420 APOOYNACEZ®. 
on account of its acid and antiscorbutic properties ; when unripe 
it makes a good pickle and when ripe an excellent tart fruit. 
A jelly, similar to red currant jelly, is also made from it by 
Europeans. In Orissa a decoction of the leaves is much used 
at the commencement of febrile complaints. The root is 
acrid and bitterish, and is applied in the form of a paste with 
_ lime-juice and Seaphon.s as a remedy for itch and to keep off 
flies, 
Description.—A large shrub, with many dichotomous, 
rigid, spreading branches ; axils and nodes with two simple or 
forked thorns, sometimes 1 to 2 inches long. Leaves sub- 
sessile, 14 to 3 by 1 to 13 in., rather thinly coriaceous, base 
rounded or retuse, tip rarely mucronate. Drupes 3 to 1 in. 
long, ellipsoid, turning from green to red, then black, polished, 
fouror more seeded. The root-bark is remarkable for its nume- 
rous large stone cells, often more than an inch in length, which 
form a network round the wood. 
Chemical composition.—The roots were air-dried, reduced to 
powder, and digested with 80per cent.alcohol. The alcohol-free 
extract was mixed with water, dilute sulphuric acid added, and 
agitated with benzole, which separated an oil of the consistence 
of honey at 75° F., and partly soluble in absolute aleohol with 
acid reaction. A‘trace of volatile oil was also present, with an 
odour similar to that of Piper Betle leaf oil. During agita- 
tion with benzole a mass of dark-yellowish resin separated, which 
caked. The liquid coutaining the separated resin was next 
agitated with ether. The ether extract was not more than a 
trace, and contained salicylic acid. The insoluble mass of resin 
was now separated, and the aqueous solution rendered alkaline 
and agitated with ether. The ether extract contained an alkaloid 
which gave marked precipitates with the usual reagents. The 
dark brown yellowish resin, insoluble in ether and benzole, was 
wholly soluble in ammonia, and on spontaneons evaporation left _ 
a brittle residue. The ammoniacal solution when freshly made 
was yellow, but on ‘standing became green, and on —_ i 
a the solid residue was brownish, 
i tanieee oe 
