CORTEX MUDAR. 425 



History — The ancient name of the plant, which occurs ab-eady in 

 the Vedic literature, was Arka (wedge), alluding to the form of the leaves 

 which were used in sacrificial rites. From one of the Sanskrit names of 

 this plant, namely Manddra, Mudar is a corruption;^ the latter is 

 frequently mentioned in the writings of Susruta. 



The plant was likewise well known to the Arabian physicians.^ 



G. procera was observed in Egypt by Prosper Alpinus (1580-84), 

 and upon his return to Italy was figured, and some account given of its 

 medicinal properties.^ It is also the " Apocynum syriacum " figured by 

 Clusius.* 



C. gigantea was figured by Rheede ' in 1679, and in our own day 

 by Wight." 



The medicinal virtues of mudar, though so long esteemed by the 

 natives of India, were not investigated experimentally by Europeans 

 until the present century, when Playfair recommended the drug in 

 elephantiasis, and its good effects were afterwards noticed by Vos (1826), 

 Cumin (1827), and Duncan (1829). The last-named physician also 

 performed a chemical examination of the root-bark, the activity of 

 which he referred to an extractive matter which he termed Muda- 

 rme? 



Description — The root-bark of G. procera, as we have received it,^ 

 consists of short, arched, bent, or nearly flat fragments, |^ to + of an 

 inch thick. They have outwardly a thickish, yellowish-grey, spongy 

 cork, more or less fissured lengthwise, frequently separating from the 

 middle cortical layer; the latter consists of a white mealy tissue, 

 traversed by narrow brown liber-rays. The bark is brittle and easily 

 powdered ; it has a mucilaginous, bitter, acrid taste, but no distinctive 

 odour. The light-yellow, fibrous wood is still attached to many of the 

 pieces. 



The roots of G. gigantea are clothed with a bark which seems to 

 be undistinguishable from that of G. 2yrocera just described. The wood 

 of the root consists of a porous, pale-yellow tissue, exhibiting large 

 vascular bundles, and very numerous small medullary rays, consisting 

 of 1 to 3 rows of the usual cells.^ 



Microscopic Structure — In the root-bark of G.2)rocera,ihesuheTOus 

 coat is made up of large, thin-walled, polyhedral, or almost cubic cells ; 

 the middle cortical layer, of a uniform parenchyme, loaded with large 

 starch granules, or here and there containing some thick-walled cells 

 (sclerenchyme) and tufts of oxalate of calcium. The large medullary 

 rays are built up of the usual cells, having porous walls and containing 

 starch and oxalate. In a longitudinal section, the tissue, chiefly of the 

 middle cortical layer, is found to be traversed by numerous laticiferous 



^ Information for which we are indebted the same author in his Icones Plantarum 



to Dr. Kice. Indice Orientalis, iv. tab. 1278. 



2 Ibn Baytar, translated by Sontheimer, ' Edinh. Med. and Surg. Joiirn. xxxii. 



ii. (1842) 193. (1829) 60. 



* De Plantis ^gypti, Venet. 1592. cap. ' We are indebted for an authentic speci- 

 XXV. men to Dr. E. Burton Brown of Lahore. 



* Rarior. plantar, hist. ii. (1601) Ixxxvii. ^ Roots of C. gigantea kindly supplied to 

 ^ Hortus Malabaricus, ii. tab. 31. us by Dr. Bidie of Madras consist of light, 

 ^ Illustrations of Indian Botany, Madras, woody truncheons, \ to 2J inches in dia- 



ii. (1850) tab. 155. — C. ^ocera is figured by meter. 



