MELASTOMACEA. 85 
Hab.—Eastern and Western Peninsulas, Ceylon. 
; Vernacular.—Anjana, Yalki, Kurpa, Lokhandi (Mar.), 
_ Kashamaram (Tam.), Alli-cheddu (Zel.), Surpa (Can.), Wari- 
_ kaha, Seroo-kaya (Cingh.). 
History, Uses, &c.—M. edule, also called M. tincto- 
rium from its use in dyeing, is a shrub or small tree growing 
on hilly ground. In Sanskrit itis called Anjani, a name derived 
from anjana,a pigment or collyrium. The leaves are used 
in India and Ceylon as a dye, and afford an evanescent yellow 
_ lake when used alone. They are chiefly valued on account of 
_ their action as a mordant, and are used with myrobalans and 
Sappan wood or Chayroot (Oldenlandia umbellata) in pre- 
ference toalum in producing a deep red colour much used by mat- 
makers in Madras. Medicinally, an infusion of the leaves is 
used as an astringent collyrium in conjunctivitis, anda de- 
_ coction of the root in menorrhagia, The pounded bark with 
_ aromatics, such as ajwan, pepper, and zedoary is tied up in a 
_ cloth for fomentation or applied as a plaster (lep) to bruises. 
Dr. Peters has brought to our notice the use of the leaves in 
_ the Deccan as a remedy for gonorrhoea of considerable repute. 
Sprengel, apparently misled by the Cinghalese name Wari- 
_ kaha, supposed the leaves to be source of the Wars dye of the 
3 # Arabians. 
F Description.—The Flora of British India notices twelve 
' varieties of this extremely variable plant, which is generally a 
large bush, remarkable for its bright green foliage, and clus- 
_ ters of purplish-blue flowers on the bare branches, which are 
_ succeeded by globose deep purple berries about } inch in 
_ diameter, and crowned with the 4-toothed limb of the calyx. 
4 The berries are edible but astringent. The leaves are from 14 to 
' 8% inches in length, and 1 to 1} inch broad, entire, firm, and 
_ leathery, with short petioles, and very indistinct lateral vena- 
_ tion, they turn yellowish-green when dry; the taste is acid, 
_ bitter and astringent. 
Chemical composition. —Prof, Dragendorff (Pharm. Zeitchr. a 
_ fit Russland, xxi., 232,) proved the absence of an 
