240 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



but as it is nut always procurable, I have not yet had an op- 

 portunity of trying it in those diseases. The firuit is also use- 

 ful in relieving thirst and febrile excitement." (Moodeen 

 Sheriff.) 



217. A Bilimbi, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 439. Roxb. 387. 



Vent : — Belambu, Bilimbi, Hind, and Dek. Koch-chit- 

 tamarta-kaya, Pulic7*-c/?akkay, Biliinbi-kaya, Tarn. Pulusu- 

 kayalu, Bili-bili-kayalu, Bilinibi-kayalu, Tel. Vilanbikka, 

 Vilimbi, Karic/iakka Malgal. Biliuibi, Beng ; Bombay Bilambu, 

 Guz. Kaala-Zoim-si, Kala-Zounya-si, Bur. (Sinhalese) Bilin. 



Fabitat : — Cultivated in gardens throughout India, also 

 naturalized as an escape. Cylon gardens, cultivated. 



A small tree. Wood white, tough, soft, very even-grained. 

 Pores small or moderate-sized, sometimes subdivided, very 

 scanty. Medullary rays extremely fine and indistinct, numer- 

 ous. Faint pale concentric regular bands, (Gamble). Leaves 

 paripinnate, alternate. Leaflets 6-14 pair, lower smallest, sub- 

 opposite, ovate-oblong, acuminate, unequal-sided at the base, 

 glabrous, pubescent on the nerves beneath, pale beneath ; 

 blade 2-20in. by 1-loin.; petiolules short. Flowers dark purple 

 brown says Talbot, dark crimson in Bombay (K. R. Kirtikar), 

 cauliflorous in short panicles from the old wood of the stem and 

 branches and from tender branches also. (K. R. K.). Brac- 

 teoles subulate. Sepals ovate, glabrescent, or with a few 

 shining hairs. Petals much longer than the sepals, pubescent. 

 Fruit oblong, acid, slightly furrowed, 2in. long, obtusely lobed, 

 juicy, greenish, yellow when ripe. Seeds without an arillus. 

 Part used : — The fruit. 



Uses : — Astringent, stomachic and refrigerant. 



The syrup of fruit is useful in relieving thirst, febrile excite- 

 ment, and also in some slight cases of haemorrhage from the 

 bowels, stomach, and internal haemorrhoids. The fruit itself, 

 in the form of curry, is a useful dietary article in piles and 

 scurvy. 



Preparation : — Syrup : Take of the juice of the ripe fruit, 

 strained through cloth, ten fluid ounces ; refined sugar, thirty 



