Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/473

Rh than the leaves. Flowers crowded minute ; males 1/6in. diam., enveloped in tomentum. Drupe 1in., oblique oblong, rounded at the top, quite glabrous, long pedicelled.

Use : — The fruit and bark are employed medicinally (Beddome ; Lisboa).

Vern. : — Barola (B.) ; Sudra bibo (Mar.) ; Holeger (Kan.) ; Khreik (Magh.).

Habitat: — Chittagong.

A large, evergreen tree, with black acrid, resinous juice, young shoots rusty-tornentose, branches stout. Wood light grey, soft, light. Leaves quite glabrous, reticulated beneath, shining above, coriaceous, cuneate, obtuse or acute, 6-9 by 2-3in.; narrowed into petiole, ¼-1in. long, secondary nerves 10-20 pair. Petiolar spurs early deciduous. Panicles of compound racemes, axillary and terminal, shorter or longer than the leaves. Flowers ^-in. long, rusty tomentose within and without, crowded ; anthers red. Drupe glabrous, lin., obliquely oblong, rounded at the top.

Use : — Morton states that the fruit and bark are employed medicinally, but require to be prescribed with caution, as they are apt to give rise to dangerous symptoms. The tree exudes a black, resinous, acrid, and poisonous juice from the trunk and rind of the fruit. The secretion is of a powerfully caustic nature and blisters the skin. The blistering principle is due to Anacardic Acid.

Sans.- Amrâtaka.

Pers. — Darakhte-moryam.

Vern. — Amra, amara, ambodha (H.) ; Amra (B.; ; Tangrong (Garo.) ; Kâtmâa (Tam.); Aravi mamadi (Tel.); Jangli am, ambâda (Bomb.) ; Amra, amara, ambodha, ambra (Hind.) ; Amra, ambra (Beng.) ; Amburri (Kol.) ; Amara (Assam) ; Tongrong ;