Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/620

540 durable. Stem 6-10ft., at times 10-20ft Leaves deciduous, exstipulate, alternate, crowded at the extremities of branches, crenulate, pubescent, broad, elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 3-8in. long, 2-3in. broad ; base often unequal, the lower margin of the leaf tapering as it approaches the petiole and finally merges into the upper margin of the petiole, leaving the petiole slightly-grooved at the ventral aspect. Apex obtuse, retuse, usually, sometimes acuminate, especially in the larger leaves ; margin entire ; main lateral nerves arcuate, prominent, 5-8, often reddish. Petiole roundish, longer than ⅓ length of the leaf. The tree sheds its leaves from January to March. Flowers small ; male and hermaphrodite on solitary, simple spikes, which are sometimes erect, sometimes bent, sometimes drooping ; 3-6in. long, arising from the axils of fresh leaves, just before or about the same times of the year, as tender leaves shoot out. Roxburgh and Brandis condemn the flowers as of a dirty-grey or greenish colour ; but the crimson markings of the Calyx and the soft down, as also the bright yellow anthers, are by no means unattractive, though the odour is offensive. Male flowers usually on the upper part of the spike, sessile. Hermaphrodite flowers chiefly confined to the lower part of the spike on short pedicels. Bracts linear, brown, very early caducous. Calyx deciduous. Corolla absent. Stamens 10. Filaments, 5 short, 5 long, arranged alternately, inserted below the Calyx-segments ; the larger ones twice the length of the Calyx. In the hermaphrodite flowers there is an epigynous disk, brownish, densely hairy. Style slender, filiform, projecting slightly beyond the filaments. Stigma simple, a mere depression at the apex. Ovary tomentose, 1-celled, ovule pendulous from the apex of the cavity. Fruit lin. long, ovoid-ellipsoid or globose, grey-velvety. Nut thick-walled and hard.

Uses : — Sanskrit writers describe beleric myrobalans as astringent and laxative, and useful in cough, hoarseness, eye-diseases, &c. As a constituent of triphalâ, or the three myrobalans, they are used in almost all diseases. The kernel of the fruits is said to be narcotic and astringent, and used as an external application to inflammed parts (Dutt).