Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/49

Rh A small, deciduous tree. Bark ½in. thick, grey, corky. Wood white, moderately hard, even-grained. Twigs glabrous, pubesulous. Leaves membranous, elliptic-ovate or lanceolate or ovate- oblong, obtusely acuminate or caudate, 3-5 by 1-1½in. ; nerves 6-12 pair, faint till the leaves are old, then strong beneath, base acute or rounded ; petiole very short. Cymes sometimes 5in. diam., with slender, spreading, dichotomous branches ; bracts minute. Flowers white or cream-coloured, ½-¾in. diam. Sepals ovate-obtuse. Corolla-lobes linear-oblong. Scales linear, scattered. Stamens large. Follicles 6-8in. long or more, cylindric, slender, smooth, tips adhering. Seeds ½-¾in., glabrous, except for the coma, linear.

Uses: — The root-bark and seeds are adulterated with, and also used as substitutes for Holarrhena antidysenterica.

" The bark may be distinguished from the true Conessi (Holarrhena antidysenterica) bark by its darker color, and by its not exfoliating in patches (absence of rhytidoma); the seeds by their want of bitterness. The bark is used as a tonic and the seeds as an aphrodisiac ; both are articles of commerce, the former being more frequently met with in the shops than true Conessi bark." (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 398).

Syn. : — Nerium tomentosum, Roxb. 243.

Vern. : — Dudhi, dharauli, daira, Kâla inderjau (H.) ; Dudh- koraiza (B.) ; Sandi-kya (Kol.) ; Atkura, burn machkunda (Santal) ; Dudhi, kiláwa, keor (Pb.) ; Dudhi, kadu-inderjao, daira (Bomb.) ; Kalu inderjau (Mar.) ; Tálla pal, koila mukri, koyila mokiri, putta jillédu, pedda pâla (Tel.) Bile kude, gidda (Kan).

Habitat : — Throughout India, extending in the Sub-Himalayan tracts Westward. Eastward to Sikkim. In Dun and Saharanpur Forests. Rajputana plentiful on the Hill Road to Mount Abu, in fruit, in November. Behar, Assam, Chittagong, Burma, Ceylon.