2Q2 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



cylindric ; leaflets quite entire, 5-12in. oblong, elliptic-oblong, 

 lanceolate or oblanceolate, tip rounded, acute or acuminate, 

 shortly petioled ; nerves very faint, spreading. Cymes panicled 

 or subracemose^ short, shortly peduncled, few-flowered. Flowers 

 about Jin. diam., very fragrant, white. Calyx cup-shaped, 

 entire or irregularly 4-6-lobed, with the margin truncate. 

 Petals 4, fleshy (4-5, says Brandis), recurved, imbricate. 

 Stamens 8-10, filaments sometimes united almost to the top, 

 subulate, inserted round a cupular disk. Ovary 2-4-celled, style 

 stout, deciduous ; ovules 2, superposed in each cell. Berry 

 oblong, yellow when ripe, size of a pigeon's egg, rind smooth, 

 thick, obscurely 3-lobed, pulp resinous, odoriferous. Seeds 1-3, 

 pointed, ovoid ; cotyledons fleshy, albumen 0. 



Use : — The berries are used in preparing a perfumed medi- 

 cinal oil (Kakkolaka), and are sold in the bazaars of Bengal 

 under the name of Kakala ; they must not be confounded with 

 Kshirakakkoli, a pseudo-bulb from Nepal, composed of from 8 

 to 10 ovoid fleshy scales. Kakkola and Kshirakakkoli are 

 chiefly of interest as being the only two constituents of the 

 Ashta-varga or ' group of eight medicines,' which are known 

 to the modern Hindus. The Sanskrit names of the other six 

 plants are, Rishabha, Jivaka, Meda, Mahameda, Riddhi and 

 Vriddhi. (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol I, 268). 



234. Paramignya monophylla, Wight. , H. f. b. l, 

 i. 510. 



Vern. : — Kurwi Wageti ; Kari wageti, ranyid (Bomb and Goa): 

 Nat-Kanta (Nepal); Jhunok (Lepcha.) 



Habitat : — Sikkim, Himalaya, Bhotan ; Khasia Mountains ; 

 Western Peninsula ; the Western Forests, from the Concan 

 southward. 



A stout, climbing, evergreen, thorny shrub. Shoots densely 

 pubescent, the older branches, with sharp recurved axillary 

 spines |in. long. Bark white, corky, vertically cleft. Wood 

 white, hard, close-grained. Leaves coriaceous, numerous, 2-4in-, 



