Apocynea.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS 271 
and which has been introduced into European practice. Both the bark and seeds 
have long been employed by the Asiatics, and are the Tiwaj and Jissan-ool-asafeer of the 
Arabs, who assign to it the Greek name of andursaroon. The Hindoos call it indurjuo, 
and distinguish the seeds by the name of indurjuo shereen (mild), from those of 
Holarrhena antidysenterica and pubescens, which they call indurjuo tulkh (bitter). The 
name koora, applied in different parts of India to these three plants, the two last being 
substituted for Wrightia antidysenterica where this is not indigenous, is evidently the 
Coru or Cura of Crist. d’Acosta (Clusius. Exot, p. 265), of which the Malabar name he 
informs us is Curodapala (Codagapala? Ainslie Mat. Ind. 1. p. 88), a tree with pinnate 
leaves and milky juice, of which the bark is much used on the Malabar Coast in affec- 
tions of the bowels. Ichnocarpus frutescens is one of the plants sometimes used as a 
substitute for Sarsaparilla, and Ophioxylon serpentinum has derived its specific name 
from its employment in snake bites: by Dr. Horsfield it is described as febrifugal and 
a valuable remedy in various disorders. 
The presence of the acrid principle, however, in a greater or less degree, renders 
many of the Apocynee highly dangerous, as the Oleander, known from ancient times ; 
as it is the yoy of the Greeks, corrupted in India into sirion, as dujfle, its name in 
Avicenna, is probably a corruption of Daphne. Neritim piscidium, Roxb. also contains 
a principle dangerous to fish in the water where it is washed, for the sake of its tough 
fibres. Vinca parviflora is applied in India as an external stimulant in cases of 
lumbago. Some of the species of Plumieria are used in diseases of the skin; and 
others, as P. acuminata, alba, and obtusa, rank in Java as purgatives; probably in 
consequence of their acrid nature. The Cerberas are, however, of a much more dan- 
gerous nature, though the leaves of some are also employed as purgatives, as of 
C. Thevetia and Manghas ; but the seeds of the latter are described as narcotic: and 
C.Tanghin (Tanghinia veninifera, Pet. Th.), the Tanghin tree of Madagascar, is so power- 
ful a poison, that a single seed is said to be sufficient to destroy twenty persons. 
(Bot. Mag. 2968.) 7 
' The different species of Strychnos have appeared to some authors to differ so much 
in properties from the rest of the Apocynee, as to render advisable their separation into a 
distinct order, which they call Strychnee ; but there is little difference in this respect 
between these and those last mentioned. Thus, like some of the Cerderas, the seeds 
of Strychnos Nux Vomica, and of S. Ignatii, and of S. Tieute, one of the kinds of 
Upas, are powerful poisons: the first, from its excitant properties, is in moderate doses 
employed in medicine, especially in palsy of the lower extremities; while the second, 
called in India papeeta, is by the Hukeems considered in small doses tonic, and is 
employed by them in cholera, as is another powerful poison, the root of Aconitum ferox. 
The Nur Vomica, called in India Koochla, is the Azarakhee or Adarachi of Avicenna ; 
the wood of the tree is described by Dr. Roxburgh as exceedingly bitter, and used to 
cure intermittent fevers and the bites of venemous snakes: so in Brazil the bark of 
escribed as being the most powerful substitute for Peruvian bark ; 
S. pseudo-quina is d 
In 
