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INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.


mottled with, dark streaks, very hard, seasons and polishes well (Gamble). Young shoots covered with viscid pubescence. Leaves imparipinnate. Leaflets 3-5 pair, elliptic, shortly acuminate, often serrulate, blade 3-6in. long, rough on the upper, pubescent on the under side ; petiole short. Flowers exquisitely fragrant, in lax trichotomous viscid panicles, dull crimson (Brandis), dull purple (Trimen), which latter is more like the colour of the flowers seen by me in Ratnagiri and Thana (K. R. K.). Corolla 1-1½in. long, pubescent funnel-shaped, limb oblique, the 3 inferior lobes longer and the edges of all much curled. Capsule straight, cylindric, 12-24 by ⅔in., dark-grey or purple ; slightly ribbed, rough, with elevated specks ; valves thick, hard, woody. Seeds 1¼ by ¼in., deeply notched at the middle, subtrigonous, embedded in the notches of the septum. (Brandis. C. B. Clarke).

Uses : — " The flowers rubbed up with honey are given to check hiccup. The root bark is an ingredient in dasamûla. It is regarded as cooling, diuretic and tonic, and is generally used in combination with other medicines. The ashes of the plant are used in the preparation of alkaline water and caustic pastes" (U. C. Dutt.)

In Tanjore the flowers are taken in the form of a confection as an aphrodisiac. (P. S. Mootooswamy).

907. S. Xylocarpum, Wight, h.f.b.i., iv. 383.

Syn. : — Bignonia xylocarpa, Roxb. 494.

Vern. : — Ghan-seng (Can.) ; Khar-sing (Mar.) ; Vaden kurni maram (Tam.)

Habitat: — Common in the Deccan Peninsula, extending North to the Satpura Range.

A deciduous tree, middle-sized, 30-60ft.; innovations pubescent. Bark ¼in. thick, lightly grey. Sapwood large, grey, heart-wood very hard, orange-brown. Annual rings well marked by an irregular belt of numerous pores (Gamble). Leaves 2-pinnate or 3-pinnate, l-4ft. long. Leaflets 3 by l½in., subsessile, elliptic, acute, entire, mature glabrous, " hard and slightly rough when full grown," says Brandis. Flowers fragrant, white with a tinge of yellow, in dense, compound, pubescent, erect, somewhat rigid