Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/457

Rh mamddichettu (Tel.) ; Jidi-váte, kempu gern bija, geru-poppu, geru-váte, gerabija godámby (Kan.) ; Paranki-mâva kuru, Parangi-mávu, kappal-cherunkuru, kappa-mávakuru (Mal.) The hon. Inayet (Burm)..

Eng. : — The Cashew Nut.

Habitat: — Hotter parts of India, especially near the sea. Naturalised from America.

An evergreen, 10-20ft. high. Bark considerably rough. In old trees it is deeply cracked. The juice from the stem is thickish and resinous, slightly brownish, blackening on exposure. From the bark comes a yellowish hard resin having mostly the appearance of yellow amber — the Cashew gum — soluble and used for nearly the same purpose as gum-arabic." Wood dark brown. Charcoal of the wood used by the iron- smiths of Tavoy as the best for their trade. Leaves simple, smooth, alternate, ex-stipulate, quite entire, ovate or obovate, with a slightly rounded emarginate apex, smooth on both sides, of a hard texture ; narrower, but obtuse at base ; 4-8in. by 3-5in. Venation well-marked, whitish and permanent on the under surface. Nerves 10 pair, often less, nearly horizontal, sometimes bifurcating faintly. The bark and leaves contain much tannin. Petiole ¼-½in., slightly grooved on ventral side ; at times cylindric. Panicles corymbose, branched and spreading. Bracts leafy, numerous, lanceolate, hairy. Bracteoles at base of pedicels, broadly ovate, generally lanceolate, acuminate. Flowers small pentamerous, polygamous, ¼in. diam ; yellow, with pink, longitudinal stripes, often deep-crimson ; odour of mixed cloves and cinnamon. Calyx inferior, cleft nearly to base. Sepals erect, deciduous ; the base of sepals a crescent, forming an erect disk. Corolla alternate, linear-lanceolate, twice as long as the sepals. Stamens usually 9, all fertile ; one of these is nearly twice as long as the rest. Stamens often vary alternately. Filaments connate at base, free upwards. Anthers 2-celled, introse. Pistil in the male flower minute, with a very short style ; both well-devloped in the hermaph- rodite flower. Ovary in the hermaphrodite flower free, campylotropous, superior, one-celled, ovoid or obcordate. Bail-