THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 457 
The latest example in proof of this may be given from the specimens I 
examined in January last in the Victoria Gardens, Bombay, through the 
kindness of Mr. C. D. Mahaluxmeewalla,the well-informed and energetic 
Superintendent of the Gardens. In one of these specimens on a single 
branch, there was a mature fruit on one branchlet, on another a half- 
developed fruit, on the third a full-blown flower. In the Bandra speci- 
mens which I examined through the good offices of Mr. HE. M. Pratt, 
LG.S., in July and August, 1892, and in January last, there were 
flowers and fruits in all stages of development on one and the same tree. 
The plant is said to require rich mould when grown as a stove-plant 
in cold countries. In India it grows in red soil, as well as in sandy or 
clayey soil. | 
With regard to the question of stipules, Alph. De Candolle has the 
following important observation in his monograph on the Apocynacee 
in “ Annales des Se. Nat.” (8rd Series, Vol. I, Bot., pp. 285—263) :— 
“In C. thevetia there are axillary fasciculated glands, that is to say, 
accumulated in large numbers, between the stem and the petiole. 
Considering their situation, number, and smallness, one cannot in 
any way take these glands for stipules.” (J. Mittra.) 
Dr. Norman Chevers says in his celebrated work on Indian Medical 
Jurisprudence that the oil obtained by expression from the seed of 
Cerbera thevetia is amber-coloured and slightly viscid, and that it is 
recommended as a cathartic by natives; “but,” he adds on the 
authority of Dr. Shortt, “it produces violent vomiting and hyper- 
catharsis.” (Col. Drury observes in his “ Useful Plants of India ”’ that 
the oil is of a bright yellow colour, but that its uses and properties 
are yet undetermined. Dr. Dymock and his colleagues in their 
“6 Pharmacographia Indica” (Vol. III, pp. 406—410), as our latest 
authorities on the subject, say that the oil when pure is as inert as olive 
oil. The oil, according to the researches of De Vrij, has an agreeable 
mild taste like that of fresh almonds. DeVrij says that the oil is limpid 
and almost colourless. The quantity that can be obtained by expression 
is 835—41 per cent., and 57 per cent. with benzol. 
POISONOUS PROPERTIES. 
The plants of the order Apocynacee abound in milky juice con- 
taining various acrid principles. The acrid principles isolated from 
