EUPHOUBIACE^. 273 



the last few years tlie field was called after the strange crop 

 wHch it bore. It is now cultivated by a Mabometan^ and 

 produces a regular crop, but tbe Jatropba bas not been entirely 

 extirpated* Since Graham's time the plant has spread rapidly, 

 and may be seen on waste ground in most parts of the island 

 of Bombay, probably introduced along with the Castor seed of 

 commerce. An oil is prepared from the seeds by roasting 

 them in a perforated earthen yessel, fitted upon another vessel, 

 into which, Avhen the whole apparatus is heated in a pit filled 

 Avith burning cowdung fuel, the oil drops. This oil is valued 

 as an application to chronic ulcerationSj sinuses, ringworm^ &c. 

 The root brayed with water Is given to children suffering from 

 abdominal enlargement ; it purges, and is said to reduce 

 glandular swellings, The juice of the plant is used in various 

 parts of India as an escharotic to remove films from the eyes ; 

 it is greenish and viscid. The expressed oil of the seeds is 

 yellow, has a specific gravity of 0'963, and solidifies at b^Qi. 

 {J. Lepine, Jour. VJiar. [3], xl., 16.) 



Description, — A small shrub, remarkable for the shin- 

 ing reddish-brown colour of its young foliage. The leaves arc 

 palmate, 3 to 5-cleft, panicles terminal, short, few-flowered; 

 flowers siaall and red. The young branches and petioles of 

 the leaves arc thickly studded with sticky red glandular hairs. 

 Tbe caj)sules are 3-celled and 3-seeded, with an outer adherent 

 fleshy epicarp, which dries up as the fruit ripens ; when 

 this takes place, the three triangular woody cells of which it 

 is composed divide into six pieces suddenly with a sharp report, 

 and the seeds are projected to a considerable distance ; it is, 

 therefore, necessary to gather the fruit before it is quite 

 ripe and dry in a covered place. The seeds, including the 

 strophiolc, are three-tenths of an Inch long and two-tenths 

 broad ; they are of a grey colour with two brown stripes on 

 the dorsum, which is convex, the underside has two flat 

 surfaces, divided by a central ridge. The kernel is without 

 smell, and very oily ; it has a sweet, nutty taste. 



Chemical composition. — See Jcdrajj/ia Carcm. 



ia-35 



