Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/717

Rh Calyx 5-toothed or nearly entire. Petals 5, valvate. Stamens 5, Ovary 5-celled ; style connate in a short column. Fruit *25-'3in. diam., globose, yellow, turning black when fully ripe, shining ; seeds 3-4 ovoid (Kanjilal.)

Wood light-grey or yellow, soft and porous. Annual rings distinct. Flowers— October, April, February, Jan. -June.

Uses : — Dry leaves are used to stimulate sores ; and the berries to purge (Irvine).

 

Syn. : — A. hexapetalum, ''Lamk. Roxb.'' 404.

Sans. : — Ankota.

Vern. : — Akola, thaila ankûl (Hind, and Dec.) ; Ankola, kalâ-akolâ (Bom.) ; Akar-kanta, baghankara (Beng.) Alangi, azhinji (Tam.) ; Amkolam-chettu (Tel.) ; Ankola (Gond.) ; Dhalâkura (Beng.) ; (in U. C. Dutt's Mat. Med.) Anisarulimara, eopoata (Can.); Onkla (Guz.) ; Dela (Santal) ; Ankol (Kol.) ; Ankula, dolanku (Uriya).

Habitat : — Sub-Himalayan tract, from the Ganges eastward to Oudh, Bengal, Central and South India.

This is a very handsome tree, and grows very well in the Concan. Whether in foliage, flower or fruit, in whatever condition or season it is seen, it is a striking plant. It is beautifully green-leaved throughout the year. Gamble, however, says " it is a deciduous small tree, shrub or straggler." Brandis says "a shrub or small tree." "Bark ½in. thick, grey, when young orange-yellow, fibrous. Wood hard, close and even-grained, sapwood light yellow, heartwood olive-brown with a pleasant scent " (Gamble). From all accounts it appears to be a very variable plant. My description is mainly drawn from a large tree growing with a girth of 9 feet in the Military Hospital, Thana (1881-1897), and in the adjacent Mahomedan grave-yard where the main trunks of several trees constantly sent out " suckers." The tree in the Military Hospital compound had nearly half a dozen distinct trees developed from such 