358 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



and in the low country of Ceylon up to 2,000 feet," (Gamble, 

 Manual of Indian Timbers, 2nd ed. 195.) 



A large deciduous tree, leafing and flowering early in the 

 spring. i( Bark \ in. thick, grey, ex-foliating in small, rounded 

 plates of irregular shape and size, Wood very hard. Sap-wood 

 whitish ; heart-wood light and reddish brown. Pores scanty, 

 moderate-sized, often oval and sub- divided, often joined by 

 pale, interrupted, wavy and concentric lines. Medullary rays 

 very fine, very numerous, wavy, uniform and equidistant, closely 

 packed ; the distance between the rays less than the transverse 

 diameter of the Pores " (Gamble). Leaves paripinnate 8-16 in. 

 Leaflets opposite, sessile, 1-10 by §-4^ in., the lowest pairs the 

 smallest, 1-3 in. long ; terminal pair 6-9 in. long ; deep-crimson 

 when young, soon changing to green. Flowers yellow (green, 

 says Trimen) ; male and bi-sexual, generally on different trees, 

 fascicled on interrupted, often slender, racemes. Hiern says 

 flowers are yellowish or green. Calyx small, 4-cleft. Petals 

 0. Stamens 8-6, longer than Calyx ; filaments more or less 

 hairy ; disk flat, undulate. Ovary 3-4-celled. hairy ; style rigid ; 

 stigma sometimes capitate, 3-4-cleft, one, erect, ovate in each 

 cell. Fruit 1 in. long, usually echinate. Seeds 1-2 ; testa brown, 

 enclosed in a succulent arillus of pleasantly acid taste. Cotyle- 

 dons full of oil. This is the Ceylon Oak of the English 

 (Trimen). 



There is a female tree, found by Assistant-Surgeon 

 Johnstone, Sub 1. M. S., incharge of the Andheri Nasurwanji 

 Wadia Charitable Dispensary in the garden of Mr, Guzclar at 

 Andheri (Tirana District)— K R. K., 1915. 



Use:— The bark is astringent ; rubbed up with oil, the 

 natives use it to cure itch (Roxb.). 



The oil of the seeds proves a very efficient and stimulating 

 agent for the scalp, both cleansing it and promoting the growth 

 of hair (Ph. J., Dec. 3, 1887.) 



The oil is used by native practitioners for the cure of itch 

 and acne. 



The Santals use the bark by external application to relieve 

 pains in the back and the loins (Revd. A. Campbell). 



