510 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Sirisha (B); Sirasa, shirrus, suri, (Sind); Vaghe, kat vaglie (Tarn.) ; 

 Dira san (Tel.) ; Chapot siris (Santal) ; Tinia (Uriya) ; Kalbaghi, 

 bengha, dirisana, goddalmnse (Kan) ; Chichola, mothasiras 

 (Mar.) ; Doli, saras (Panch mahals) ; Pilo sarshio (Guz.).. 

 Habitat : — From tropical Himalayas throughout India. 



A large, deciduous, unarmed tree. Bark brownish grey, 

 rough, with numerous short irregular cracks. Wood hard ; sap- 

 wood large, white or yellowish ; heart-wood dark-brown, streaked 

 with lighter or darker streaks. Leaves with glabrous or 

 downy rachises and a gland near the base of the main petiole ; 

 pinnas 4-8, with or without a gland between the lowest. Leaf- 

 lets short-stalked, rigidly sub-coriaceous, obliquely-oblong, ljin. 

 long, glabrous or finely grey, downy ; mid-rib prominent ; reti- 

 culate veins, nearly as prominent as secondary nerves. Flower- 

 heads many, large, white, fragrant, on penduncles, 2-4in. long, in 

 fascicles of 2-4 from the upper axils, forming short corymbose 

 racemes. Flowers liin. long to the extremity of stamens ; 

 pedicels very nearly as long as Calyx. Calyx half the length 

 of Corolla. Corolla greenish yellow, fin. ; teeth short, lanceo- 

 late. Style filiform. Pods thin, straw-coloured strap-shaped, 

 firm, yellow-brown, dehiscent, 8-12 by l-2in., 6-10-seeded. 



Parts used : — The seeds, bark, flowers and leaves. 



Uses : — The seeds form part of an anjan used for ophthalmic 

 diseases (Stewart). The oil extracted from them is considered 

 useful in leprosy. The bark is applied to injuries to the eye, 

 (Madden.) 



The bark and seeds are astringent, given in piles, diarrhoea, 

 etc. The flowers are used as a cooling medicine, and also 

 externally applied in boils, eruptions and swellings. The 

 leaves useful in ophthalmia (Baden-Powell's Pnnj. Products, 

 p. 345). 



" Powdered seeds have been successfully administered in cases 

 of scrofulous enlargement of the glands. A paste of powdered 

 seeds and water is useful as a local application at the same 

 time (Asst-Surg. Gholam Nabi). " The powder of the root- 

 bark is used to strengthen the gums when they are spongy 

 and ulcerative (Native-Surgeon, R. Moodeliar, Madras). 



