MISCELLANEOUS ECONOMIC PRODUCTS 



537 



plant largely cultivated in parts of India. The oil is used medicin- 

 ally. The plant is not grown in Ceylon. 



OTHER MEDICINAL PLANTS 



Name. 



Natural Order, ctc 



Principal Use. 



Asclepias curassavica. Wild Asclcpifldcae\ 



Ipecacuanha a perennia 

 Brayera sp. " Koso " 



Combretum Sundaicum. 

 Ipomoea Purga. Jalap 



Pilocarpus jabcrandi. 



Combrctaceae; 

 a large climber 

 Convolvulaccae; 

 climber or sprea- 

 ding shrub. 

 Rutaceae. 



Rhamnus purshiana. [ Cascara 



R. Calif ornica. ) sagrada Rhamnaccac 



Root a good substitute for 

 Ipecac, proper. 



Dried H's used as a purga- 

 tive, also for tapeworm, 

 in East Africa, etc. 



Antidote for opium habit. 



^ Strong purgative. 



Yields an alkaloid "pilo- 

 carpine," of value in 

 medicine. 



Extract from dried bark: 

 well-known aperient. 



OILS 



Castor-oil ; Endaru-tel, vS. This well-known oil is obtained 

 from the seed of Ricinus comiinuiis (Euphorbiaceae), a tall, quick- 

 growing annual with large palmate leaves. Besides its use in medi- 

 cine, castor-oil is largely employed for lubricating purposes, also in 

 soap manufacture, etc. Important bye-products are obtained after 

 the expression of the oil from the seed, viz., castor poonac, used as 

 cattle-food, and castor cake, a valuable manure. The castor-oil 

 plant has become naturalised in Ceylon, and often occurs as a weed 

 in cultivated ground in the moist low-country, up to about 3,000 ft. 

 It is cultivated commercially in India, Southern Europe, United 

 States, etc. The plant thrives in ordinary soil, but does best in 

 open friable, humous or alluvial soil. About 10 Ib. of seed is 

 sufficient to sow an acre ; the seed should be set in rows 5 by 6 ft. 

 apart, two to three seeds being sown in the same place a few 

 inches apart, and the seedlings afterwards thinned out to one in 

 each hole. The plants begin to bear in about four months from 

 the time of sowing, and the harvest should be completed two 

 months later. Under favourable conditions the yield should be 

 from 20 to 30 bushels of seed per acre; in the Southern United 

 States the yield is said to be about the same as that of wheat, varying, 

 like the latter, with the fertility of the soil. Good seed for oil 

 production is usually worth about 5s. per bushel or 12 per ton in 



