Uses : — Chakradatta mentions the astringent properties of the unripe fruit, and recommends it to be chewed for the purpose of fixing loose teeth. He also mentions a decoction of the astringent bark as a useful gargle in diseases of the gums and teeth. In the Concan, a similar use is made of the unripe fruit, and the fruit and flowers, along with other astringents, are used to prepare a lotion for sores and wounds.
The author of the Makhzan says that the unripe fruit and seeds have powerful astringent properties, and that the decoction of the bark is useful as an astringent in discharges from the mucous membranes of the bladder and urethra, and also as a gargle in relaxation of the gums, &c. He mentions the use of a snuff made from the dried and powdered flowers in a disease called Ahwah, common in Bengal. The symptoms of this disease are strong fever, headache, and pain in the neck, shoulders and other parts of the body. The powdered flowers induce a copious defluxion from the nose and relieve the pain in the head (Dymock).
The bruised seeds are applied locally within the anus of children in cases of constipation (K. L. Dey).
The bark of this tree, much cultivated for the sake of its fragrant flowers, possesses, according to Horsfield (Asiat. Journ., vol. vii., p. 262), astringent tonic properties. It is much esteemed by the Javanese, and is stated by the same authority to have proved useful in fevers, and as a general tonic. According to Dr. Bholanath Bose, a decoction of the bark forms a good gargle in salivation. A water distilled from the flowers is in use amongst the natives of Southern India, both as a stimulant medicine and as a perfume (Ph. Inch).
The pulp of the ripe fruit is sweetish and astringent and has been successfully used in curing chronic dysentery (Surgeon-Major B. Gupta, in Watt's Dictionary).
The kernel is of a yellowish-brown colour, it has a very bitter taste, and is enclosed in a strong, glossy husk. The shells form 64 per cent, of the fruits. On extraction with ether, the kernels yielded 18.47 per cent, of a yellowish-brown viscid oil. The expressed oil has alight yellowish-white colour, and stearin deposits on standing. The oil is used for cooking, burning and in medicine.
