MENISPERMACEE:. 63 
COSCINIUM FENESTRATUM, Colebr. 
4 Fig ities, in Hook. Bot. Mag., t. 6458; Contrib. iii. 
22, t. 88. Tree Turmeric, False Calumba (Eng.). 
Hab.—Western Peninsuia, Ceylon. The stem. 
_ -Vernacular.—Jhér-ki-haldi (Hind., Bomb.), Mara-manjal 
(Tam.), Dodamara-darasina (Can.). . . 
_ History, Uses, &c.—The stem is said to have been long 
in use‘in Ceylon and Southern India as a bitter medicine, and 
_asa yellow dye. We have not met with any account of it in 
native works; but there is reason to believe that it has some- 
_ times been confounded with Darhalad, the stem of the Barberry. 
_ Ainslie was probably the first European physician who noticed’ 
He says:—‘‘Mera Munjil is the Tamil name of a round 
llow-coloured bitterish root, common in- the bazaar, about 
e inch in circumference, employed in preparing certain 
oling liniments for the head, and is also used as a yellow dye ; 
_ it is brought from the mountains, but I have endeavoured in 
yain to ascertain the plant.” Subsequently it.attracted atten- 
ion in Ceylon by being mistaken for Calumba, and some of 
it found its way to Europe, where it became known as False 
' Calumba and Tree Turmeric; it is favourably noticed in the 
_ Pharmacopeeia of India, and is used at the present time in the — 
hospitals of the Madras Presidency as a bitter tonic. (See - 
Berberis.) 
Description.—Cylindrical woody stems, diameter 1 to 4 
nches, covered with a pale corky bark; wood ofa bright 
greenish yellow colour, and open porous structure, having no 
concentric rings, but conspicuous medullary rays ; taste purely 
bitter. The wood is much Jess hard than that of the Barberry, — 
nd of a lighter colour. : : : 
~ Chemical composition.—Calumba wood was analysed by 
Perrins in 1858, and found to contain berberine. (Phar. Je 
Vol. XII., pp. 180-500.) =. pe 
