Western Peninsula on the Western Ghats from the Concan southward.
Use : — " This is the country ipecacuanha of the Portuguese at Goa. The drag consists of the creeping root, with the slender stems attached to it, the leaves having been stripped off. It has a somewhat pungent, aromatic odour, but hardly any taste ; and is given as an emetic, in doses of from 12 to 18 grains. In Southern India it is used as a remedy for rheumatism. In the Concan the Hindus use the leaves and stems in decoction with bitters and aromatics as a remedy for biliousness. In the Southern Concan it is called pit-yel or pitpâpra, on account of its well-marked, emetic and bile-expelling properties ; it is the best indigenous emetic on this side of India" (Dymock).
It has recently been tried in Madras in acute dysentery and also as an emetic and expectorant, with results similar to those of ipecacuanha, given in equal doses (Pharmacog. Ind.).
An ethereal extract contained 0*3 per cent, of Hooper's alkaloid naregamiane, 2.0 of wax, 2.5 of resin, and 0.9 of fatty oil and cloring matter. The wax melted 58° had a sp. gr. 0.91, acid number 5.9 (Chloroform solution), 6.1 (alcoholic solution), ether number 21.1, and saponification number 27.0. When the alcoholic solusion was poured into water, a resin was precipitated, whilst in the solution there still remained a substance which readily reduced Fehling's solution (sugar). The aqueous extract had a faint acid reaction and gave a blue coloration with iodine ; a crystalline compound, which is probably asparagine (Hooper), was also isolated and the extract contained proteids, gum, and pectin substances but not tannin. The drug left 5.73— 7.1 per cent, of ash, that of the wood being 1.79 and that of the bark 5.97 ; 5.9 per cent, of dry residue was obtained from the alcoholic and 12.3 from the aqueous extract.
J. Ch. S. Vol : LXXX. (Pt. II of 1901) pp. 70-71.
252. Melia azadirachta, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 544. Roxb. 368.
Syn. :— Azadirachta indica, Adr. Juss.
Sans.— The bark :— Nîmba-valkalam, Nîmba-mûlam-valkalam. The fruit :— Nimba-phalam. The oil :— Nîmba-tailam, The flower :— Nîmba-pushpam. The leaf :— Nîmba-patram, The juice : — Nîmba-niryâsam.
