N. 0. EUPHORBIACEiE. 1131 



in a piece of the stem, closing the hole and exposing the stem 

 to the action of fire until it is charred. The milky juice of E. 

 neriifolia is usually administered internally by soaking other 

 purgatives and aromatics in it, so that by absorption of the juice 

 their purgative properties become increased. A similar method 

 is adopted when the juice is applied externally, a tent or issue 

 pea being prepared with some finely powdered drug and 

 steeped in it. Ainslie tells us that the native practitioners pre- 

 scribe the juice as a purge and deobstruent, in those visceral 

 obstructions and dropsical affections which are consequent of 

 long-continued intermittent fever, the quantity given for a dose 

 being about \ of a pagoda weight (20 grs.). Externally, mixed 

 with margosa oil, it is applied to limbs which have become con- 

 tracted from rheumatism. (Mat. Ind., Vol. II., p. 97.) In Bom- 

 bay the root is mixed with country liquor to make it more in- 

 toxicating, and the juice is used to kill maggots in wounds, and 

 is dropped into the ear to cure earache, a practice common to 

 many parts of India. In the Concan the stem is roasted in ashes, 

 and the expressed juice, with honey and borax, given in small 

 doses to promote the expectoration of phlegm ; sometimes the 

 juice of Adulsa is added. For asthma, Madar flowers, Aghada 

 root, and Gokaran root are steeped in the juice, powdered and 

 given with honey and chebulic myrobalans. Dose about 4 grains. 

 The author of the Makhzan-ul-Adwiya, under the name of Zakum 

 (Euphorbia), describes four Indian species, which are probably 

 E. antiquorum, E. neriifolia, E. Nivalia and E Tiruealli. The 

 milky juice of the first, he says, is mixed with the flour of Cicer 

 arietinum, roasted, and administered in pills as a remedy for 

 gonorrhoea. It has a strong purgative action. (Dymock.) 



1120. E. royleana, Boiss., h.f.b.i., v, 257. 



Vern : — Shakar pitan, tharlPb.); Sali, chula, shiin, chu, duro 

 (Himalayan names) ; Sihund (Kumaon) ; Afarbioon (Sincl). 



Habitat ' — Outer Himalaya, in dry hilly tracts from Kumaon 

 to the Jhelum. Salt Range. 



A small tree with fleshy branches. Wood soft, white, spongy. 

 Attains, 15-16ft., and has a girth up to 6ft. Branches with 5, 

 sometimes 7, broad, flat faces, separated by sharp undulating 



