long; secondary nerves numerous, slender, closely parallel. Flowers whitish, scented, sessile, in compound dichotomous cymes on the previous year's wood, rarely axillary. Calyx-tube turbinate, 1/9-¼in. long, base short, cylindrical, limb almost truncate, segments very short. Petals united in a calyptra. Stamens as long as the Calyx-tube. Fruit ½-1½in. long, pink while ripening, beautifully purple almost to black when fully ripe, luscious, juicy, astringent to taste, but very agreeable when eaten quite ripe.
Parts used : — The bark, leaves, fruits and seeds.
Use:— The bark is astringent, and is used alone or in combination with other medicines of its class, in the preparation of astringent decoctions, gargles and washes. The fresh juice of the bark is given with goat's milk in the diarrhœa of children. The expressed juice of the leaves is used alone or in combination with other astringents in dysentery (Dutt).
The author of the Makhzan says that the fruit is useful astringent in bilious diarrhœa, and makes a good gargle for sore throat or lotion for ringworm of the head. The root and seeds are useful astringents, also the leaves. He tells us that a kind of wine is made from the fruit, and that the juice of the leaves dissolves iron filings, or, as he expresses it, reduces them to so light a condition that they float upon the surface of the liquid as a scum. This, when collected and washed, he recommends as a tonic and astringent (Dymock).
A vinegar, prepared from the juice of the ripe fruit, is an agreeable stomachic and carminative ; it is also used as a diuretic.
Recently the seeds have been used in diabetes.
{{{1}}}
