PALMjE. 511 



tlie followins: terms : — ^* Foliorum succus cum aceto mixtus 

 impctigini resistit ; folia cum radice oleo incocta contra leprara 

 sumantur ; cum mungo [Phaseolus MnngOy Linn.) decocta et 

 epota somnum consiliant/* Agardh, the Swedish, botanist, 

 notices its use as a remedy for itcli and leprosy. Ainslie gives 

 tlie plant a place in liis Materia Indica [ii., 125), but merely 

 repeats what Rheede has already said. Eoxburgh gives a full 

 description of it, and remarks on the authority of the Hon'ble 

 J. Hyde that " the natives of Bengal esteem it a plant of great 

 value, because they think it an easy, speedy, and certain cure 

 for the troublesome eruption called ringworms. 



Description. — Root fibrous, annual ; leaves radical, 

 bifarious, straight^ sword-shaped, on one edge slit into a sheath 

 for the scape, pointed, smooth, 6—12 inches long; scapo 

 naked, round, striated, erect, length of the leaves, each sup- 

 porting a round, jQower-bearing head ; flowers, bright yellow ; 

 bracts 1 -flowered, orbicular, concave, hard, smooth ; calyx 

 3-Ieaved, hid within the scale, membraneous; petals three, 

 each supported on an unguis just long enough to raise their 

 expanding, oval, crenate borders above the scales ; filaments 

 three ; anthers twin ; germ superior, 3-sided ; style 3-cleft j 

 stigma torn ; capsule 3-valved, 1 -celled ; seeds numerous. 



{RoxhuryJu) 



Chemical eomj>osition. — The plant contains a red colouring 

 matter soluble in alcohol and intensified by alkalies and having 

 some reactions peculiar to chrysophanic acid. 



PALM^. 



COCOS NUCIFERA, Linn. 



'Big.—Roxb, Cor, PL u, t. 73; Rheede, Eort. Mai. i., 

 '^•1 to 4. Cocoanut {JSiig.), Cocotier [Fr.). 



Hab. ^Indian ArcHpelago and coasts of India. The 



flow 



juice, tomentum 



Vemacular.—NiTTjal lU 



{Mar.)y TenLa, Tenna-maram (,Tam.), Nari-kadam 



