Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/835

Rh In the Concan, the milky juice, made into a paste with the leaves of Cassia fistula and seeds of Calophyllum inophyllum, is applied to boils. The juice of a Loranthus, which grows upon the tree, is extracted by heat and given with long-pepper in cramp (Dymock).

The oil is used for medicinal purposes. It is yellowish and non-drying and deposits white fats at 30°. The specific gravity at 40° is 0.905, and the acid value, 25. The constants are : saponification value, 195.4; iodine value, 72.5 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 0.17. Fatty aoirls and unsaponifiable, 95; melting point, 38°; neutralisation value, 200.5 ; iodine value, 75.6.

Sans : — Ksheerika.

Vern. : — Ksheerni (B) ; Kheeri, Chirui (H.) ; Manilkara (Mal.) ; Adoma (Goa) ; Kanki (Mar.).

Habitat : — Occasionally planted as far west as Hoshiarpore, Multan, Lahore, and Eminabad, near Gujranwala. Native of Burma and Malacca, grows in Ratnagiri and Ghatkoper.

A large tree. Leaves 4 by 2in., obtuse or scarcely acute, obovate-elliptic, or obovate, densely silky, white beneath, base cuneate, nerves obscure. Petiole l-l½in. Pedicels lin., densely clustered near the ends of the branches, cinnamoneous-tomentose. Calyx-lobes 6, ¼in., ovate, subacute, brown, tomentose. Corolla ½in. long, lobes narrow acute. Stamens 6-8. Staminodes 6 8, serrate or lobed. Berry ¾-lin., globose smooth. Seeds usually 3-4.

Uses : — The seeds made into powder are used in ophthalmia, and also employed internally as a tonic and febrifuge ; and the root is officinal at Lahore (Stewart). The seeds are considered hot and moist, and are prescribed in leprosy, thirst, delirium and disorders of the many secretions. They are also considered anthelmintic (Baden- Powell).

The fruit is very sweet and pleasant. The milk of the tree is used in inflammation of ear and conjunctivitis, &c. (Dr. Emerson).

The root and bark are believed to be astringent and given in infantile diarrhœa, after being ground with water and mixed