ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 105 
what is less generally known, that tamarind stones, reduced to fine powder and made into a thick 
paste with water, has the property, when merely smeared on the skin, of rapidly promoting 
suppuration in indolent, or what are called blind, boils. The same powder boiled into a 
with thin glue forms one of the strongest wood cements. Cassia is a very large genus con- 
taining some most useful plants, but generally its species are of little value under any point 
of view. The section Cathartocarpus all the species of which are trees and of great beauty, 
ought in my opinion to constitute a distinct genus as proposed by both Willdenow and Persoon, 
but reunited by DeCandolle. The flowers sufficiently correspond with those of the rest of the genus, 
but the cylindrical indehiscent legumes with hard transverse partitions and albuminous ! seed enve- 
loped in pulp (for such they certainly are in C. fistula, C. Roxburghii, C. bacillus Roxb. also in 
C. rhombifolia, Roxb. (if distinct from C. fistula) all tend to their separation from the rest of the 
genus, and I cannot help remarking that were genera generally separated from each other by 
equally sufficient marks, we should have little reason to complain of excessive multification of 
them which is not always the case now. Thesweet pulp which envelopes the seed of C. fistula is 
a powerful but mild aperient, a small quantity producing the effect, it further possesses the 
property of colouring the urine of adeep brown colour, a fact, of which patients requiring to 
use it habitually, ought to be warned, as [ have known such refuse to take it, on the supposition 
that it had a tendency to heat the system and excite a bilious habit, even when doing them 
much good. To what extent the other species enjoy this property I am unable to say, in C. 
rhombifolia Roxb. the pulp is bitter. None of the species of true Cassia, have equally pulpy 
legumes, hence it is not to be expected that they should possess similar virtues, but cathartic 
properties of great energy are found in the leaves of seVeral, more especially of those belonging 
to the section Senna, all of which are readily distinguished by their very compressed falcate 
legumes. Of these, the Cassia (Senna) /anceolata and C. a are the most important, 
several millions of pounds weight of the dried leaves being annually consumed in Europe, 
exclusive of what is used in this and their native countries Egypt and Arabia. ©. obtusa 
a procumbent plant common in this country is used by the natives for similar purposes. Dr. 
Lindley considers the C. lanceolata of Royle’s Hlustrations and of our Prodromus, which are 
the same plant, distinct from the true C. lanceolata of Forskahl and names it C. elongata. 
He remarks of it, “ the dried leaves form the finest Senna of commerce known by the name 
of Tinnevelly Senna” under “ C. lanceolata Forsk” he describes a species differing from ours 
in having a sessile gland above the base of the petiol, and pods, linear, villous, compressed, 
incurved : to this species he appends the following note. 
* As this sheet was about to be printed off I was so fortunate as to meet with the C. lan- 
ceolata of Forskahl, in a collection of Arabian plants (No. 71) collected by Dr. S. Fischer, in 
palm grounds in the valley of Fatmé, flowering at the end of February. The leaflets are in 
4 or 5 pairs, never more ; oblong, and either acute or obtuse, not at all ovate or lanceolate, and 
perfectly free from downiness even when young; the petiols have constantly a small round 
brown gland a little above the base. The pods are erect, oblong, tapering to the base, obtuse, 
turgid, mucronate, rather falcate, especially when young, at which time they are sparingly 
covered with coarse scattered hairs. The species is therefore quite distinct from C. elongata, 
as I at first supposed ; and consequently, excellent as the Tinnevelly Senna is, a sort of still 
finer quality may be expected from India, as soon as this, the true Senna of Mecca shall have 
been introduced into the Peninsula.” : i 
A variety of other species of this genus are recorded as possessing medical or other usefal 
properties, but of these I shall only mention C. auriculata, the bark of which is constantly 
used for tanning and C. sophora and C. alata, the latter much cultivated in gardens in this 
country as an ornamental plant, the juice of the leaves of both of which is considered a 
sovereign remedy against ringworm and other similar herpetic eruptions,* a virtue which I 
am much disposed to doubt. Cassia alata is easily known by its pods being apparently nearly 
square through the valves winged on the back. 
maybere mention that the leaves of the Margosa tree Azadirachta indica, which in native practice have 
been long used as a remedy against pustular eruptions, have recently been tried to a great extent by a medical 
officer, and found a most efficient application. He reduces the leaves to a pulp by beating them in a mortar, they 
are then fit for use. Applied in this form he says they act like a charm in removing the most intractable forms of 
Psora aud other pustular eruptions. 
