¢ 
508  LEGUMINOSZE. 
mythology from the circumstance of Sita, the wife of Rém- — 
chandra, haying been protected from the caresses of the monste? 
Ravana by a grove of the trees. Itis the anthropogonic tree 
of the Vaisya caste, and a branch from it is brought to the house — 
during their marriage ceremonies. In the Bhavaprakasha it is a 
called Ganda-pushpa, or odorous flower; another name is — 
Anganapriya, “dear to women.’’ The tree is the emblem of love, — 
and was burnt by the penitent Siva along with Kamadeva, the ; 
god of love, who wished to seduce him (Kumdrasambhava, iti. — 
26); it is said to blossom when touched by the foot of a beauti- ~ 
ful woman. (Kélidasa.) The name Ashoka signifies “free from — 
pain ;” in the Bhavaprakasha vermifuge properties are attributed 
Fi ai 
to it, and in the Rajanighanta it is called Krimikaraka. At 
the Ashok-ashtami, or eighth day of the light fortnight of the 
mouth Chait (April-May), a festival in honour of Vishnu is — 
observed in most parts of India, when part of the ceremonial — 
consists in drinking water with the buds of the Asoka in it. — 
The bark is much used by Hindu physicians in uterine affec- — 
tions, and especially in menorrhagia, Chakradatta directs 4 — 
decoction of the bark in milk to be made by boiling eight tolas : 
of it with eight tolas of milk and thirty-two tolas of water till — 
the latter has evaporated. This quantity is given in two or 
three doses during the course of the day in menorrhagia. (Dutt, 
Hind. Mat. Med., p. 143.) Tts properties appear to be purely : 
astringent, 
- Description.—The bark is externally greyish-brown and 
scabrous ; its substance white when freshly cut from the tree, 4 , 
but turning rapidly red after exposure to the air. The taste 
is mildly astringent and acidulous, 
¢ Chemical composition.—A decoction gave a greenish preci- 
pitate with ferric chloride, and a brownish sediment with 
solution of iodine in potassium iodide. It contained 10-3 per 
gent ot aqueous: extract: with 5°7 per cent. of tannin, and 13 
ge pat of alcoholic extract with 8-8 per cent. of soluble and 
pactab lp. mas, *Ae ether extract was very pale brown and — 
