Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/110

860 blade 3-4in., by 1½in., narrowed into petiole ½in. long. Flowers, white, generally tetrandrous, arranged in lax terminal or axillary pedunculate cymes; peduncles ¾-1in. long, pedicels short. Corymbs. 1-3., small, pubescent or sub-pubescent. Calyx at flower-time 1/5in., minutely pubescent, Corolla-lobes usually 4, ⅛in. Filaments glabrous. Drupe ovoid, mucronate ½in. long, glabrous, longitudinally striate, yellow or reddish-brown when ripe, with gelatinous edible pulp, usually 1-seeded.

Use : — The decoction of the bark possesses astringent properties and is used as a gargle (Ph. Tnd.).

Vern. :— Kúmbi, Karúk (Pb.) ; Kumpaimán, pin indák, chinta, ajánta, bairula, berula (H.). Latora (Oudh). Godela (Ajmere).

Habitat :— Sub-Himalayan tract, from the Jhelum to the Sarda river and Oudh.

A small deciduous tree, attaining 30ft. Innovations fulvous-woolly. Bark ½in. thick,-dark grey, exfoliating when old in large woody scales ; inner bark silvery grey. The wood has the same structure as that of C. Rothii and C. Macleodii, except that the concentric lines are more often interrupted. Leaves 3-6 by 2½-5in., broad elliptic or orbicular, acuminate, coriaceous, scabrous above, tomentose beneath, until mature, base cuneate or cordate, not rounded. Lateral nerves 3-5 pair, the lowest subbasal. The cystolith-cells on the upper surface of leaves conspicuous as raised, generally white disks on upper surface in this species and in C. Macleodii (Brandis). Petioles 1-1½. Flowers pedicelled, yellowish white, polygamous, in dense compound cymes, tomentose and woolly, the male flowers usually in unilateral racemes. Calyx ½in. long, distinctly ribbed and furrowed outside, teeth unequal. Corolla-lobes ⅓in., obovate-oblong, spreading ; tube long as the lobe. Drupe (a berry, as C.B. Clarke calls it), ¾in. ellipsoid, supported by the accrescent saucer-shaped Calyx and cuspidate with the remains of the style, filled inside with a gelatinous pulp. The fruit is edible.

Use:— Fruit used similarly to other species. (Watt),