382 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Vern. ■:— Khen (Manipur) ; Soothan (Tel.); Thitsi (Bur- 

 mese). 



Habitat : — Manipur. 

 A large, deciduous tree. Bark dark grey. Wood dark red, 

 with yellowish streaks turning very dark after long exposure ; 

 very hard. Branchlets very stout, velvety. Petioles, underside 

 of leaves, and panicles softly tomentose. Leaves obovate or 

 oblanceolate ; 6-14 by 4-6in., base cuneate ; nerves 28-30 pair, 

 stout, straight. Petiole flattened, winged, -J-lin. Panicles 1ft. 

 long, peduncled. Flowers white, lax, |in. diam. ; pedicels 

 slender ; petals pubescent. Stamens many, 20-30. Calyx 

 calyptriform, beaked, pubescent. Petals 5-6, eventually 2-4in. 

 long, linear-oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, reticulated, gland-dotted, 

 pubescent. Drupe red, glaucous ; f-fin. diam., stalk thick, 

 |in. long, supported by the oblong, stellately-spreading, 

 enlarged petals, 2-4in. long. Pedicel |in. The tree yields 

 the black Burmese lacquer or varnish from incisions made into 

 the bark, while the tree is in leaf (Brandis). 



Use : — The thick, greyish fluid, which is found in ever} 7 

 part of the plant, has been used in medicine as an anthelmintic 

 with great success. If the juice be too much handled, it causes 

 erysipelas-like swellings in certain constitutions, which are 

 cured by the application of an infusion of teak wood. 

 Separation of Constituents. 



Pure Thitsi extracted with hot alcohol. 



[ 



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Residue shaken with dry ether Alcoholic extract contains Urushic acid 



nd filtered. (about 85 per cent.) 



Residue boiled with water. Filtrate, distilled, dried and again 



I extracted with hot alcohol. 



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Residue oily or fatty matter Extract contains last traces of 



(smalt quantity). Urushic acid. 



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Final residue is Diastatic matter Aqueous extract contains Gum. 



(about 2 per cent). (Total (Gives the ordinary reactions 



nitrogen in this diastase = 4*7 of gum arabic. Amount about 



per cent.) 3 per cent.) 



