was obtained by exhausting the powder of seeds, previously treated with ether, by means of alcohol of 60 per cent ; the alcohol is distilled off, the syrupy residue treated with absolute alcohol, which dissolves out various constituents, leaving a solid brown-red mass, having when dry a resinous fracture, and being soluble in water, to which it communicates a garnet colour. It contains C, H O, N, and S, but its exact composition has not been determined. (It is most likely a mixture of various bodies.) It is soluble also in weak alcohol, and in acids and alkalies. The colour cannot be fixed upon tissues by any known mordant. This circumstance induced the author
to term it achrosine, or ' not colouring,' although being coloured itself."
419. C. Sophera, Linn, h.f.b i., ii. 262.
Syn. : — Senna Sophera, Roxb. 352.
Sans. : — Kâsamarda.
Vern. : — Banâr, kâsundâ, bâs-ki-kasôndî (H.; ; Kâl-kash-undâ (B.) ; Sarî-kasôndi, jangli-takla {Duk.) ; Kuwâdice (Guz.) ; Ran-tânkla (Mar.) ; Ponnâ-virai, periya-takar, perâ-virai (Tam.) ; Paidi-tangedu, nute-kashindha, kâsâ-mardhakamu, tagara-chettu (Tel.); Ponnâmtakara (Mal.).
Habitat :— Common throughout India.
Closely allied to C. occidentals, from which it differs by its more shrubby habit, more numerous smaller narrower leaflets and shorter, broader, more turgid, pods which are not usually torulose when mature.
Parts used : — The bark, leaves, seeds and roots.
Use : — Supposed by Sanskrit writers to have expectorant properties, hence the name kâsamarda.
It is noticed by Mohamedan writers as a remedy in snake-bite, the root being given with black pepper. The bark in the form of infusion and the powdered seeds, mixed with honey, are given in diabetes (Drury). In Madras, the infusion of the leaves is taken internally for gonorrhœa in its sub-acute stages, and it is also used externally for syphilis.
The bark, leaves, and seeds are used as a cathartic, and the juice of the leaves is viewed as a specific in ring-worm, specially when made into a plaster in combination with sandal-wood. A paste made from the root is sometimes used instead of the juice of the leaves. The powdered seed is used for the same purpose and also for itch.
