274 EUPHOEBIACE^. 



Jatropha nana, Dahell^ Kirkundi {]War.)j is a rare 

 plaut, found in waste, stony places near Poena. The juice 

 is employed as a counter-irritant in the same manner as 

 that of J. glandulifera. 



Description. — A shrub 1 to 1 4 foot high, allsmooth; root 

 tuberous, woody ; root-bark thick and full of milky juice; stem 

 round, smooth, very little branched ; branches erect ; leaves 

 Largo for the size of the plant, sessile or shortly petioled, 

 broadly ovate, entire or trilobate ; lobes obtuse, central much the 

 largest, 4 to 6 inches long and broad, pale beneath, tJ-nervcd, 

 flowers panicled, terminal, few, 3 to 5 on each division ; 

 stipules minute ; flower solitary, pedicelled, subtended hy a 

 subulate bract half its length ; calyx leaves six, small, subulate; 

 fruit obovoid, flattened at the top, slightly six-sulcated, as 

 large as a nut. (DalzelL) 



JATROPHA CURCAS, Linn. 



Fig.—Jacq. Hort. Vinci UL, t. G3 ; ^. Jms. Tent. Euphorh,, 

 t. 11, p. 34 A. Physic Nut {Enrj.), Medicinlcr {Fr.). 



Hab. — Throughout India and Ceylon, naturalized. 



Vernacular. — Baghrcnda, Bagh-blierenda {Ilincl, Bcnrj.), 

 Moglili-erandi, Jepal {Mar.), Galamark {Goa), Kattamanakku 

 {Tarn.), Pepalam {Tel.), Kdtta-vauakka {Mai), Bettada-liaralu 

 {Can.), Jangli-arandi {Guz.). 



History, Uses, &c.— This tree, introduced from 

 America, is called by recent Sanskrit writers Ktinana-eranda. 

 Its seeds are sometimes used as a purgati^■c and alterative by 

 tbc Hindu ijbysiciuns, but on account of tbeir uncertain action 

 tbey are not much esteemed. Tlie oil is reckoned a valuable 

 external application to itch, herpes, chronic rheumatism, nnd 

 sores or wounds. Descourtilz states that the blacks of Rio 

 Ijlunez saponify the oil with the ashes of the Papaya, and use 

 the preparation to heal the wounds caused by circumcision. 



The leaves are appHn^i as a rubefacient and discutient, and a 

 dococUou of them is .Jd to excite the secretion of milk in 



