THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 61 



Batna^iri Coast a class of fishermen called the Ddldis who are dis- 

 tinctly of Afric blood and origin. Possibly their progenitors brought 

 the plant with them. Why not ? 



In English parlance the plant is known as the Physic-nut or the 

 Purging-nut. It must be noted that it is quite different from the plant 

 known as Poison-nut which is Strychnes Nux- Vomica. The seeds of 

 Jatropba curcas are known as Pignons cCInde (Dymock). The oil 

 obtained from the seed is spoken of as Oleum infernale by Professor 

 Dr. L. Lowin of Berlin (page 374, Lehrbuch der Toxikologie, 1897). 

 The oil is similarly spoken of by Dymock thus : — " It was formerly 

 employed as a purgative by European physicians under the names 

 of Oleum Ricini majovis and Oleum infernale." Roxburgh says that 

 the plant is one of the most common on the Coromandel Coast, and in 

 flower and fruit all throughout the year. This fact is worth noting, 

 as showing the effects of local influences on the growth of plants. 

 Talbot of Cunura fixes a definite time for flowering and fruiting. That of 

 flowering from April to May • that of fruiting during the rainy season. 

 I must note here one important remark which Roxburgh makes regard- 

 ing the wood of the plant. In observing that the wood of Jatropha 

 curcas is too soft and spongy to be of any use he cogently adds that 

 the wood " will not even burn freely." 



With regard to the oil expressed from the seeds, O'Shaughnessy and 

 Roxburgh say that it is used to burn in lamps by the poorer classes of 

 the natives of Bengal. I am not aware that it is used on this side of 

 India for any such purpose. But in America it appears to be so used 

 freely. 



In noticing this plant as an exotic in his Flora of Ceylon (Vol. IV. 

 p. 16, London 1898), Dr. Trimen says that it is very commonly planted 

 as a fence round native gardens, and that it is a violent purgative. 



Dymock says that » Jatropha curcas is said to have been introduced 

 from Brazil by the Portuguese. Sir George Birdwood gives South 

 America as the habitat of the plant. The plant seems to be well-known 

 in China, as the Chinese turn out a fine black varnish by boilino- the 

 seed-oil with Oxide of Iron. Dr. Dymock observes that the juice of 

 the plant, when dried in the sun, forms a bright reddish-brown, brittle 

 substance like shell-lac, which may yet be put to some useful technical 

 purpose (Pharmacogr. Ind., Vol. III., p. 275). A similar remark is 

 made by Dalzell and Gibson : — " The fresh juice of the stem when 



