Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/397

Rh Flowers pen tarn erous ; sordid-yellow. Petals imbricated. Staminal-tube half the length of the petals, equally 10-cleft for of its length; divisions all bifid at the apex, hairy above. Petioles 1/15-1in., terminal one longer. Ovary 2-, rarely 3-celled. Fruit egg-shaped, ⅜in., covered with a short tomentum.

Varies in appearance and character of foliage. The pulpy aril of the seed is edible and pleasant.

Use : — Corre and Lejanne state that in the Antilles the tree is known as Herbe à mauvaise gens or Herbe à méchants, and that the bark acts as a dangerous emmenagogue and violent emetic. Mr. Hœlingsworth of Madras has experimented with it, and finds it to be stimulant and expectorant. The fruit of another species of the same genus is said by Forskhal to be the jauz-el-kai or the emetic nut of the Arabs, with whom it is also used as hair wash to kill vermin, and as an ointment to cure itch (Pharmacog. Ind.).

Vern : — Kapia Kushi, Chenenji (B.) ; Limbara (Bomb.) ; Gundira (Mar.) ; Kora (Kan.); Kora hadi (Mal.)

Habitat : Forests of N. Oudh ; Himalaya, from Nepal to Bhutan ; Khasia Mts. ; Bengal (Chota Nagpur ; Tirhut) ; Western Peninsula, from the Concan southwards.

Central and Eastern Himalaya, from Kumaon and Oudh to Bhutan. Khasia Hills, Burma, Chota-Nagpur. Hills of Western India. North Kanara and Nilgiri. Godavary district, Manipur.

A small somewhat shrubby tree, sometimes attaining a large size. Bark thin, rough, reddish brown, with lozenge- shaped, depressed lenticels. Wood grey, when young, yellowish white, moderately hard. Leaves imparipinnate. Leaflets opposite, 4 pair, 2-6in., pale and often softly pubescent beneath. Flowers white, in axillary corymbose panicles. Peduncle nearly as long as leaf. Calyx campanulate, 3-5-cleft, petals valved in