Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/235

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inconspicuous on both surfaces; petiole ¼-⅓in. Flowers very fragrant, usually terminal and solitary or in pair, nearly sessile bisexual, 3-4in. diam. Flowers, Feb-April. Sepals 4, in 2 rows, thick orbicular, with membranous margins, inner pair largest. Petals 4, imbricate, spreading cuneate obovate, pure white. Stamens indefinite, Anthers as large, oblong, linear, basifixed, golden yellow. Ovary 2-celled, 2 ovules in each cell; style filiform; stigma peltate. Fruit pointed, conically ovoid, 1-1¼in., 2-valved. Valves tough, supported by the enlarged sepals. Seeds 1-4, testa smooth, hard, shining, dark brown; embryo a fleshy homogeneous mass.

Parts used- -The flowers, kernel, bark and leaves.

Use. — The flowers are considered by the Hindu physicians to have astringent and stomachic properties, A paste made of the flowers with butter and sugar, is used in bleeding piles and burning of the feet. (U. C. Dutt.)

The flowers and leaves are used in Bengal as antidote to snake poison (O'Shaughnessy). The bark is mildly astringent and feebly aromatic (Dymock); the oil of the seeds is used as an embrocation in rheumatism in North Canara (Ph. Ind., p. 32), and found useful in the treatment of itch by K. L. Dey.

In many localities, the flowers are used for cough, especially when attended with much expectoration. Rheede states that the bark is given as a sudorific combined with ginger.

Moodeen Sheriff considers the flowers of Mesua fevrrea and Ochrocarpus longifolius to be stimulant and carminative and useful in some forms of dyspepsia and in hæmorrhoids.

The seeds resemble chestnuts in colour and form. The kernel yields 79. 48 p.c. of a brown non-drying oil, partially soluble in alcohol, and gives an orange coloration, with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids. The residue contains 24.14 p. c. of proteins. (J. Ch. I, for Aug. 31, 1910, p. 1019.)

The seeds are brown and generally pear shaped ; they consist of a shiny, brittle, woody shell containing a single buff-colored kernel. Shell 34 per cent., kernel 56 per cent, The kernels contain 76 per cent, of reddish brown oil with a sweetish smell and slight bitter taste. The oil became semi-solid on standing at 15° C. Sp-gr. at 15° C. 0'935 ; saponification value, 204 ; iodine value, 90. The oil is useful in soap making. The residual cake is bitter and probably poisonous; it would only be of value as manure. [Bulletin Imperial Institute 1913.]