N. 0. SAPOTACFwE. 745 



tened. Pedicels i-Jin., densely umbelled, glabrous or minute- 



1. 

 ly puberulous ; buds Jin. long. Flowers small, Calyx teeth, ftin., 



elliptic oblong ; petals Jin. ; style Jin., much longer than the 

 Corolla. Berry £in., globose, smooth, deep-red to black. 



Use:— Said to be the dan of Ceylon, the bark of which is 

 used as a febrifuge in fever and in diarrhoea, and also applied 

 externally to ulcers (Watt's Dictionary, I. 290). 



N. 0. SAPOTACE^. 



720. Achras sapota, Linn., h.f.b.i., hi. 534. 



Vern. :— Chikku (the fruit) (Bomb.) ; Sapota (H. and B.) ; 

 Shimai-eluppai (Tarn.) ; Sima-ippa (Tel.) ; Kumpole (Kan.) ; 

 Chakchakoti-kajbar (Duk.). 



Habitat : — Cultivated in many parts of India. 



A native of Tropical America, much cultivated in Indian 

 gardens, most excellent luscious fruit, which should be eaten 

 when slightly overripe, as says Gamble, in which I quite agree 

 with him (K. R. K.). C. B. Clarke says that fruiting bran- 

 chlets, communicated by Mr. Cantley from Perak, of a tree 80-100 

 ft. high, yielded gutta plentifully. The wood is reddish brown, 

 hard, with radial groups of pores in oblique patches, fine medul- 

 lary rays and irregular narrow, wavy, transverse lines (Gamble). 

 Leaves crowded near the ends of thick branchlets, shining, 

 elliptic-lanceolate ; blade 3-6in. Petiole slender, J-lin. long. 

 Flowers 6-merous, whitish ; stamens 6, alternately with lanceo- 

 late staminodes, resembling the corolla-lobes. Ovary 12-celled. 

 Fruit as large as an orange, rind rough, brown, thin. Seeds 

 5 or more, some undeveloped ones sharp as needles. The fruit 

 must, therefore, be carefully eaten, to avoid the sharp neeclle-like 

 abortive seeds, at times about J-in. long, hurting the mouth or 

 getting into the throat. Seeds black, shining, about ^in. long 

 when mature. 



Uses : — In the West Indies, the seeds are known to be aperi- 

 ent and diuretic, and the bark is reputed to be tonic and febri- 

 fuge. In the Concan, the fruit soaked in melted butter all 



94 



