286 SIMARUBER. | 4“ 
oul was doubtless the Asafcetida leaf. In the Concan and in- 
other parts of India where this tree is unknown, the oil for 
the Guru-up4sana ceremony is obtained from Terminalig” ‘ 
Catappa, a tree which is not a native of any part of India 
except perhaps the eastern borders of Bengal. 
The unripe fruit of Balanites is found in the druggist’s shops” 
in many parts of India, and is used as a purgative and anthel- 
mintic, the dose being half of the pulp of a single fruit; m 
_ smaller doses of from 2—20 grains it isexpectorant. The bark, 
unripe fruit, and leaves are given to cattle as’an anthelmintic 
- The physiological action of the bark and fruit is similar to that 
ofthe genus Polygala, and a few drops ofa tincture of the 
fruit is as efficient an emulsifier as Tincture of Senega. The 
_kernel yields a bland fatty yellow tasteless oil, view 
applied to burns and sores. 
" 
t 
_. Description.—The fruit is an ovoid acaba about & 
= inches long, by 14 inch broad, having a nearly smooth, 
_ epicarp, marked by ten shallow louieaduaal grooves 5 
greenish soapy mesocarp is traversed by numerous but 
of yascular fibres, and is adherent to the pentagonal, thick 
woody shell. The descending seed contains under its cow 
a thick ex-albuminous embryo, with plano-convex cotyledon 
_ sometimes unequal, bilobed or corrugate, and a short super 
e on icle. As found in the shops, the fruit presents a wrinkl 
appearance, and is of a greenish-yellow colour, having! been 
; gathered a little before maturity. 
_. Chemical composition.—The bark yields a principle simi le 
_ to, if not identical with saponin, (See Saponaria.) The 
(Zachun oil of Africa) has a sp. gr. of -9185 at 15°5° C., 
