SACRED PLANTS OF INDIA. BARBOUR. XXXV 



be very poisonous, even out here. It has beautiful red flowers and 

 long linear lanceolate leaves. 



Hooker thinks, '^'the willow of the brook" in Scripture to be 

 the Oleander; and he states that wood, flowers and leaves are all 

 very poisonous, but I have heard of its being used out in India, 

 and I have read of fatal results. The resim is considered by 

 natives to be useful in easing colic and stomachic pains and 

 warming if taken internally; and externally, it is reputed to be 

 antiseptic, but I have not yet been able to find out why ! It is, 

 however, mostly used internally in hysteria. It makes a very 

 bright show when in full flower, its rosy red bloom being both 

 delicate and graceful. 



Ixora cocdnea, Yern. "Bakora." Torch tree. A shrub with 

 smooth obovate leaves, flowers bright scarlet in close umbels or 

 corymbs, calyx minute, corolla lobes, broad pointed. It is rather 

 like a geranium and is called also the "jungle g^eranium," and it 

 is probably the Bandhuka of Sanskrit poetry. 



Origanum Marjoram, Vern. "Marva." Majoram. A plant 

 with no particular beauty, it contains a volatile oil which is used 

 for different purposes and being aromatic in character is or has 

 been used in temples because it gave fore a sweet smelling savor 

 for the deities ; and its medicinal properties also make it acceptable 

 as a plant for the deities and for the native as w^ell. ISTow besides 

 the plants that are sacred to the deities already given, there are 

 a number more which are sacred to other deities or groups of 

 deities and the first of these is Kama or Kama Devi, the Hindu 

 cupid or god of love. He is the son of Lakshmi and is repre- 

 sented similarly to the way cupid is at the present day, but he may 

 ride on a red parrot or lory. 



The plants sacred to him are: Mesua Ferrea, Pandamus 

 fascicularis, Mangifera Indica, and Michelm cliampaca (already 

 described). 



Mesu Ferrea, Vern. "Kag Champa." Mesua. A beautiful 

 tree sometimes growing sixty or seventy feet high with oblong 

 lanceolate leaves, shining above and wdiitish beneath. Flowers, 

 solitary or in pairs, large silvery white with bright yellow anthers. 

 Fruit, oval and pointed. A tree which has been considered by 



