Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/195

Rh Kanséri (Meywar) ; Mersingh, bhil (C. P.) ; Mersinge, kanseri, mendal manchingi (Bom.) ; Mersingi (Mar.) ; Karanjelo (Kurku); Gudmurki (Kan); Kadatathie (Tam.); Udda, wodi (Tel.) Nir pongilam (Malay.)

Habitat :— Bundelkhand ; dry hills in C. India. Deccan Peninsula ; Mysore and Vellyengry Hills ; Belgaum.

A middle-sized, deciduous tree, 20-50ft., more or less grey, pubescent, or shortly villous. Bark ⅓in. or less thick, bluish-grey, exfoliating in irregular woody scales. Wood whitish, hard, close-even-grained, shining, glossy ; no heart- wood. Leaves imparipinnate, 3-6in. Leaflets 5-7 by ½-1½in., pubescent or glabrous, obovate or round-elliptic, rarely with a small obtuse point. Petiole 1/6in. long. Petiolule 0, rarely ⅛-1/5in. Flowers white, in fewfid corymbs, mostly 1-3-fid, subsessile. Pedicels ⅛in. Calyx ½-¾in. of the expanded flowers, softly grey, pubescent. Corolla-tube slender below, 1-1½in. long. Anthers included. Capsule flat, much curved, 10-18 by ¾in. compressed, glabrous. Seeds about lin. long by ¼in. wide, rectangular, winged at both ends.

Use : — A decoction of the fruit is used medicinally (Watt).

It has the reputation of being used to procure abortion, and the bark is, it is stated, used as a fish poison.

Dr. Lyon, Chemical Analyser to the Government of Bombay, found, however, no ill effects to follow the administration of a considerable quantity of a decoction of the bark to a small dog. (Med. Juris, for India, p. 216.) It is possible that the woody capsules, which are about a foot in length by ⅔ of an inch in diameter, and somewhat curved, may be used as abortion sticks. (Pharmacographia Indica, III. 24).

Syn. : — Bignonia quadrilocularis, Roxb. 494.

Vern. : — Pullung, warras (Bomb.) ; Baro-kala-goru (Tam.) ; Bond-gu (Tel.) ; Adwinuggi (Kan).

Habitat — W. Deccan Peninsula, from Bombay southwards; Central India ; and the Godavery Forests.

A large tree ; innovations woolly. Bark ½in. thick, grey or dark-brown, exfoliating in small angular scales. Wood grey,