238 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Habitat: — Throughout the hotter parts of India, ascending 

 to 6000ft. in the Himalayas ; Lower country, Ceylon. 



An annual, rarely perennial herb. Stem simple long or 

 short, slender or robust, hispidly pubescent. Leaves lj-5in. ; 

 petiole hispidulous or merely ciliate ; leaflets very variable in 

 size i-J in., sometimes arched a little upwards, 6-15 pair, 

 oblong, nearly straight, nerves few or many, rather oblique, 

 often waved. Peduncles very variable. |-5in., hispid, some- 

 times swollen at the tip : bracts rigid, setaceous, pedicels usually 

 shorter than the sepals, sometimes equalling them or a little 

 longer. Sepals usually much exceeding the capsule, rigid, sub- 

 lanceolate, grooved, glandular and hispid. Petals usually twice 

 as long as the sepals. Capsule elliptic, shining, cells few- 

 seeded. Seeds with obliquely transverse, acute or obtuse 

 tubercled ridges, very variable. 



Flowers throughout the year. Petals golden-yellow witli 

 red veins. 



Uses. — The seeds are powdered and applied to wounds, 

 and with butter to abscesses to promote suppuration ; the root 

 in decoction is given in gonorrhoea and lithiasis (Rheede). 



J. Tndraji on the authority of Vaidya Rugnathji says that 

 the leaves act as a diuretic when given internally rubbed with 

 water. They allay thirst in bilious fevers. Dose \-\ a tola 

 (Virji Jhina). 



216. Averrhoa carambola, Linn, h.f.b.l, i. 439. 

 Roxb. 387. 



Sans : — Karma ranga. 



Vern : — Karmal, Khamrak Kamaranga (H) ; Kamaranga, 

 Kamarak (B) ; Kardai (Ass) ; Tamarak, Kamarakha (Guj); Ka- 

 maraka (Mar) ; Khamaraka, karamara (Bora) ; Khamrak (Deck' ; 

 Tamarata, tamarttamkay 'Tarn) ; Karomonga, tamartakaya (Tel) ; s 

 Tamarat-tuka (Mai) ; Kamarak (Ran). 



Eng : — Gooseberry tree or Chinese Gooseberry (Balfour). 



Habitat : — Cultivated in gardens throughout the hotter parts 

 of India as far north as Lahore. Common in Cylon gardens 

 introduced from the New World by the Portuguese, saysTrimen. 



