BUXUS 



SEMPERVIRENS 

 Boxwood 



INDIAN BOXWOOD 



Fibre. 



Oil. 



Medicinal. 



Fodder. 

 Timber. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 556-9. 

 Box-wood. 



Medicine. 



Timber. 



Boxwood 

 Substitutes. 



would be a useful addition to the yellow dyes we already possess " (see p. 1053). 

 The bark yields a FIBRE used for rough cordag3 and for caulking boats. A 

 bright, clear OIL derived in small quantity from the seeds (paMs-pdprd) is 

 used in MEDICINE. Dymock (Mat. Med. W. 2nd., 1885, 232) says, " I have 

 tried the seeds as an anthelmintic and am inclined to think favourably 

 of them : they have an aperient action." Pounded with lemon-juice they are 

 a powerful rubefacient, and have been known to cure herpes. B. unpei-ba. 

 Roxb., is considered to possess similar properties to those of . ft-tnuiona. [Cf. 

 also Kept. Cent. Indig. Drugs. Comm., i., 45, 65, 81, 121, 180, 282.] The leaves 

 are given as FODDER to buffaloes. The TIMBER is not durable above ground, 

 but is said to be much better under water, and is consequently used in Upper 

 India for well-curbs and piles and also for the water-scoops of Native wells. 

 Gamble observes that if cut up green and seasoned in the plank, it is likely 

 to be a fair wood for rough boxes. Buchanan-Hamilton (Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 159) 

 says that the flowers are offered to the gods. [Cf. Journ. As. Soc., 1813, iii., 

 219-20; Taleef Shereef (Playfair, transl.), 1833, 40; Taylor, Topog. Stat. Dacca, 

 1840, 62; Wardle, Kept. Dyes and Tans, Ind., 1887, 7, 20, 36-8, 51; Forsyth, 

 Highlands Cent. Ind., 1889, 380, 421, 463 ; Kanny Lall Dey, Indig. Drugs Ind., 

 1896, 53-4; Qaz. Karnal Dist. Pb. (2nd ed.), 1890, 18-9; Russell, Monog. 

 Dyes-ing Indust. C. Prov., 1896, 17 ; Hooper, Rept. Labor. Ind. Mus. (Econ. Sec.), 

 1900-1, 17 ; Joret, Les. PI. dans L'Antiq., etc., 1904, ii., 347, etc.] 



BUXUS SEMPERVIRENS, Linn.; Fl Br. Ind., v., 267; 

 Gamble, Man. Ind. limbs., 592-4 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 1906, 559 ; 

 EUPHORBIACE.E. The Boxwood Tree, shanda laghune, chikri, papri, 

 shamshad, shumaj, shibsashin, etc., etc. An evergreen shrub or small 

 tree of the Suliman and Salt Eanges, the Himalaya eastward to Nepal 

 and Bhutan (absent from Sikkim), at 4,000 to 8,000 feet, chiefly in shady 

 ravines, more especially on calcareous soils. It is a slow-growing tree, 

 very difficult to raise from seed. 



A tincture from the bark is used in MEDICINE as a febrifuge, and the leaves 

 are occasionally browsed by goats, though to most animals they are poisonous. 

 Boxwood is found on the Himalaya of large size, occasionally over 5 feet in 

 girth, 3 feet being not unusual. The TIMBER is very valuable, being in great 

 demand for turnery, carving and other purposes for which a very hard, close- 

 grained wood is required. The principal European use, since the 15th century, 

 has been for wood-engraving, and it is regarded as the best substitute for ivory 

 in many ornamental purposes. But the Indian areas are almost always difficult 

 of access, and it has been found that the timber cannot be cut, seasoned and 

 delivered at an Indian port, still less in London, at the prices usually offered. 

 Hitherto the principal supplies for Europe have come from the Caucasus, but 

 this is spoken of as being rapidly exhausted. The trade has accordingly asked 

 for suitable substitutes that may at least meet certain of the purposes of box- 

 wood. The following have been mentioned as the more likely Indian timbers : 



Atalantia monophylla. 

 Celastrus spinosus. 

 Chloroxylon Swietenia. 

 Cratsegus Oxyacantlia. 

 Dodonaea viscosa. 

 Euonymus Hamiltonianus. 

 Gardenia latifolia, 

 Hemicyclia sepiaria. 

 Ixora parviflora. 



Lasiococca symphyllisefolia. 

 Murraya exotica. 

 Olea ferruginea. 

 Psidium Guyava. 

 Punica Granatum. 

 Santahim album. 

 Viburnum erubescens. 

 Wrightia tinctoria. 



D.E.P., C^ESALPINIA BONDUCELLA, Flem., As. Res., 1810, xi., 



ii., 3-6. 519 ; Caretti in Rheede, Hort. Mai., ii., t. 22 ; Globuli majores in Rumphms, 



Bonduc. Herb Ami., v., 92, t. 49, f. 1 ; Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, ii., 



t. 85 ; Duthie, FL Upper Gang. Plain, 1903, i., 302 ; FL Br. Ind., ii., 254 ; 



LEGDMINOS^E. The Fever-nut, the Nicker-tree ( Yeux de bourrique, Fr.) ; 



putikaranja, kat-karang, karaung, ndta, kanja, gach-chakaya, gila, gajkai, 



190 



