8TRYCHN08 



ASSAM NUX-vosWOA 



Ht rychnine Tree 

 S. urens, Ro*b. The gulu, kanrai, odla, tabtu, vtlioyp 



A large deciduous tree of the dry forest* of Northern 1 ughout Central 



1 1 i.l in and the Deccan ; common on the west coast in the K^nknn and Kanara ; 

 as also the dry forests in Burma. 



It yelds a COM, called katila or katlra (see p. 96), which is of the tragaoanth 

 or liuMsoni or " insoluble " series, and has been used in the Bombay hospitals 

 as a substitute for tragaoanth. Guibourt (Pharm. Journ., 1855, 15. 57) has ob- 

 served that the gum ^ivos off acetic acid when exposed to moist air. and that 

 consequently it develops an odour of vinegar when kept in closed bottles. The 

 origin of this acetic acid in a similar gum from Australia has been investigated 

 by Robinson (Journ. Chem. Soc., 1906, Ixxxix., 1496). from the bast a good 

 Km HE is procured and made by the Natives into ropes and coarse cloth. " The 

 hark is obtained when the trees are over ten years old. The tree* are out down. 

 and after lopping off the branches, the trunk is cut into pieces, six feet long. 

 from which the bark is separated by making a perpendicular incision " (Ind. Tad. 

 Journ., Aug. 22, 1894, 265). Gum, leaves and branches are all employed in Native 

 MEDICINE, and the seeds are roasted and eaten by the poorer classes. Gammie 

 (Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., ii., 177) states that the roots are also edible. " They are 

 first cut into small pieces, then boiled and mixed with either spices or sugar." 

 The twigs and smaller branches are used as cattle FODDER, especially in time* of 

 scarcity (Indraji, in Ind. For., 1900, xxvi., 167). The WOOD is made into guitars Timber, 

 and toys. [Cf. Pharmacog. Ind., 1893, iii., app., 129-30; Cameron, For. Trees of 

 Mysore, 1894, 32 ; Agri. Ledg., 1901, No. 9, 346.] 



S. vlllosa, Roxb. The udal, gul-bodla, poshwa, kanhlyem, baringa, buti, omak, 

 yoke nar, sisi, savaya, shaumi, etc. A moderate-sized tree of the Sub-Himalayan 

 tract from the Indus eastwards : common in forests throughout India and 

 Burma. It is valuable on account of its FIBRE, which is coarse and strong but Flbr*. 

 made into ropes and bags. In Southern India and Burma it is said to be much 

 esteemed for making elephant-ropes, and in Northern India for cattle-halters. 

 [Cf. Agri. Ledg., 1894, No. 12, 202 ; Cameron, I.e. 32-3 ; Dodge, Ueful Fibre 

 Plants of the World, 1897, 305 ; Kew Bull., 1897, 8 ; Nisbet, Burma under Brit. 

 Rule and Before, 1901, i., 371, 384 ; Hooper, Rept. Labor. Ind. Mui., 1905-6, 35-6.] 



STROBILANTHES FLACCIDIFOLIUS, .<>* ; Fl. Br. Ind., D.E.P., 

 iv., 468 ; Bot. Mag., 1887, 6947 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 519 ; ACAN- ji-iff lil 

 THACE-S:. The Rum or Assam Indigo Plant, rdmpdt, bar-rum, khuma, R ^ m ' 

 sapro, chimohu, tonham, mai-gyee, etc. A shrub of North and East 

 Bengal, Assam, Manipur, and distributed to North Burma and Southern 

 China. 



This plant yields the rum DYE of Assam and is probably the source of much Indigo. 

 of the so-called indigo of Burma (see Indigofera, p. 663). It is fairly generally 

 cultivated, for the purpose of obtaining the dye, by the hill tribes throughout the 

 region of its distribution. The plant is propagated freely by root cuttings made rroptfrtta. 

 in May or June or earlier if the rains set in. It yields primings twice or three 

 times a year, and is perennial. The two chief crops are in April or May and again 

 in September or October. Mr. Srijut Lakhi Nath Kakoti, a sub- Deputy Collector 

 in Assam, has recently contributed an interesting paper on the cultivation of 

 bar-rum. He speaks of one cottah of land yielding 8 to 10 seers of the dye. The 

 Native methods of utilising the dye are fully described in the Dictionary. [Cf. 

 Duncan, Monog. Dyes and Dyeing in Assam, 1896, 48-50 ; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., 

 i., 221, 257 ; Hosie, Rept. on Prov. Ssu'ch'uan, China, 1904, No. 5, 43-4.] 



STRYCHNOS NUX-VOMICA, Linn.: Fl. Br. Ind., iv., 90; D.E.P., 

 Kirtikar, in Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., 1893, viii., 331-4 and t. ; Gamble, jj^jjjj 

 Man. Ind. Timbs., 497-8 ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 1902, 241-2 ; Prain, strychnine 

 Beng. Plants, 1903, ii., 704 ; Cooke, Fl Pres. Bomb., 1904, ii., 185; LOOAMTA- Tree. 

 CEJE. The Snake-wood, Nux-vomica or Strychnine Tree, kuchld, kajra, 

 nirmal, kerra, mushti, yetti, kanchwrai, kasaraka, kanjiram, kabaung 

 A moderate-sized deciduous tree of the " Gorakhpur forests in Nort 

 India ; Bengal, Orissa, the Circars ; the Deccan and Karnatak ; moist 



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