518 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



463. P. puddum, Roxb. h.f.b.i., ii, 314. 



Syn.: — P. sylvatica, Roxb. 403. Cerasus pudum, Wall. 



Sans. : —Pad maka, pad maksh. 



Vern.: — Paddam, paya (Hind.); Kongki (Lepcha); Chami- 

 ari amalguch (Pb.); Padma kastha, pad maka (Mar.); Pad ma 

 kathi, padmak (Guz.). 



Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Garhwal to Sikkim 

 and Bhotan. 



A middle-sized or large, deciduous tree. Bark pale-brown 

 to dark-brown, shining, peeling off in thin horizontal shining 

 layers. Wood moderately hard, scented ; sapwood white ; heart- 

 wood nearly glabrous. Leaves conduplicate in bud, glossy, 

 ovate, long acuminate, sharply serrate ; blade 3-5, petiole fin. 

 long, one or more conspicuous glands on petiole. Stipules 

 pinnately or palmately divided, the divisions linear, glandular- 

 fimbriate. Flowers white, pink or crimson, appearing before the 

 leaves in umbellate fascicles, approximate near the ends of 

 branchlets ; pedicels slender, as long as or longer than the 

 Calyx. Calyx turbinate, lobes ovate, acute. 



Fruit, a drupe oblong or ellipsoid, obtuse at both ends. 

 Flesh, scanty yellow, or reddish, J-f in. long, acid, somewhat 

 astringent. Stone ovoid, bony, rugose and furrowed, supported 

 by the calyx base, from which the tube separates after flowering. 



Use : — The kernel is used in stone and gravel. The bark 

 contains amygdalin, and the smaller branches are sold in the 

 bazaars as substitutes for hydrocyanic acid in native practice 



(Watt) . 



The seeds of the Bird cherry growing in the Himalayas yield a peculiar 

 oil remarkable for its siccative properties. A sample of the freshly express- 

 ed oil gave the iodine value (Hubl) 172. It dried to a skin in glass more 

 rapidly than boiled linseed oil. The pressed cake and seeds distilled with 

 water afforded considerable quantities of hydrocyanic acid and benzoyl 

 aldehyde (oil of bitter almonds.) 



464. P. communis, Huds. h.f.b.i., ii. 315. 



Habitat : — Western temperate Himalaya ; cultivated or indige- 

 nous from Garhwal to Kashmir. 



