1154 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



The juice has been very successfully used by me in the 

 treatment of scabies, eczema and ringworm, (B. D. B. » 



Oil was separated from seeds by treatment with alcohol into a non-poison- 

 ous insoluble and a poisonous soluble part. The toxic constituent, ciirauolic 

 acid, was isolated from the soluble portion by stirring with a hot saturated 

 solution of baryta, washing the resulting paste with cold water, drying, 

 extracting with ether, evaporating the ether solution, extracting the residue 

 with absolute alcohol, and treating the alcoholic solution with sulphuric 

 acid. It set to a jelly at about 10°C. 



Curcin, the toxic principle isolated from fat-free curcas seeds by extrac- 

 tion with physiological Sodium chloride solution, was very sensitive to acid, 

 and had a retarding influence on the coagulation of blood. (J. S. Ch. I. for 

 30-6-1914, p. 651). 



The seeds yield about 34 per cent, of oil and the kernels about 52 per cent. 

 The oil is yellow when fresh, becoming reddish on exposure to the air ; it has 

 an unpleasant odour, and strong purgative properties, more pronounced than 

 those of castor oil. Curcas oil yields about 10 per cent, of solid fatty acids 

 melting at 57'5° ; the liquid fatty acids consist of about equal proportions of 

 oleic and linolic acids. The specific gravity is 0*919 to 0*921 ; saponification 

 value, 193*2 ; iodine value, 98*3 to 104*9 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 0*55; Maumene 

 test, 65 to 68°. The fatty acids (95*5 per cent.) melt at 24-26° ; iodine value, 

 105. (Agricultural Ledger, 1911—12, No. 5. p. 163.) 



1145. Aleurites moluccana, Willd,, h.f.b.i., v. 

 384. 



Syn. :— A. triloba, Roxh. 670. 



Sans : — Aksota. 



Vern. :— Akrot, Akola, Jangli-akrot, (H. and B.) ; Khasife 

 hinde, Jouzebarri, (Ar.); Girdagane hindi, Chahar maghze 

 hindi, (Pers.) ; Jangli, Eranda, Jelapa, Jangli akhrota Japhala, 

 Akhod (Mar.) ; Akhoda, (Guj.) ; Akrota, (dutch) ; Nattu akrotu 

 kottai, (Tarn.) ; Natu-akrotu-vlttu (Tel.) ; Nat-akrodu (Kan.) ; 

 Vadam (Mai.) ; Kakkuna (Singh.) ; To-sikya-si OBurm.^ ; Kanyin, 

 Mak yau lik, Mak man yaii (Shan) Buah keras, Kanieri (Malay). 

 The names given in most parts of India to this tree are those 

 which more properly belong to the Walnut, the akrot. It is, 

 therefore, advisable to add the word " wild," e.g., Jangaliakrot. 



Habitat :— Occurs in various parts of India, especially the 

 Malayan Peninsula. Wild in the Wynaad. 



A large, evergreen tree, 40-60 ft., indigenous probably in the 

 Malay Archipelago, cultivated in most tropical and subtropical 

 countries, and here and there naturalized. Shoots, young leaves 



