1230 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



the principal interest attached to it having reference to its 

 poisonous properties. Thus, the leaves and young branches act 

 as a narcotico-acrid poison, both to the human subject and to 

 certain animals, but more especially to horses and cows. Fatal 

 cases of poisoning have also occurred from swallowing the fruit. 

 It is frequently stated that animals may feed upon the young 

 growing shoots with impunity, but that, when these have been 

 cut off, and left upon the ground for a short time, they are, then, 

 poisonous. This is an entirely erroneous notion for yew shoots 

 and leaves are poisonous both in a dried and fresh state. It 

 seems certain, however, that the red, succulent cup of the fruit 

 is harmless, for a fatal case of poisoning has been recorded of a 

 child from swallowing the entire fruit with its contained seed ; 

 whilst other children, who had partaken of the fruit at the same 

 time, but who had rejected all but the fleshy cup, suffered no 

 ill-effects." (Bentley and Trimen.) 



Dr. Dymock informs me that the dried leaves and twigs of 

 this plant constitute the talispatr of the Bombay bazars and 

 druggists' shop. While this is, no doubt, correct, it is rather 

 surprising that the plant Taxus baccata, in no vernacular, bears 

 the name Talisa, a fact that would point to the name talispatr 

 as but of modern application. Gamble says : " the bar, is used 

 in Kunawar as a substitute for, or mixed with, tea ; the berries 

 are eaten, and the leaves are exported to the plains as a 

 medicine." In Europe, the berries are (as already stated) 

 regarded as poisonous, but, in Manipur, I have seen them eaten. 

 The tree is common on the mountains bordering on Burma 

 and the Naga Hills. A twig is worn by the young unmarried 

 Naga females as a charm to prevent pregnancy—chastity being 

 exceptional before marriage. It is remarkable that, in Bengal, 

 the talispatr, as sold in the bazar, should be an Abies, a plant 

 possessed of carminative, expectorant and stomachic properties, 

 while, in Bombay, it should be the poisonous leaves of the yew 

 which possess emmenagogue, sedative and anti-spasmodic 

 properties. See Abies Webbiana. (Watt.) 



In Northern India, the leaves are largely employed for 

 medicinal purposes, under the name of birm or brahmi, chiefly 



