252 FOREST trees; 



\ ■ 



References— Pharm. Ii}d. ; Diet. ofBcon. Prod.' 

 of Ind. 



A shrub 4 — 6 ft. Foliage greenisli-purple to 

 bronze or copper ; leaves large, subpeltate, not 

 unlike tlie leaf of the castor-oil plant. Young stem, 

 node, petiole, and margins of leaf, thickly furnished 

 with sticky glandular hairs, riower reddish-purple. 

 Capsule and seed about the same as in the castor- 

 oil plant. 



Abundant in nullahs and waste places, but proba- 

 bly naturalised. The authors of PharinacograpMa 

 Indica publish an Indian legend as to the manner in 

 which the plant was first introduced. It is virtually 

 looked upon by the masses as a useless plant,, 

 although medicinal properties are occasionally attri- 

 buted to its root, juice, and the oil expressed from 

 its seed. The latter product is valued as an appli- 

 cation to chronic ulcerations, and is straw-coloured. 

 The plant is readily propagated from cuttings. 



505 Jatropha curcas, Linn. Kan. Turuka haralu, 



Kadu haralu, Betta haralu, Mara h^aralu. 



Fig.— Bot. Plates Lal-Bagh Collection. 

 References.— Dict.ofEcon. Prod, of Ind.; Pharm. 

 Ind. 

 The poison, physic, or purging-nut tree. An 

 evergreen species of 16— 20ft., but most commonly 

 seen as a bush or fencing plant, in the vicinity of 

 villages and gardens. The Portuguese are allowed 

 the credit of having introduced the species from 

 Brazil, but it was probably established in India long 

 prior to their conquest. The whole plant is very 

 milky, and the freshly cut ends' of the young twigs 

 are popularly used by the peasantry as tooth brush- 

 es, the milky juice being considered beneficial to the 

 teeth and gums. The milk-sap is also a popular 

 and efficacious styptic ; dried in the sun, it forms a 

 reddish-brown substance resembling shell-lac. A 

 decoction of the leaves applied externally will excite 



