N. 0. ANONACEA. 45 



1 in. long, pubescent on pedicels as long as the flowers. 

 Exterior Petals 3, narrow-oblong, lanceolate, triquetrous, thick 

 and fleshy, 3 ; interior minute or wanting. Sepals small. 

 Stamens indefinite, crowded round a hemispherical torus. Con- 

 nective overlapping the anthers. Carpels many, subconnate 5 

 style oblong, Ovule, 1, erect. Ripe carpels confluent into a many- 

 celled ovoid or globose many-seeded fruit. Fruit fleshy, areolate, 

 2-4 in. diam, juicy with the pleasant and agreeable odour of 

 the English Heliotrope. Seeds oblong, brownish-black, 



This is the genuine Custard Apple of India. 



A native of the West Indies, naturalized in India, especially 

 the Western Peninsula, and the Dekkan, Bijapur ; in the Madras 

 Presidency in the Krishna district. Wild in the old Forts of 

 the Dekkan, cultivated as far as G-urdaspur in the Punjab. 



Parts used:— The fruit (both ripe and unripe) ; leaves, seeds. 

 roots. 



Uses : -The ripe fruit is medicinally considered a maturant, 

 and when bruised and mixed with salt, is applied to malignant 

 tumours to hasten suppuration, The seeds contain an acrid 

 principle fatal to insects, and the dried unripe fruit, powdered 

 and mixed with gram flour, is used to destroy vermin . An 

 infusion of the leaves is considered efficacious in prolapsus ani 

 of children, The root is considered a drastic purgative ; natives 

 administer it in acute dysentery. It is also employed inter- 

 nally in depression of spirits and spinal diseases. (T. N. 

 Mukerji.) The seeds are a powerful irritant of the conjunctiva. 

 Lt. Col. Kirtikar, while in charge of the Thana Central Prison, 

 came across a case in which a Life-Convict used the seed 

 powder in destroying the cornea of both eyes to produce blind- 

 ness for the purpose of avoiding being sent to the Andamans 

 to undergo his sentence there. 



The bruised leaves with salt make a cataplasm to induce 

 suppuration (Atkinson). 



35. A. reticulata, Linn, h.f.br.i., i. 78 ; Roxb. 

 453. 



Vern : — Louna, Ram-phal (H.) ; Nona (Beng\) ; Com (Santa!) ; 



