1152 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



A glabrous tree-like shrub. Bark light -brown, shining. 

 Leaves orbicular, palmately cut into numerous narrow, entire or 

 sub-divided, caudate, acuminate segments, 3-9in. diam., glaucous 

 beneath. Petiole about as long as the blade. Stipules capil- 

 lary, multifid, eglandular ; bracts and entire sepals glabrous. 

 Cymes long, peduncled. Flowers and peduncle, scarlet ; petals 

 free ; anthers linear. Disk of female flower areolate. Observe 

 the presence of the corolla in this plant unusual in the Euphor- 

 biacas. 



Uses : — The seeds are regarded as a powerful purgative. Dr. 

 Waring once saw a case of poisoning from three of these nuts. 

 Violent vomiting and purging, intense pain and heat in the 

 stomach, with great prostration of the vital powers, were the 

 principal symptoms. The patient recovered under the use of 

 lime juice, diluted with water, and stimulants. (Ph. Ind.) 



1144. J . curcas, Linn., h.f.b.i., v. 383 ; Roxb. 

 689. 



Vern. : — Bagberenda, safedind (H. and B.) ; Kadam (Nepal) ; 

 Kaat-amunak (Tarn.); Nepalam (Tel.') ; Thinbankyeksu (Burm.); 

 Mogali-eranda (M.); Yerand, Jepal (Bomb). 



Habitat: — Common near villages, cultivated and naturalized 

 throughout India. 



An everegreen shrub. Trunk short, irregular. Young shoots 

 and cymes glandular, tomentose, with an opaque, saponaceous 

 juice ; bark grey or light-brown, smooth, shining, peeling off in 

 thin papery flakes. Wood white, or greyish-white, spongy, solt, 

 corky in texture, loaded with starch. Pith well-marked and 

 dense in young and topmost branches. Leaves angular or 3-5- 

 lobed or broadly cordate, 4-6 by 3-5in. Lobes acute or obtuse, 

 quite entire. Petiole 5-9in. long. Flowers yellow or yellowish- 

 green, monoecious in terminal or sub-terminal corymbose cymes. 

 The central flower in the cyme or in its fork is always female. 

 Bracts small, entire, one below each sub-di vision of the cyme, 

 and generally one pressing on the calyx. Sepals 5 imbricate, 

 slightly puberulous, lanceolate, greenish. Corolla tubular, 

 villous within ; limb 5-lobed. Stamens 10 in 2 series. (Kanjilal.) 



