THE KAMELA PLANT 



MALLOTUS 



FHILIPPINEN8IS 



l>ik-unkai t etc. A little branched i-liiiili.-r. m.-t with in N'orth-West India, 

 Sikkiin, Assam and Eastern Bengal. 



iltivat.-.l in most parts of lii li.i i..r its fruit. Rich soil should tie selected, Cultiva- 

 an.l the seed M\M> iH>ni .Man h t .Inn.- 111 lines 5 feet apart. When the young tion. 



i...in I inrhi-s hn-h. supports are required. L'ntil the rains begin, the 



uitigs have to be regularly u..tcred. The fruit is highly esteemed by 



s and eatMi . -ith.-r m < urries or dressed witli clarified butter. When fully 



developed it is about a foot long, but if allowed to grow longer than 4 inches it 



api.lK <lri<-i i >rati-s. The seeds possess emetic and purgative properties and 



also \n-l.l an <>il. The fibrous texture of the fruit forms, lik- that -,\ i.. gvfHurm. 



M.I fffleiant flesh-brush. [Cf. < ;..llan, Ind. Veg. Gard., IK92. 117-8; 



Han.rj.i. Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 117-8; Woodrow, Oard. in Ind., 1899, 333-4; 



Firming!-!-. Man. Oard. Ind. (ed. Cameron), 1904, 168.] 



Var. amara ; L. amara, Roxb. ; Praia, I.e. ; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., iii., 21<l ; 

 kanu-titnii, ylumfiu-ltitii, titu-jhingd, rdnturai, kadu-sirola, adavi-bira, etc. Met 

 \\ ith all over India, especially on the western side. The fruit is largely used in 

 \ati\f inrclii ino. The juice of the roasted fruit is applied to the temples to cure 

 li.-a.la.-ln-. ami the ripe seeds are generally said to be a sure and safe emetic. 

 \('f. 1'hnrmacog. Ind., 1891, ii. 80-1.] 



L. ffigyptlaca, Mill. ; Duthie and Fuller, /.<-. 01, t. Ixiii ; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., iii.. 

 '". L'li'i. The ghia-taroi, dhundul, bhol, liasada, dilpasand, ghosdle, gutti bira, etc. 

 A laix'i' ch'mber common everywhere and often cultivated, especially in the plains. 

 The fruit is edible, and when dried forms a structure of interlacing fibres, used as 

 a flesh-brush in the Turkish bath or as a substitute for the bath sponge, and has 

 i nori* recently been made into boot-socks. The seeds are emetic and cathartic 

 and yield an oil. [Cf. Dodge, Useful Fibre Plants of the World, 1897, 229 ; Wood- 

 row, I.e. 333-4.] 



L. echlnata, Roxb.; bindaal, janthori, kukad-vel, etc. A small climber, native 

 of Gujarat, Sind and Bengal (Purneah and Dacca). The fruits ripen in the cold 

 weather and are medicinal, as is also the stem. It is a bitter tonic and powerful 

 diuretic. [Cf. Pharmacog. Ind., 1891, ii., 81-0; Sen, Orig. Res. in Treatment 

 cf Trap. Diseases, 1902, 95-8.] 



BootHWck. 



M 



MALACHRA CAPITATA, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., i., 329; Cooke, D.E.P., 

 Fl. Pres. Bomb., 1903, i., 99 ; Duthie, Fl Upper Gang. Plain, 1903, 84 ; v., 109-13. 

 MALVACEAE. The Jean (ban)-bhendi. 



An erect annual, native of West Tropical Africa and of Tropical America ; 

 introduced into India and now plentiful throughout the hotter damp tracts 

 from the United Provinces to the Karndtak. It yields an excellent fibre, 8 

 to 9 feet long, which experts have decided is little if at all inferior to jute. It Jut 

 was at one time hoped that Bombay through the cultivation of this plant might Substitute, 

 secure a good and profitable substitute for Bengal Jute. These expectations 

 have never been realised, but the plant in some parts of the Presidency has 

 become so abundant as to be often viewed as indigenous. [Cf. Offic. Correspond, 

 on Exper. Cult, in Bomb., 1878-82 ; Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 6, 30 ; Dodge, Useful 

 Fibre Plants of the World, 233 ; Woodrow, Oard. in Ind., 1899, 184 ; Imp. Inst. 

 Tech. Repts., 1903, 69.] 



D.E.P., 

 v., 114-24. 



MALLOTUS PHILIPPINENSIS, Mm II. .1 ,-</.; Fl. Br. Ind., 

 v., 442 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 1902, 619-20 ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 

 1902, 316 ; Hooper, Agri. Ledg., 1905, No. 4 ; also Kept. Labor. Ind. Mus. Kamela. 

 (Indust. Sec.), 1905-6, 30, 33-4 ; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., iii., 101 ; Brandis, 

 Ind. Trees, 1906, 590 ; EUPHORBIACEJE. The kamela, kamala, kambild, ruin, 

 rori, sinduri, shendri, punag, tung, gangai, rolli, puroa, kapli, kumkuma, 

 kurku, tawthidin, etc. A ^mall tree, visually with a buttressed trunk, 

 occurring along the foot of the Himalaya from Kashmir eastwards (rising 

 to 4,500 feet in altitude) ; also in Bengal, Central, Western and Southern 

 India ; Burma ; the Andaman Islands and Ceylon. 



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