- LEGUMINOSZ.. 587 
Description.—The bark is grey, tolerably smooth, compact, 
fracture granular, reddish brown, the external surface is _ 
covered thickly with little elliptic warts ofa darker colour than 
the rest of the bark, the internal surface is white. The taste 
is feebly astringent; microscopic examination discovers nothing 
_ characteristic. . 
The juice of the fresh leaves of B. racemosa, Lam. Hook. 
Ic., t. 141; Bedd. Fl. Sylwv., t. 182, mixed with black pepper, 
is applied to the head in fever attended with headache. This 
tree is known by the Sanskrit names of Apata and Vana-raja, 
and its leaves are worshipped and distributed as gold at the 
Dasara festival. The bark is highly astringent, and is adminis- 
tered by the natives in chronic dysentery and diarrhea. A 
dry extract made from it very closely resembles kino in ap- 
pearance and properties; it occurs in purplish red fragments, 
soluble in water, and only partially in spirit. In Pudukota, 
_ where the tree is called Kattathi, the leaves with onions are 
_ given for diarrhoea. Several of the Bauhinias yield a partially 
_ soluble gum, which is known as Sem or Semla gum. The 
young buds of Bauhinia tomentosa, Linn., Bot. Mag., 
 t. 5560; Rheede Hort. Mal. t., t. 39, Sampage (Can.), are said 
_ by Ainslie to be prescribed by native practitioners in Southern 
India in dysenteric affections ; ‘they are mildly astringent. 
_ According to Rheede, a decoction of the root-bark is adminis- 
~ tered on the Malabar Coast in cases in which the liver is in- 
flamed. 
no, prepared from the bark 
Chemical composition.—T he ki 
soluble in water with a red 
of B. racemosa, was practically 
colour, and afforded to ether one per cent. of crystalline 
 pyrocatechin. About half the drug consists of tannic acid 
giving a dirty green precipitate with ferric salts; when thrown 
_ down by neutral lead acetate the precipi 
_ of PbO, and the basic salt 55 per cent. 
With rectified spirit, about ¢ per cent. 0 
answering to glucose; while by treating t 
lead compound with hydrogen sulphide and 
as 17 per cent. of glucose was separated. 
baltaee igh Selon bit, 
tate holds 35 per cent.: 
Shaken up in powder 
f extract was obtained 
he filtrate from the 
filtering, as much 
The large amount 
