508 BROMELIACEM 



medicinal use of the leaves and unripe fruit, From the special 



opinions of medical officers in India recorded in the Diet. JEcon. 

 Prod, of India {I, 238), it appears that a belief in the ahorti- 

 facient properties of the leaves and unripe fruit is common 

 throughout India among the natives. 



Chevers (i)/«/. Jiin.9., p. 715), on the authority of BabuKanny 

 Lall Dey, has the following description of its use in Bengal : 

 ''A green, unripe one, only half- grown is used. It is decor- 

 ticated, and the pulpy mass of a whole one is administered to 

 the woman with a small (quantity of salt. It is efficacious only 

 during the e'arlier months of pregnancy ; and, after the third 

 month, its action is very doubtful. But, if administered to 

 suitable cases, the uterus begins to contract within twelve 

 hours, when slight hnomorrhage occurs also. Its action then in- 

 creases, and within the course of twenty-four hours the ovum is 

 expelled. Occasionally the woman's life is jeopardized by 

 flooding, but, as a rule, there is not much danger to be ap- 

 prehended.'' Again, at page 718, Chevers says: " A note which I 

 have from Babu Koylas Chunder Chattorjec renders this matter 

 plain. Ho says that acid fruits are regarded as abortives. He 

 knew a case in which a woman aborted at an advanced stage of 

 pregnancy by eating ( with that intention) about two pounds of 

 ripe pine-apple. This fruit is rendered unwholesome by the 

 presence of a very strong fibre which acts as a mechanical irri- 

 tant on the bowels. I had under my own care an English lady 

 who died of dysentery, after having aborted, at about the fifth 

 month of pregnancy. The cause of her illness appeared to be 

 the ravenous eating of raw pine-apple." 



Description.— The plant is biennial, not unlike an aloe, 

 buUhe leaves are much thinner, and of a hard fibrous texture. 



The fruit is 



sharp 



— *.^v..o oiivjiu ouLiip spines on tnc eages. jluc j.x"-- — 

 produced on a short stem which rises from the centre of the plant, 

 and boars a scaly conical spike, surmounted by a number of smaU 

 spiny leaves called the crown. This conical spike bears a number 

 of small bluish flowers having three petals and a 3-parted 

 calyx ; after flowering, it gradually enlarges and eventually 

 becomes a succulent fruit of a rich orange-yellow colour. 



