256 EUPEORBIACEM 



r 



brown colour and like a vetcli.* The author of the ^^^ Jocosely 

 remarks that the name should be -^3ISj ^,U and says: 

 J't^))! (^^3lij ^yu -^31 ^1 ^«^j ^jlS ^1 <4t is sufficientas a 

 purgative without the assistance of any other drug." Ibn Sina 

 describes Mahudaneh as tricoccous and like a large filbert ; he 

 says, the name of the plant is Shibab. It cannot be E. neril/olia, 

 which has seeds no larger than a grain of mustard. In the 

 Bid, of Econ. Prod.y published by the Government of India, it is 

 stated^ on the authority of Dr. J. H. Thornton, that the Juice of 

 E. antiquorum mixed with burnt borax and common salt is used 

 as an application to painful joints and swellings. Dr, Thornton 

 says: — ^'The fresh milky Juice is a direct irritant both when 

 taken internally and applied externally. Taken in very small 

 quantities, it is a drastic purgative." E, trigonal Haworth, 

 the Kattimandu or ''knife medicine" of the Telugus, so named 

 because it is used for fixing: knife blades in their handles, and 



E. Nivulia^ Ham., have similar properties. 



Description. — E. neriifoUa is a small, fleshy, glabrous tree 

 or shrub, branches jointed, cylindric or obscurely 5-angled, with 

 short, sharp stipular thorns arising from thick tubercles ; leaves 

 deciduous, fleshy, obovate oblong or obovate-acute ; involucres in 

 small J stout, dichotomous, short-peduncled cymes from the 

 sinuses, hemispheric; smooth, styles connate high up, undivided, 

 cocci compressed, glabrous ; the fruit is tricoccous, but so deeply 

 di\'ided that it has the appearance of three radiating slender 

 follicles. The seed is about the size and shape of a grain of 

 mustard, and of a greyish-brown colour. 



E. anfiquoriim is an erect, fleshy, glabrous tree or shrub, 

 branches terete or obscurely 3 — 6 angled, branchlets with 3—5 

 thick sinuate wings, and a pair of sharp stipular thorns in the 

 sinuses ; leaves few and small, from the sides of the wings, 

 fleshy, obovate oblong, tip rounded ; involucres 3-nate, 

 forming short-peduncled cjTnes in the sinuses, styles free, 

 2-lobed, cocci compressed, glabrous. 



E. Nitulia and E. trigona are very similar shrubs. 



• Hab-el-niuluk is the seed oi Croton Tiglium. 



