AROIDFM 547 



Synantherias sylvatica^ Scliott,, is regarded by the Hindus 

 as a kind of wild Surana^ and, with the wild form of Amorpho- 

 phallus cam panu laius , bears the Sanskrit name of Yajra-kanda 

 "thunder-bolt/^ The country-people use the crushed seed to 

 cure toothache ; a small quantity is placed in the hollow tooth 

 and covered with cotton ; it rapidly benumbs the nerve ; they 

 also use it as an external application to bruises on account of 

 its benumbing effect. In the Concan the seeds rubbed into a 

 paste with water are applied repeatedly to remove glandular 

 enlargements. The fruit is yellow, about the shape and size of 

 a grain of maize, closely set round the upper part of the spike, 

 which is several feet in height, and as large as that of the plan- 

 tain. The skin of the fruit is tough, the pulp scanty and yel- 

 low; it encloses two seeds having the shape of a cofEee bean, 

 and placed with their flat surfaces in apposition. The testa of 

 the seed is soft, greenish-brown externally, green internally ; 

 the kernel is white, adhering closely to the testa, soft and juicy 

 when fresh, but rapidly becoming hard and dry when cut. The 

 taste is intensely acrid, after a few seconds it causes a most 

 painful burning of the tongue and lips, which lasts for a long 

 time, causing much salivation and subsequent numbness. A 

 section of the fruit and seed show the following structure from 

 without inwards : — Isf, several rows of thick- walled cells, having 

 yellowish-brown granular contents (skin) ; 27id, a parenchyma 

 composed of thin-walled cells, having no solid contents except 

 needle-shaped crystals (pulp) ; 3rd, several rows of small cells 

 containing chlorophyll (testa of seed) ; ith, a delicate paren- 

 chyma, the cells of which are loaded with very small starch 

 granules, mostly round, some truncated. 



The tubers of Sanromatum pedaium, Schott., are very acrid. 



aiid are used 



Bhasamkand and 



Lot as a stimulating poultice. The plant is extremely common, 

 and its pedate leaves appear with the first rain in June. The 

 flower, which is produced just before the rains, seldom attracts 

 liotice, being more or less buried in the soil. The tubers are 

 about as large as small potatoes, and of the same shape as those 

 ^^ the Surana. 



