210 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



186. Abroma augusta, Linn., h.f.b.i., i. 375, 

 Roxb. 510. 



Syn. : — A. fastuosurn, Gcertn. 



Yern. : — Ulatkambal (B.) ; Olatkambol (Bomb.) 



Habitat: — Throughout the hotter parts of India, from 

 the N. W. Provinces to Sikkim, Khasia Mountains, and 

 Assam. Unknown in the Western Peninsula of India. 



A small tree native or cultivated throughout the hotter 

 parts of India. Branches and branch! ets downy. The bark 

 yields a beautiful silky fibre like that of hemp, and the shrub 

 has often been recommended for growth as a crop. Wood 

 light brown, soft. Pores moderate-sized, subdivided usually 

 into 2 or 3 partitions. Medullary rays very short, brown, 

 and very fine, bent round the pores whose diameter is greater 

 than the distance between them" (Gamble). Leaves 4-6 by 

 4-oin., repand, denticulate, ovate from a cordate base, often 

 lobed or angled ; basal nerves 5-7, upper smaller, narrower, 

 entire, glabrescent above, soft-pubescent below. Petiole J-lin. 

 Stipules linear, dociduous, as long as petiole. Inflorescence 

 soft-pubescent. Peduncles " extra axillary " (Brandis), with two 

 or three purple bisexual flowers. Flowers 2in. diam. Sepals 

 lin., persistent, lanceolate, free nearly to the base. Petals cover- 

 ed in bud, deciduous ; claw concave. Staminal-tube short, 

 4-petaloid. Staminodes alternating with sessile anthers. Cap- 

 sule ljin., obpyramidal, ultimately glabrous, thrice as long as 

 the persistent Calyx, membranous, 5-angled, 5-winged. 



Parts used : — The root, bark and leaves. 



Uses: — The root-bark has been brought to notice as an em- 

 menagogue by Mr. B. M. Sircar, in the Indian Medical Gazette, 

 for 1872. In the Lit G. for May 1900, he wrote :— " Forty 

 years ago I first came to know the medicinal properties of this 

 indigenous plant as a good emmenagogue in menstrual dis- 

 orders. . . . The officinal part of the plant is the fresh 

 viscid sap, which abounds in the thick, easily seperable bark of 

 the root and is insoluble in water. 



