154 MELIACE^. 



MELIACEiE. 

 CORTEX MARGOS^. 



Cortex AzadirachtcB ; Nim Bark, Margosa Bark. 



Botanical Origin — Melia indica Brandis (IT. Azadirachta L., Aza- 

 dirachta indica Juss.), an ornamental tree, 40 to 50 feet high and 

 attaining a considerable girth/ well known throughout India by its 

 Hindustani name oi Kim, or by its Portuguese appellation of il/a?'^osa.^ 

 It is much planted in avenues, but occurs wild in the forests of Southern 

 India, Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago, as far as Java.^ 



The hard and heavy wood which is so bitter that no insect will 

 attack it, the medicinal leaves and bark, the fruit which affords an 

 acrid bitter oil used in medicine and for burning, the gum which 

 exudes from the stem, and finally a sort of toddy obtained from 

 young trees, cause the Nim to be regarded as one of the most useful 

 trees of India. 



M. indica is often confounded with M. Azedarach L., a native of 

 China,'* and probably of India, now widely distributed throughout the 

 warmer regions of the globe, and not rare even in Sicily and other 

 parts of the south of Europe. The former has an oval fruit (by 

 abortion) one-celled and one-seeded, and leaves simply pinnate. The 

 latter has the fruit five-celled, and leaves bi-pinnate. 



History — The tree under the Sanskrit name of Niniba is mentioned 

 in Susruta, one of the most ancient Hindu medical writings, composed 

 perhaps about the 10th century of our era. 



In common with many other productions of India, it attracted the 

 notice of Garcia de Orta, physician to the Portuguese viceroy at Goa, 

 and he published an account of it in his work on drugs in 1563.* 

 Christoval Acosta ® in 1578 supplied some fui-ther details and also a 

 figure of the tree. The tonic properties of the bark, long recognized by 

 the native physicians of India, were successively tested by Dr. D. 

 White of Bombay in the beginning of the present century, and have 

 since been generally admitted.'' The drug has a place in the Pkat^ma- 

 copoeia of India. 



Description — The bark in our possession^ is in coarse fibrous 

 pieces about 1 of an inch thick and 2 to 3 inches wide, slightly chan- 

 nelled. The suberous coat is rough and cracked, and of a greyish rusty 

 hue. The inner surface is of a bright buff" and has a highly foliaceous 

 structure. On making a transverse section three distinct layers may 

 be observed — firstly the suberous coat exhibiting a large brown 



* Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Medic. " CoUoquios dos Simples, d-c. , Goa, 1563 

 Plants, part 27. Colloq. xl. p. 153. 



2 From cimarr/oso, bitter. ^ Tractado de las Drogas y Medicinaa de 



3 C. De Candolle, in Monogr. Phanero- las Indias Orientahs, Burgos, 1578, cap. 43. 

 gamar. i. (1878) 459. '' Waring, in Pharmacopceia of India, 



* It is mentioned in Chinese writings 1868. 443. 



dating long prior to the Christian era. — * We are indebted for it to Mr. Brough ton 



Bretschneider, Chitiese Botanical Worha, of Ootacamund. 

 1870. 12. 



