Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/55

Rh A tall, nearly glabrous, climbing shrub. Shoots and petioles sometimes pubescent ; old stems with tubercled bark ; branches pendulous. Leaves 3-5 by l-l½in., opposite, elliptic-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate. Petiole 1/6-⅓in. Flowers white or pink, fragrant. Cymes loosely panicled ; peduncles very slender, l-3in., stout, angular, trichotomously branched. Bracts, minute, lanceolate. Pedicels slender. The cymes in upper axils ; long-peduncled. Sepals ¼-½in,, the length of the Corolla-tubes, ovate or lanceolate. Corolla salver-shaped, twisted in bud, tube slender, with the throat ⅓-½in. ; lobes at the base and mouth pubescent, obcuneate, obliquely truncate. Anthers spurred at base, included. Disc-glands quadrate. Ovary glabrous, acute. Follicles 4-9 by ¼., incurved and converging, cylindric, acuminate, narrowed at the base. Pericarp thinly coriaceous, smooth, pale. Seeds ¾in. long, slender, compressed, obtuse at both ends, pale smooth, coma as long, white (J. D. Hooker, Duthie and Kanjilal).

Use :— - According to Atkinson (Gazetteer of the Himlayan Districts, Vol. I, p. 726), it is said to possess properties similar to those of Alstonia scholaris, for which it is used as a substitute in Kumaon.

Syn. :— Echites paniculata, Roxb. 247.

Vern. : — Kâvali (M.). Lamtáni (Bomb.).

Habitat .-—From Sylhet to Martaban, Deccan Peninsula ; on the Western Ghats, from the Concan southwards. A very large, woody climber. Stems reaching 3 or more in. in diam., much dichotomously branched. Bark greyish-brown, young parts glabrous. Leaves opposite, 4-8 by l½-3in., elliptic or oblong or oval-oblong, rounded at base, shortly and suddenly acuminate, obtuse, glabrous and shining on both sides, thinly coriaceous; lateral veins numerous, 12-15 pairs, prominent beneath. Petiole ½in. Flowers very small, pale, dull, orange or yellowish white, on slender, glabrous pedicels, numerous. Cymes large, lax, trichotomous ; bracts small, ovate, deciduous. Calyx-