N. 0. AP0CYNACE.E. 787 



glabrous, coriaceous, shining above, dull and pale-green beneath, 

 oblong or ovate-oblong, elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate, subsessile 

 or narrowed into a short petiole, i-|in. long ; lateral nerves 

 numerous, straight, terminating in an intramarginal vein. 

 Flowers greenish-white in compact umbellately corymbose 

 pubescent, pedunculate cymes; the umbels whorled. Peduncle 

 l-2in. long. Calyx small, tV?* 11 - l° n £"' pubescent 5-lobed 

 lobes T ^in , oblong, ciliate. Corolla -J- Jin. diaui., villous inside ; 

 tube i-iin. long ; constricted in the middle, hairy on both 

 sides; lobes rounded, spreading, twisted in bud. Stamens 

 above the middle of the Corolla-tube, included, anthers acute. 

 Ovary of two distinct carpels. Fruit of two long slen-der 

 follicles, over a foot long, slender, flattened, peltately attached ; 

 densely ciliate, with long hairs all round (Kanjilal). 



The tree has obtained the trivial name scholaris from the facts of its 

 planks covered with a layer of sand being used as school-boards on which 

 children trace their letters, as in the Lancastrian system. The natives have 

 a superstitious fear of it, and say, it assembles all the trees of the forest 

 once a year to pay homage. (Graham.) 



Uses : — It is officinal in the Pharmacopoeia of India. The 

 bark of this is medicinally used as an astringent tonic, anthel- 

 mintic, alterative and antiperiodic. It is a valuable remedy 

 in chronic diarrhoea and the advanced stages of dysentery. It 

 is also useful in catarrhal fever. The milky juice is applied to 

 ulcers, and, mixed with oil, in ear-ache. "The tender leaves, 

 roasted and pulverised and made into poultices, act as a useful 

 local stimulant to unhealthy ulcers with foul discharges" (Surg. 

 Thompson, Madras). 



"The bark of this tree contains a bitter principle, known as 

 dcitain, which has been reported to be equal to quinine, while 

 free from its secondary effects. Largely used in the hospitals 

 of Manilla, but never been experimented within India." 



In the Concan, the bark is given in leprosy, an extract being 

 prepared from the fresh bark and given in milk ; it is also 

 prescribed in dyspepsia as an anthelmintic ; and the juice of 

 the leaves with that of fresh ginger root or zedoary is admi- 

 nistered to women after confinement. (Pharmacographia Indica, 

 Vol. II, p. 387.) 



