Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/274

194 branches. Young parts covered with grey stellate hairs. Leaves downy beneath, 4-6 in. by 3 in. diam., rounded, cordate, palmately 5-7-nervecl, more or less lobed, midlobe longest, glabrous above or with thinly scattered hairs, closely felted beneath ; petiole 1-2 in. Flowers numerous, white or pink, ½-¾ in. across, polygamous, generally diœcious, in much-branched axillary or terminal panicles. Bracteoles 4-6, oblong, spathulate, downy, nearly as long as the Calyx ; Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, segments ovate, acute, accrescent and spreading in fruit, Petals clawed, adnate to the staminal-tube, longer than the Clayx, obcordate. Stamens monadelphous, the tube shorter than the petals and split halfway into 5 segments, each bearing at the apex 3-5 sessile anthers. Capsule subglobose.. 3-valved. Seeds reniform, furrowed.

Use : — Among the Santals, the leaves are pounded and made into a paste and applied to the body for pains. They are also chewed, when there is a deficiency of saliva, (Revd. A. Campbell.)

Vern — Gorakh âmli, amali, (H.) ; kalp briksh (Ajmere); Hathi-khatyan (Dec.) ; gorakh chintz, choyari chinch (Bomb.) ; Marjath Anai-puliyaroy Parutti, (Tam.) ; Sima-chinta (Tel.) Gorakh Amli (Porebunder) ; Rukhdo, Chor Amli (Guj.) ; Gorakh Chinch (Marâthi) ; Katu-imbul (Sinhalese).

Arab. : — Hujed.

Eng. : — The baobab or monkey-bread tree of Africa.

Habitat : —Cultivated in various parts of India and Ceylon.

A deciduous large tree, 60-70 ft. high, very handsome, though stumpy when in foliage. Trunk short, thick, of great diam. Stem grey at base, rapidly narrowing upward, like a cone, throwing out very widely spreading branches. Bark soft, glaucous, thick. Leaves digitate, glabrous, pubescent beneath, when young ; leaflets generally 5-7, 3-4 in. long, obovate or