N. 0. URTIOACE/E. 1185 



basal nerves 3-5. Flowers monoecious, the sexes often on 

 distinct branches. Spikes short, under 2 inches. Perianth of 

 male flewers : — Sepals hairy, elliptic. Sepals of females 4, the 2 

 inner flat or concave, the outer more or less keeled. Female 

 spikes ovoid, pedunculate. Styles free, short. Fruiting spikes 

 peduncled, white or red, sweet. 



Use:— The sweet, deep-red juice of the white or red form 

 of the fruit is used for sore-throat, and acts as a pleasant refri- 

 gerant in cases of fever. The fruit is employed, by hakims, as 

 remedy for sorethroat, dyspepsia and melancholia. The bark is 

 considered purgative and anthelmintic. (Punjab Products.) 



The seeds, on extraction with ether, yield 33 per cent (A) and on pressing 

 24 p. c, (B) of a thick golden-yellow oil with a faint odour and a pleasant 

 taste. It is very soluble in boiling 95 p. c. alcohol, soluble in an equal volume 

 of absolute alcohol at 39°C. or of acetic acid at 41°C ; easily soluble in all 

 fat solvents. 



1174. M. nigra, Linn., h.f.b.i, v. 492. 



If specifically distinct, this plant, cultivated in Baluchistan, 

 is allied to M. alba, Linn. The leaves are broader, firm, thick, 

 5-nerved, sub-sessile ; sepals and styles densely hairy, purple. 

 Fruit acidulous-sweet. 



Uses : — It is used like the other species of this genus. 



1175. Ficus gibbosa, Blume., h.f.b.i., v. 496. 

 Syn. : — F. excelsa, Vahl., Roxb. 641. 

 Savs. : — Udumbar. 



Vern. :— Datir (Bomb.); Umbar (Guz. and Mar.) ; Kouda- 

 juvee ; Tellabarin ka (Tel.). 



Habitat : — Bases of the hill ranges throughout India from 

 Kumaon eastwards to Burma and southwards to Ceylon. 



A small or at times large tree, erect, often epiphytic or 

 climbing, enclosing the trunk of trees in a perfect network of 

 branches or creeping along the walls and on the sides of wells. 

 "Bark thin, smooth, greenish-yellow. Wood light-brown or 

 grey, soft to moderately hard, divided into alternate, broad, hard, 

 dark, and narrow, light, soft, more or less wavy, concentric rings. 

 149 



