322 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



A large deciduous tree, with a dense spreading crown. 

 Bark thin, grey, dark brown, exfoliating when old, in irregular 

 woody scales. Wood brick red, soft, shining, even-grained, 

 fragrant; seasons readily ; does not split or warp (Gamble). 

 Leaves paripinnate, l-2ft. long, generally glabrous. Leaflets 

 8-30, usually opposite, 2-6 by f-2lin., lanceolate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, sometimes pubescent beneath ; margins 

 entire, usually wavy ; base acute, somewhat oblique. Petiolule 

 |-fin. long, slender. Flowers cream-coloured, scented like 

 honey, in ample drooping panicles. Calyx short, lobes ciliate. 

 Petals g-Jiu. long, free, oblong or ovate, ciliate. Disk hairy at 

 the orange-coloured lobes. Stamens 5, inserted on the lobes of the 

 disk. Stigma capitate, with a large depression at apex. Cap- 

 sule septifragally dehiscent, |-lin long by i-l'm. diam., oblong 

 or oblanceolate, dark brown. Seeds reddish brown, light, with 

 a submembranous wing at either end, about Jin. long, including 

 the wings. 



Dun and Sharanpur, generally in marshy places. Tropi- 

 cal Himalaya, from the Tndus eastward throughout the hilly 

 districts of Central and Southern India. Burma. Absent in 

 Ceylon. 



It is known as the red Toon. 



Parts used :— The bark and flowers. 



Uses : — The bark of this tree is a powerful astringent, and 

 may be resorted to when other remedies of the same class are 

 not available. Dr. Waitz (Bis. of Children in Hot Climates, 

 p. 225/ used with success an extract of the bark in chronic in- 

 fantile dysentery. Blume attributes valuable antiperiodic vir- 

 tues to it, and in this character it is favourably noticed by Dr. 

 J. Kennedy [Ann. of Med. 1796, Vol.1, p. 387). Dr. JE. Ross 

 speaks of it as a reliable antiperiodic, and, Dr. J. Newton, as a 

 good substitute for cinchona. The dose of the dried bark is 

 about an once daily in the form of infusion. The powder of the 

 bark was found by Dr. Kennedy to be of great service as a local 

 astringent application in various forms of ulceration. (Ph. Ind.) 



The flowers, called gul-tur in Bombay, are considered 

 emmenagogue. 



