500 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



447. A. catechu, Willd., h.f.b.i., ii. 295. 



Syn. : — Mimosa catechu. 



Sans. : — Khadira i.e., the extract. 



Vern. : — The extract Kattha, khair (H.) ; Khayer (B.) ; Khoira, 

 koir (Ass.) ; Khoiru (Uriya) ; Vodalai, vodalam, karangalli, 

 baga, kasku kutti (Tarn.) ; Kanchu, Podali-manu, khadirama 

 (Tel.) ; Kadaram (Mala.) ; khair (Mar.) 



Habitat : — Through the Himalayas, from the Punjab to 

 Sikkim. 



A moderate-sized, gregarious, thorny, deciduous tree. Bark 

 dark grey or greyish— brown, rough, exfoliating in long, narrow 

 stripes which remain hanging. Wood very hard ; sapwood 

 yellowish white ; heartwood either dark or light red. Prickles 

 twin-hooked infra-stipular, compressed, brown, shining. Branch- 

 lets slender, thorny, glabrous, brown or purple, shining. 

 Common petiole 3-4in. long, often armed with scattered prickles. 

 Pinnae 10-20 pair ; leaflets 30-50 pair, linear, imbricate, glabrous 

 or pubescent, under Jin. long, turning brown on drying. 

 Flowers pale yellow, in cylindrical spikes ; petals three, the 

 length of the Calyx. Pods thin, brown, shining, dehiscent 

 strap-shaped, straight, dark-brown, shining, 5-6 — seeded, 

 2-3 \ by \-% in ; on a stalk ^- T 3 a in. long. Seeds Jin. diam., orbi- 

 cular. 



Uses : — Sanskrit writers consider it to be astringent, cooling 

 and digestive, useful in relaxed conditions of the throat, mouth 

 and gums, also in cough and diarrhoea. Externally, they use 

 it as an astringent and cooling application to ulcers, boils and 

 eruptions on the skin. 



In the Concan, the juice of the fresh bark is given with 

 assafoetida in haemoptysis, and the flowering tops with cumin, 

 milk and sugar, in gonorrhoea (Dymock). 



Mixed with aromatics it is used by the natives in melancholia; 

 powdered and mixed with water it is used in conjunctivitis 

 (Dr. Emerson.) 



Khersal or catechuic acid is found in cavities of the wood. 

 It is valued in native practice as a remedy in chest affections. 

 It is thought to promote expectoration. 



