N. 0. MYRTACE^. 559 



Boktok (Lepcha) ; Dambel (Garo.); Pailasputa tammi (Tarn.); 

 Kumbir (Santal) ; Asunda (Kol.) ; Buda-durmi, buda darini ; 

 dudippi (Tel.); Kaval (Kan.) ; Govuldu (Mysore). 



Habitat. — Throughout India, from the Himalaya to Travan- 

 core and Tenasserim. 



A large, deciduous tree, turning red in the cold season. 

 Bark i'm. thick, dark-grey, with vertical and diagonal cracks, 

 exfoliating in narrow flakes ; linear substance reddish, fibrous. 

 Wood moderately hard ; sap wood whitish large ; heart wood dull 

 red, sometimes claret-coloured, very dark in old trees ; even- 

 grained (Gamble). Leaves membranous, obovate, narrowed 

 into a short marginate petiole, crenate ; secondary nerves promi- 

 nent, 10-12 pair. Flowers 2-4in. across, sessile, with an un- 

 pleasant smell, each supported by 3 unequal bracts ; a few 

 flowers clustered at the end of branchlets ; petals white or 

 greenish white, l-2in. long, filaments purple ; ovules in 2 rows 

 in each cell. Fruit green, globose, fleshy, 2-3in. diarn., crowned 

 by the persistent calyx-segments and the remains of the long 

 slender style. 



Parts used. — The bark, flowers, juice and fruit. 



Uses. — The bark is used as an astringent medicine by the 

 natives. " The bark is applied to the wound in snake-bite and 

 an infusion of the same is given internally" (Rev. A. Camp- 

 bell, Manbhum). 



The flowers are given in Sindh as a tonic after child-birth 

 (Murray.) In Bombay the natives use the flowers as well as the 

 juice of fresh bark with honey as a demulcent in coughs and 

 colds (Dymock). 



The fruit is also astringent and used as a decoction to pro- 

 mote digestion (S. Arjun, 55). It is also pickled by Banyas 

 of Gujrat. 



" A miner who was at work in some gold fields in Australia, 

 poisoned his hand, and a bad ulcer formed on the knuckle of 

 one of his fingers. Ordinary treatment having proved useless, 

 Dr. Armitt, F. L. S., tried, at the recommendation of a native, 

 some leaves of the Careyamade into a pulp and used as a poul- 

 tice four times a day. In five days the ulcer had disappeared. 



