Iil2 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



are sometimes found irregular masses of harder, much darker- 

 coloured-wood, with a honey-like scent, which constitute the 

 Aloe or Eagle-wood of commerce. Leaves 2-3Jin., thinly coria- 

 ceous, shining, caudate, acuminate; secondary nerves slender, 

 with numerous, parallel, intermediate nerves ; petiole i l oin. 

 Flowers white, in many-fid ; sessile or shortly peduncled, silky 

 umbels ; pedicels slender, ^in. long. Perianth persistent in fruit, 

 £in. long, silky without, densely villous within. Fruit thinly 

 velvety, l|-2in. long, obovoid, thinly coriaceous. 



Uses : — The fragrant resinous substance is considered cordial. 

 It has been prescribed in gout and rheumatism. (Ainslie.) 

 It is a delightful perfume, serviceable in vertigo and palsy, and 

 the powder is useful as a restrainer of the fluxes and vomiting. 

 In decoction, it is useful to allay thirst in fever. (Lourerio.) 

 An essential oil prepared from the wood is also used medi- 

 cinally. The wood is a preventive against fleas and lice, and in 

 the form of a powder is rubbed into the skin and the clothes. 

 In medicine, aloes wood is considered a stimulant and cordial in 

 gout, rheumatism and paralysis, also as a stimulant astringent 

 in diarrhoea and vomiting. It is taken internally as a tonic in 

 doses of ten to sixty grains. Under the name of agalocki, Celsus 

 ranks it among medicines which invigorate the nerves. The 

 wood has long had a place in the Materia Medica of the Pharma- 

 copoeias of Europe, but it does not appear to possess any pro- 

 perties that call for its admission to modern local practice. 

 (Pharmacog. Ind.) 



N. 0. EL^EAGNACE^L 



1101. Elaiagnus hortensis, M. Bieb., h.f.b.i., v. 

 201. 



Vevn.i— Sanjit (Afg.) ; Sirshing (Tibet); Shiulik (U.P.); 

 Botvir, Gangu (Kashmir). 



Habitat: — Western Himalaya. 



A small, deciduous tree or large shrub, 12-30ft. high, often 

 spinous, young, silvery. Bark light grey, thick, fibrous, smooth, 



