SAPINDACEZ. 367 
_ whence the Sanskrit name Karna-sphota and the Hindi Kéna- 
_ phata. It is a favourite vegetable with the Arabs and Egyp- 
- tians, who call it Taftaf. In Tenasserim it is much cultivated 
_ for the same purpose. Rheede says that on the Malabar Coast 
a the leaves are administered in pulmonic complaints. Accord- 
_ ing to Ainslie, the root is considered aperient, and is given in 
_ decoction to the extent of half a teacupful twice daily. It 
_ would appear that in rheumatism the Hindus administer the 
_ leaves internally rubbed up with castor-oil, and also apply a 
‘paste made with them externally: a similar external application 
is used to reduce swellings and tumours of various kinds. A 
_ medicial plant, called ddéxdxa8os, and in pure Latin Vesicaria 
_ (Bladderwort), was known to the Greeks and Romans, and had 
- @reputation for the cure of pains in the bladder. (Confer. 
_ Pliny, 21, 31.) It is generally considered to have been a 
_ Species of Physalis. C. Halicacabum has been thought by 
- Some to be the Abrong or Abrugi of Serapion, who describes it 
as around grain spotted with black and white, which is brought 
from China, having a bitter taste, hot and dry in the second 
degree, a laxative and vermifuge. We think that there can be 
little doubt that the Abrong of Serapion is the fruit of Embelia 
_ Ribes, the Chitra-tandula or “spotted grain”’ of the Hindus. 
si Stats 
Description, —Annual, climbing; stem, petioles and 
leaves nearly glabrous; leaves biternate ; dink stalked, 
oblong, much acaminated, coarsely cut and serrated ; flowers 
small, white or pink; fruit a membranous bladdery capsule, 
3-celled, 3-valved ; seeds globose, black, with a two-lobed white 
aril at the base. Roots white and fibrous, with a rather 
disagreeable odour, and an acrid nauseous and somewhat bitter 
tas 
perties to the presence of saponin. 
SAPINDUS TRIFOLIATUS, Linn. 
Fig.— Wight Il., t. 51; Rheede, Hort. Mal. iv., 48, t. 19. 
nut tree (Eng.), Savcuaion FA — de Laurier ae. 
Chemical composition.—The plant owes its medicinal pro- 
é 
