Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/601

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Vern.: — Bhekal, karanga, cherra jhatela (H.) ; Gurinda (Hazara) ; Jinti (Chenab) ; Bekling (Kanâwarj ; Chirârâ, jhatela, dhatela, phalâwa bhekla, dintili, bhekra, bhekala (Kumaon).

Habitat: — Dry rocky hills on the temperate Himalayas, from Hazara to Sikkim and Bhotan, and the Khasia Mts.

A deciduous, thorny shrub, glabrous, youngest shoots very pubescent, spines green, axillary, often leaf-bearing. Bark thin brown, peeling off in small vertical flakes; under bark orange. Wood red, very hard and compact, close and even-grained, but much liable to split ; pith large, separating when dry into horizontal layers. Leaves lanceolate, entire or serrate, 1-5 in., coriaceous, acuminate. Flowers ¼in. diam.; white, in short racemes, generally at the base of spines. Calyx- tube cup-shaped, lobes 5, unequal imbricate in bud ; petals rounded, claw short, stamens numerous, inserted below the petals in several rows, auther-cells separated by a broad connective. Carpel one, sessile, ovules 2, collateral. Fruit an oblique, oblong-cylindrical, fleshy purple Drupe, ½-2/3in., subtended by the withered calyx. Scar of style basal, endocarp coriaceous. Seed only one.

Use : — This shrub yields an oil, used as a rubefacient and as an application in rheumatism and pains from over-fatigue (Atkinson.)

The seeds of this shrub, known as Bhekul. yield an oil by expression which is used in the North- West Himalaya for food, illuminating, and occasionally in medicine. It is said to be exported in small quantities from Garhwal and Kumaon. There are two samples in the Indian Museum; one from the Kangra Valley of a bright green colour, and the other from Bashahr in the Punjab, opaque and light brown in colour. In specific gravity, iodine value and melting point of the insoluble fatty acids, the oils resemble that derived from cotton seed.

Vern.: — Bipem-Kanta (Nepal); Sufokji (Lepcha) ; Katsol (Kumaon).

Habitat : — Central and Eastern tropical and temperate Himalaya ; Nepal; Sikkim; Assam; Khasia Mts, Eastern Peninsula. Western Peninsula, on the Ghats from Bombay southward.