1214 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



the outer bark consisting of distinct, thin, papery layers, peeling 

 off in broad, horizontal rolls. In these layers, the lenticels 

 appear as pink, elongated, oblong patches. Wood white, with 

 pinkish tinge, tough, even-grained, moderately hard. (Gamble). 

 Youngest shoots and leaves pubescent. Pith oblong. Leaves 

 2-3in. ovate, acuminate, irregularly serrate, glandular beneath, 

 slightly hairy along midrib and nerves, which latter are in 

 8-12 pair. Petiole f-f in. Bracts of male spikes ciliate, stipulate ; 

 anther-cells glabrous, save with a few hair at the tips. Female 

 spikes solitary, stout ; bracts pubescent, l-2in. by fr|in. diam. 

 Nuts with a narrow wing ; bracts in fruit coriaceous, deeply, 3- 

 lobed, broader than the wings of the nut. 



Uses : — The decoction of the bark is used as a wash in 

 otorrhoea and poisoned wounds. (U. C. Dutt ) The infusion of 

 the bark is used as a carminative ; it is prescribed also in 

 hysteria. It has also certain aromatic and antiseptic properties. 



1199. Quercus incana, Roxb., h.f.b.l, v. 603; 

 Roxb. 674. 



Vern. : — Banj, ban or ban (Kumaon) ; Sila supari (Kashmir) ; 

 Ban, ban, rin, rinj, vari, banj, mam, kharshu, shindar, kharpata 

 serei, daghun-ban (Pb.) 



Habitat: — Temperate Himalaya; from the Salt Range and 

 Murree to East Nepal. 



An evergreen tree, attaining 50-80ft.^ and trunk 4-12ft. 

 in girth ; bark dark-grey, rough with cracks and fissures. 

 Leaves 3-6 by l-2in., oblong or ovate-oblong or ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, mucronate-serrate, tough and coriaceous, 

 young pinkish and woolly all over, mature dark-green and 

 glabrous above, densely white or grey, rarely brownish, 

 tomentose beneath ; lateral nerves 12-20 pairs, straight, paral- 

 lel ; base acute ; petiole i-fin. long. Male spikes slender, 

 drooping, 2-4in. long, often much interrupted ; perianth 4-5- 

 lobed ; anthers glabrous. Female flowers axillary, sessile, soli- 

 tary or clustered on current year's shoots ; styles linear-clavate, 

 spreading. Acorn generally solitary, usually on current year's 

 shoots ; cup at first enclosing the nut, glabrate, rough, woody ; 



