central hemispherical receptacle. Hermaphrodite flower: solitary. Stamens 10-18, in 4 bundies alternating with petals. Female flowers solitary, terminal, shortly strictly peduncled. Ovary 4-8 celled; stigma 6-7 — radiate, each ray with 2 lines of tubercles. Ovary 5-7-celled, says Brandis. Fruit globose, as long as a small orange, purple, not grooved. Seeds 5-8, embedded, compressed in a reddish acid pulp. Flowering time, November- February. Fruit ready, April-May.
Parts used : — The fruit, seeds, and bark.
Use :— The Apothecaries of Goa prepare a very fine purple syrup from the juice of the fruit, which is used in bilious affections. The bark is astringent, and the young leaves, after having been tied up in a plantain leaf and stewed in hot ashes, are rubbed with cold milk and given as a remedy for dysentery (Dymock.)
The oil of the seeds is officinal in the Indian Pharmacopœia for the preparation of ointments, suppositories and other pharmaceutical purposes. It has been used as a local application to ulcerations, fissures of the lips, hands, &c. (Ph, Ind., p. 31.)
Regarding the oil, Modeen Sheriff writes: — " I have used it internally in my practice, and have found that its best medicinal properties are its usefulness in phthisis pulmonalis and some scrofulous diseases, and in dysentery and mucous diarrhœa."
The oil is used by the natives as a remedy for excoriations, chaps, fissures of the lips, &c, by partly melting it and rubbing on the affected part. It is solid at ordinary temperature.
129. G. Morella, Desrouss. h.f.b.l, i. 264.
Syn. : — G. pictoria, Roxb., 444. Q. elliptica, Wall.
Vern. : —The tree = Tamál , the drug = ghótághaubá, gotà ganbá, tamál (Hind.); the tree=Tamál the drug = tamál (Beng); the drug= Ausaraherevan (Dec, C. P.); the tree= Tamál, the drug= revâchini sirá, tamál (Mar.); the drug= Makki, iréval-chinip-pál, the oil=makki (Tam); the drug= Révalchini-pál (Tel.); the tree = Arsinagurgi mara, aradal, punar puli; the drug= Tamal (Kan.); the tree = Darámba (Malay.)
