and in the low country of Ceylon up to 2,000 feet," (Gamble, Manual of Indian Timbers, 2nd ed. 195.)
A large deciduous tree, leafing and flowering early in the spring. "Bark ½ in. thick, grey, ex-foliating in small, rounded plates of irregular shape and size, Wood very hard. Sap-wood whitish ; heart-wood light and reddish brown. Pores scanty, moderate-sized, often oval and sub- divided, often joined by pale, interrupted, wavy and concentric lines. Medullary rays very fine, very numerous, wavy, uniform and equidistant, closely packed ; the distance between the rays less than the transverse diameter of the Pores " (Gamble). Leaves paripinnate 8-16 in. Leaflets opposite, sessile, 1-10 by ⅔-4¼ in., the lowest pairs the smallest, 1-3 in. long ; terminal pair 6-9 in. long ; deep-crimson when young, soon changing to green. Flowers yellow (green, says Trimen) ; male and bi-sexual, generally on different trees, fascicled on interrupted, often slender, racemes. Hiern says flowers are yellowish or green. Calyx small, 4-cleft. Petals 0. Stamens 8-6, longer than Calyx ; filaments more or less hairy ; disk flat, undulate. Ovary 3-4-celled. hairy ; style rigid ; stigma sometimes capitate, 3-4-cleft, one, erect, ovate in each cell. Fruit 1 in. long, usually echinate. Seeds 1-2 ; testa brown, enclosed in a succulent arillus of pleasantly acid taste. Cotyledons full of oil. This is the Ceylon Oak of the English (Trimen).
There is a female tree, found by Assistant-Surgeon Johnstone, Sub I. M. S., incharge of the Andheri Nasurwanji Wadia Charitable Dispensary in the garden of Mr, Guzdar at Andheri (Thana District)— K R. K., 1915.
Use:— The bark is astringent ; rubbed up with oil, the natives use it to cure itch (ROXB.).
The oil of the seeds proves a very efficient and stimulating agent for the scalp, both cleansing it and promoting the growth of hair (Ph. J., Dec. 3, 1887.)
The oil is used by native practitioners for the cure of itch and acne.
The Santals use the bark by external application to relieve pains in the back and the loins (Revd. A. Campbell).
