N. 0. ASCLEPIADEjE. 811 



Vern. : — Madar, ak, ag, ark, akond, akan (IT.): Akanda, 

 guartakand, swet-akond (B.) ; Ahauna (Santal.) ; Auk (Nepal); 

 Akra, riii, akanda mandara (Bomb.) ; Akanda, rui, akda cha 

 jhada (Mar.) ; Akado, akdamu jhada, dhola akdo (Guz.) ; Bij- 

 elosha (Sind.) ; Yercum, erukkam, erukku (Tam.); Jilledu, 

 jilleru, nella-jilledu, mandaramu, jilleduchettu, yekka (Tel.) ; 

 Yekka, ekke-male, yokada (Kan."); Erukku, yerica, belerica 

 (Mai.) ; Ivadrati (Gond.). 



Habitat : — Throughout India, chiefly in waste land. 



A middle-sized shrub ; young parts covered with appressed 

 white tomentum ; bark pale. Leaves subsessile, 4-8 by l-4in., 

 obovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, cottony be- 

 neath ; base cordate, often amplexicaul. Brand is says the flowers 

 are inodorous. They have a faint odour, not at all unpleasant. 

 Flowers downy outside, on pedicels, arranged in axillary or sub- 

 terminal pedunculate, simple or compound, umbels or corymbs ; 

 bud ovoid. Corolla l-lin. across, dull-purple or purplish lilac, 

 or white ; lobes ovate-lanceolate, spreading. Corona-scales 

 elongated, but truncate at the apex, hairy. Follicle 3-4in. long, 

 recurved. Seeds ovate, |in. long, with a bright, silk-white coma. 



Parts used : — The root ; bark ; leaves and juice. 



Uses : — " The root-bark is said to promote the secretions and 

 to be useful in skin diseases, enlargements of the abdominal 

 viscera, intestinal worms, cough, ascites, anasarca, &c. The 

 milky juice is regarded as a drastic purgative and caustic, and 

 is generally used as such in combination with milky juice of 

 Euphorbia neriifolia. The flowers are considered digestive, 

 stomachic, tonic and useful in cough, asthma, catarrh and loss 

 of appetite. The leaves, mixed with rock salt, are roasted within 

 closed vessels, so that the fumes may not escape. The ashes 

 thus produced are given with whey in ascites and enlargements 

 of the abdominal viscera. The root-bark, reduced to a paste 

 with sour conjee, is applied to elephantiasis of the legs and 

 scrotum. The milky juice of C. gigantea and Euphorbia nerii- 

 folia, are made into tents with the powdered wood of Berberis 

 asiatica, for introduction into sinuses and fistula in ano. The 

 milky juice is applied to carious teeth for relief of pain" 

 (Dutt). 



