CALOTROPIS 



MADAR GUTTA-PERCHA OIOANTEA 



Ak 



Med. Mad., 1891, 46-7 ; Bidie, Cat. Prod. Paris Ex., 1878 ; Man. Trithinopoly, 

 .1. Useful PI. Bomb., 12 ; Hooper, Re.pt. Labor. Ind. Mu*. (Indust. 

 I'.'ui '), '24, etc.] 



CALOTROPIS GIGANTEA, R. Itr. ; and C. procera, R. D.B.P., 

 Jir. : / V. fir. Ind. t iv., 17 ; Wight, lllust. Ind. Bot., ii., t. 155, 156A ; also ii., 33-49. 

 IL'78 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 491 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., ii., Madar. 

 ASCLEPIADE/E the Swallow-worts. 



Habitat. The two species indicated above are so nearly the same from 

 the practical standpoint that they may here be treated conjointly. The 

 ::HT is an erect spreading perennial bush which chiefly frequents waste 

 i Is in the warm moist tracts of most tropical countries, in India being 

 cially abundant in Bengal, Assam, South India, and distributed to 

 .Ion, Singapore, the Malay and China. The latter is a slightly 

 smaller plant, met with chiefly in the drier regions, and so far as India 

 concerned is most abundant in the Sub-Himalaya (from the Indus to 

 Ganges), also in Central India, Rajputana, the Deccan and Upper 

 {urnui, and is distributed to Persia and Tropical Africa. Both species 

 known by the following names : maddr (sometimes written by 

 Europeans as mudar or even muder), ak, dkanda, drka, rui (a name 

 jcially suggested by the silk-cotton), yercum, erukkam, jilledu, yekka, 

 [ku, etc. But the former species is sometimes called the purple and 

 le latter the white dkanda the drka and dlarka. The name maddr is 

 jrived from the Sanskrit manddra, hence the synonyms rudra, aditya, 

 iT'jn-pattra. To its name arkaparna (sun or lightning-leaf) is doubtless 

 lue the tradition of its blinding properties. 



History. One of the earliest European writers to describe this plant was Pros- 

 Alpinus (De PI. Mgypti, 1592, ch. xxv.). He tells us that it is the beidelsar 

 Alexandria, where it grows in damp places. Rheede was the earliest Indian 

 )tanist to narrate its properties (Hort. Mai., 1679, ii., t. 31), and he furnished 

 most accurate drawing of it. He calls it ericu. Rumphius (Herb. Amb., 

 1755, vii., 24, t. 14, f. 1) gives a poor illustration but describes the plant 

 i great detail under the name of mador. Jones (As. Res., 1798, iv., 267) 

 sals with it under the name area. Roxburgh placed it in the genus .***/< i>i*, 

 id Robert Brown a little later assigned to it a separate position under 

 (//. o/.is. It is a sacred plant with certain Hindus, and is associated with the sacred to 

 abservances of the marute or winds, the demigods of rudra. The ancient Arabs Rudra. 

 so appear to have had superstitious beliefs regarding it since they associated 

 with sun-worship. It is a popular tradition in many parts of India that 

 great Emperor Akbar was so named from having been born under the 

 le of an ak bush. It is the ushar of the Arabs and the khark of the Per- 

 3, but the former seems to be a generic word for milk-yielding plants and 

 ras possibly restricted to 1'niot i-oi>in at a comparatively late date. Abu Hanifeh 

 eas perhaps the first Arab writer to give an explicit account of it, but much 

 eful information will be found in the writings of Ebn Baithar (Southeimer, 

 wisl., 1842, ii., 193). [Cf. Joret, Lea PL dans L'Antiq., 1904, ii., 354.] 



Properties and Uses. This plant may be said to yield GUTTA-PERCHA Products, 

 rom the milky sap ; a strong FIBRE from the bark ; a useful FLOSS 

 rom the seeds ; and a MEDICINE from the root-bark. Space cannot, 

 lowever, be afforded to do more than review even these properties very 

 jriefly, and there are many minor -ones that cannot even be mentioned. 



The Gutta-percha. The inspissated and sun-dried sap (milk) drawn Gutta- 

 >m the stems constitutes the modar gutta of India. Hooper (Rept. Labor, percha. 

 Ind. Mus. (Indust. Sec.), 1905-6, 29) calls it a pseudo-gutta and gives its 

 composition as " 37-9 insol. ; 52'9 resin ; and 9'2 ash." He then adds that 

 it contains large quantities of a/ban and fluavil resins (see p. 627). There 

 are large tracts of the sandy deserts of Rajputana and Central India, as 



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