatism. From the bark exudes a resinous substance, Tacamahaca, said to resemble myrrh, and to be a useful remedy for indolent ulcers. (Pharm. Indica.)