XXXV111 PROCEEDINGS. 



here believe it to be useful and it seems to me to be a very simple 

 preparation. 



Butea frondosa, Yern. "Pallas/ The bastard teak. The 

 vernacular name of this tree is taken from the famous field of 

 Plassy on which our fortunes in India so much depended. It is 

 a common jungle tree in early spring and when in flower is covered 

 with beautiful scarlet-orange flowers which make a wondrous 

 colour effect. Hence its fancy names "flame of the forest/ 7 and 

 "pride of the jungle," which nearly all Anglo-Indians know it by. 

 Seen closely the individual flowers are much the same colour, but 

 the calyces which are of a very deep greenish-brown, and exactly 

 like velvet, throws the scarlet into showy relief, and as the flowers 

 are in panicles the effect is more striking still. 



The bark of the tree contains a gum, which is full of tannic and 

 gallic acids. The gum and flower juice is used for making dyes. 

 The bark is used for snake-bites. 



It is indeed a flower which 



"With a scarlet gleam 

 Cover a hundred leagues, and seem 

 To set the hills on fire." 



Acacia Suma, Vern. "Khair." Catechu. A small tree with 

 white bark, thorny, leaves compound, leflets 30 to 50 pairs, flowers 

 white, pod strap-like. A well known rather delicate tree, but not 

 a particularly interesting one to look upon. Catechu, its English 

 name, is an extract from this tree, and is so well known that no 

 cements are necessary on it. Its chief use in India is that it is one 

 of the ingredients of the packet of Betel leaves chewed by the 

 natives, which I suppose is one of the common things one notices 

 'travelling through the country any where. Be it remembered, 

 however, that this packet, however objectionable it may be to us 

 and however discolouring to the mouth and lips, contains several 

 useful ingredients which probably make life more agreeable to the 

 native and certainly in some cases staves off sickness, colic, etc. 



Kath-Bol is a mixture of catechu and myrrh given to women 

 after confinement as a tonic and to induce a flow of milk. 



