638 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



suckers, within an area of 20ft. around (See Vol. X.p. 260, 

 Journal Bombay Nat. Hist. Society, Part 11, March. 1896. 

 K. R. Kirtikar's Poisonous Plants of Bombay). Branchlets 

 generally spinescent. Leaves membranous, varying exceed- 

 ingly in shape, from oblong to elliptic-obovate, from 

 obtuse to acuminate, blade 3-6 in.; petiole J-iin. long, pubescent 

 on the under surface when full-grown. Flowers very fragrant, 

 white, solitary or fasciculate, pedicels and Calyx hairy, petals 

 lin. long, 5-10, usually 6, hairy outside. Fruit a berry f in, 

 long, with a beautiful crimson (not-black) tough epicarp, a 

 pulpy mucilaginous mesocarp and a bony endocarp. Seed 

 oblong, solitary, pendulous. Cotyledons large, flat, with three 

 basal nerves, in copious albumen which it is not ruminated 

 (Brandis). 



Uses : — The root is described by Sanskrit writers as heating, 

 pungent and acrid. It is laxative and useful in worms, colic, 

 inflammations and poisonous bites. The fruit is said to be 

 cooling, tonic, nutritive, useful in burning of the body, con- 

 sumption, and in haemorrhage (U. C. Dutt). It has also a 

 a reputation in leprosy. 



In native practice, the root-bark is used as anthelmintic and 

 purgative. In Bombay, the leaves are used as a poultice to 

 relieve rheumatic pains (S. Arjun). 



Dr. Moodeen Sheriff, in his most valuable Supplement to 

 the Pharmacopoeia Indica says : " It has proved itself an efficient 

 and safe emetic in doses of fifty grains ; in smaller doses 

 it is nauseant and febrifuge. The bark is very bitter, and its 

 repute in skin diseases is not without foundation." 



In a further report upon this drug, he states : " It is a good 

 substitute for Ipecacuanha, and proves useful in all diseases 

 in which the latter is indicated, except dysentery. As a dia- 

 phoretic and antipyretic, it has been found useful in relieving 

 pyrexia. Doses as a nauseant, diuretic and febrifuge : 6 to 10 

 grains of the root bark ; as an alterative : 2 to 5 grains ; it is 

 given in leprosy and syphilis ; the natives consider it to be 

 alexiteric, especially in cases of bites from rabid animals." 



