150 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Ran uhdi, sweet, i.e.. godi imdi, mid (Koncan) ; Punnag, suringi 

 (Alar.); Rati-nag-kesar (Guz.) ; Nagap-pu, nagashap-pu, 

 nagesar-pu, the flowers), (Tarn); Sura-poona (Tel); Wanai, 

 laringi (male), piine female', suringi. gardundi (Kan.); Seraya 

 (Malay. , 



Habitat : — Forests of the Western Peninsula, from Canara 

 to the Concan. 



A large evergreen tree, young branches terete, youngest 

 1-gonous — " Bark reddish-brown, Jin. thick, exuding a red gum. 

 Wood red., hard, close and even-grained. Pores moderately 

 broad, very numerous, the distance between them equal to or 

 less than, the diameter of the pores. Annual rings marked by 

 a dark line. Lines of soft texture numerous, but indistinct. 

 Numerous resin-ducts in radial long cells, which appear as 

 shining lines on a horizontal, and black points on a vertical 

 section 5 " (Gamble). Leaves 5-9 by 2~2iHn., thickly coriaceous, 

 dark green, base rounded, mid-rib stout, prominent, veins few, 

 indistinct, very slender, united by innumerable venules, which 

 give the dried leaf a very beautifully lacunose appearance ; 

 petiole short, stout, Jin. Flower-buds globose, used to dye 

 silk. Flowers highly fragrant, in dense fascicles. Male 

 and bisexual, fin. diam., on nodes clothed with subulate brac- 

 teoles in the axils of fallen leaves, or on the old wood. Pedicels 

 1 in. slender. Calyx bursting in 2 valves, reflected during the 

 flowering. Petals 4, acute, thin, deciduous, white, tinged 

 yellowish red, almost orange. Stamens many ; Style subulate, 

 Sitgma broad, discoid. Fruit obliquely ovoid, pointed, 1 in. 

 long, tipped by the hard pointed style, stipitate, L-seeded. 

 :; Flowers often hermaphrodite, and used for dying silk" 

 (Beddome). Flowering time January, to March, in the Konkan 

 forests. 



Part used : —The flower-buds. Fruit edible, when ripe, 

 sweet, refreshing. 



Uses : — The flower-buds possess astringent and aromatic 

 properties, and are sometimes prescribed medicinally (Dymock.) 



The flowers are stimulant and carminative. They are use- 

 ful in some forms of dyspepsia and in haemorrhoids. (Moodeen 

 Sheriff.) 



