750 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



connective between the tips of the two cells giving this appear- 

 ance more strong] y than is indicated in the figure. 



Fruit velvety when young, obliquely ovoid, 2-seecled,^ l§in, 

 long. The sweet fleshy flowers dried and eaten. 



Uses : — It is astringent and emollient. Like B. latifolia, it 

 yields two important products— a fixed concrete oil and a spirit, 

 the former obtained by expression from the seeds, the latter by 

 distillation from the flowers. The oil said to be good for skin 

 diseases, flowers said to act as a mild laxative. 



The gummy juice is used in rheumatism by Vaids. The 

 bark in decoction as an astringent and emollient, and also as 

 a remedy in itch (Ainslie.) 



Economical uses of Bassia longifolia by Revd. Dr. John of Tranquebar. 



1. The oil pressed from the ripe fruit is used by the natives as common 

 lamp oil, who cannot afford to buy cocoanut oil. It is thicker, burns longer 

 but dimmer, smokes a little, and gives some disagreeable smell which common 

 people do not mind. 



2. It is a principal ingredient in making the country soap, and keeps 

 therefore often the same price with the cocoanut oil. 



3. It is to the common people a substitute in place of ghee and cocoanut 

 oil in their curries and other dishes. They make cakes of it, and many of the 

 poor get their livelihood by selling these sweet oil cakes. 



4. It is used to heal different out-breakings, such as the itch, &c. 



5. The cake left after the oil is expressed, is used for washing the head, 

 and is carried as a small article of trade to those countries where these trees 

 are not to be found. 



6. The flowers which fall in May are gathered by the common people, 

 dried in the sun, roasted and eaten as good food. They are also bruised and 

 boiled to a jelly, and made into small balls, which they sell or exchange for 

 fish, rice, and various sorts of small grain. 



7. The skin is taken off from the ripe fruit as well as the unripe, and after 

 throwing away the unripe kernel, boiled to a jelly, and eaten with salt and 

 capsicum. 



8. The leaves are boiled with water, and given as a medicine in several 

 diseases to both men and cattle. 



9. The milk of the green fruit and of the tender bark is given also as a 

 medicine. 



10. The bark is used to cure the itch. 



11. The wood is as hard and durable as Teak wood, but not so easily 

 worked, nor is it procurable of such a length for beams and planks, except on 

 clay-ground, where it grows to a considerable height, but in such a soil does 

 not produce so many branches, and is less fruitful than when in a sandy or 

 mixed soil, which is the best for them. In a sandy soil the branches shoot 

 out nearer to the ground to a great circumference, and give more fruit. These 



