PURGING FISTULA 



CASSIA 



SPECIES 



..l^erved tin- tinnl'm;: property just mentioned, though I have Toddy. 

 it. Kin.ilh ;i toddy nr juife is collected by H t r.iinin<_' '' and " tap- 

 'he sputhes. This juice is either fermented and distilled into an 

 holic liquor or boiled down into a dark syrup which solidifies into 



or palm-sugar an important product, especially in Bombay and -"*' 

 lon. Mr. A. M. Sawyer, writing of the "training" and "tapping" 

 ea in North Travancore (Ind. For., 1896, xxi., 134-8), says that at 

 end of the first five days of tapping the yield is about 4 quarts per TIW. 

 \. in. r.M-iiiii by degrees to 6, 8, and 12 quarts. In strong, healthy varying Yield. 

 i\ iduals even 18 or 20 quarts may be obtained at the end of the course. 

 ctimes, in an unusually prolific palm, three or even four spathes may 

 i tapped at the same time, while others, in spite of the most careful 

 ning, yield no toddy whatever. An average-sized spathe is tapped in 

 >ut four months, and all the spathes of one palm are exhausted in about 

 s. According to Roxburgh the best trees give as much as 100 pints 

 twenty-four hours. Further details may be found by reference to 



ssus (pp. 170-1). 



The TIMBER is strong and durable, being much used for agricultural purposes, Timber, 

 r-conduits, and for beams and rafters. Not infrequently it is cut into 

 ing-sticks. The seeds are used as beads by the Muhammadans. [Cf. Beads. 

 de, Hort. Mai., i., t. 11 ; Buchanan-Hamilton, Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 150; 

 is, Comm. Fibres, Cantor Lect., 1895, 34 ; Lushington, in Ind. For., 1899, 

 , 54-6; Sadebeck, Kulturgew. der Deut. Kolon., 1899, 313; Jumelle, Lea 

 Colon. (Aliment.}, 1901, 25-7 ; Wiesner, Die Rohat. dea Pflanzenr., 1903, ii., 

 411-2.] 



CASSIA, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 261-6; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 

 2, 271-5 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, i., 435-9 ; Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang, 

 in, 1903, i., 290-6 ; Cooke, Fl Pres. Bomb., 1903, i., 417-27 ; Brandis, 



Trees, 253-5 ; LEGUMINOS^E. 



A genus of herbs, shrubs or trees that contains in all about 380 

 cies, mostly tropical, a few only being extra-tropical. India possesses 

 .e 18 indigenous species with three or four fairly plentiful introduced 

 ms. They have all showy flowers but are mainly of value as 

 dicines or as tans : 



C. Absus, Linn. ; chdkau, chimar or chindl, banar, etc., a herb found fairly 

 ntifully throughout India. The seeds are used in the treatment of ophthalmia 



as a cathartic. 



C. alata, Linn.; the dddmardan (:= ringworm-killer), or vilayali- (or ahinnai) 

 (the foreign Se*6aii grainti/tom), is a small shrub found in gardens 

 'iout India and supposed to have been introduced from the West Indies. 

 ,ves rubbed up into a thin paste and mixed with vaseline constitute an 

 remedy for ringworm. [Cf. Fleming, Ind. Med. PL and Drugs, As. 

 870, xi., 163 ; Bennett, Wanderings N.-S. Wales, 1834, i., !_':; 

 Fistula, Linn. ; the Indian Laburnam, the Purging Fistula, or amaltds, 

 h, sunddli, sonali, bdhavd, gurmdla, konraik-kai, etc. A moderate-sized tree of 

 Sub-Himalayan tracts ascending to 3,000 feet and common throughout the 

 plains of India and Burma. 



The bark is to some extent used both as a tanning material and a drug, 

 pulp of the fruit is regarded as a safe and useful purgative one of the 

 monest of domestic medicines in India but has the objection of not keeping 

 well. Adams (Comment, in Paulua JEgineta, iii., 429-31) mentions that it was 

 known to Serapion, Rhases, Mesua, Ebn Baithar, etc. in fact to most of the 

 vurly Arab writers, who speak of it as a purgative drug procured from India, 

 Arabia and Egypt. It is also largely used in smoking mixtures to flavour the 

 '<> used hy the Natives, especially in Bengal. [Cf. Mesua, Op. (ed. Marinus), 

 I '''-. .">_' ; Garcia de Orta, Coll., xiv. ; also Clusius, Hist. Arom., 1567, 136 ; also 

 Comment, by Ball, in Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad., 3rd ser., i., 400; Linschoten, Voy. E. 



287 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 210-26. 



Species. 



Ringworm. 



Indian 



Laburnum. 



Medicine : 

 Pulp of Pruit 



teokfaf 



Mixtures. 



