N. O. APOCYNACE,E. 797 



An evergreen, glabrous shrub, 6-8ft., even 10-1 5 ft. Bark sil- 

 very grey. Wood white, moderately close-grained. Branches 

 many, slender, dichotomous. Leaves membranous in each 

 pair unequal, the larger 5-6 by 1-lfin., glossy, green, when 

 dry pale beneath ; elliptic-oblong, obovate or oblanceolate 

 obtusely acuminate or cordate, margins waved, nerves 6-8 

 pair, narrowed into a petiole i-Jin., axils of petioles glandu- 

 lar. Peduncles solitary or in pair, l-2in., pedicels slender. 

 Flowers pure white, fragrant, at night, often double, buds 

 clavate. Calyx small. Calyx-lobes broadly ovate, acute. 

 Corolla-tube f-lin., glabrous, dilated slightly below the 

 middle, limb 1-1 Jin. diam ; lobes obliquely ovate, obtuse, 

 margins curled ; mouth, with 5 glands. Anthers inserted below 

 the middle of the tube. Ovary glabrous. Follicles l-3in., 

 spreading and recurved, sessile or contracted into a sort of 

 stalk at the base, turgidly oblong, beaked or not, 3-ribbed. 

 Seeds 3-6, oblong, striated ; axil red, fleshy. The red axil may 

 give a dye, says Gamble. 1 have not seen the double variety 

 bear any fruit in Bombay or the Konkan (K.R.K.). 



Use : —The wood is employed medicinally as a refrigerant. 

 (Irvine). 



The milky juice mixed with oil is rubbed into the head to 

 cure pain in the eyes; the root chewed relieves toothache ; 

 rubbed with water, it kills intestinal worms ; with lime juice it 

 removes opacities of the cornea. (Rheede'. It is very cooling 

 in ophthalmia. (Ainslie). In Western India the milk has the 

 reputation of being very cooling, and is applied to wounds to 

 prevent inflammation. (Dymock.) 



The fresh roots were extracted with 80 per cent alcohol. From the 

 alcoholic extract, in addition to resins and extractives, a large amount of an 

 alkaloida principle was isolated, soluble in ether, and giving marked preci- 

 pitates with alkalies, choromate of potasb, and alkaloidal reagents, but 

 no special colour reactions were noted. The taste was bitter, and the 

 principle as deposited by spontaneous evaporation of an ethereal solution, 

 was in the form of a yellowish brittle varnish. (Pharmacographia Indica, 

 Vol. II, p. 414). 



759. Vallaris Heynei, Spreng. h.f.b.i., ill. 650. 

 Syn : — Echites dichotoma, Eoxb. 247. 



