N. 0. PALMES. 1321 



Uses : — "The root is used as diuretic as also in uterine 

 diseases. The ashes of the leaves are used in medicines. The 

 fluid deposited in the interior of the cup is rubefacient and 

 is an effectual domestic remedy for ringworm. (U. C. Dutt). 

 The green fruit is given as a refrigerant, the flowers as an 

 astringent, and the oil employed as a substitute for codliver oil. 

 The milk of the nut, the juice from the flowering spikes, and 

 the tomentum from the leaves are all used medicinally. 



Water from the Green Nut. ■— " The water of the unripe 

 fruit is described as a fine-flavoured, cooling, refrigerant drink, 

 useful in thirst, fever and urinary disorders." (U. C. Dutt.) 

 " It may be drunk to almost any quantity without injury and 

 is considered by the native doctors as a purifier of the blood. *' 

 (Ainslie.) It is commonly believed in Bengal, however, that 

 too much cocoa-nut milk induces a hydrocele swelling of the 

 scrotum. 



The Edible Pulp and the Milk prepared therefrom. — The 

 pulp of the young fruit is nourishing, cooling and diuretic. 

 The pulp of the ripe fruit is hard and indigestible, but is used 

 for medicinal purposes. Ainslie says : " By scraping down the 

 ripe kernel of the cocoa-nut and adding a little water to it, 

 a white fluid is obtained by pressure, which very much resem- 

 bles the milk in taste and may be used as a substitute for it." 



" Dr. Shortt reports having sucessfully employed the fresh 

 milk. — i.e.. the expressed juice of the grated kernel—in debility, 

 incipient phthisis, and cachetic affections, in doses of from 4 to 

 8 ounces twice or thrice daily. It has a pleasant taste, and may 

 be used as an excellent substitute for cow's milk in coffee ; it 

 may thus be advantageously administered even to children. 

 In large doses, it proves aperient, and in some cases actively 

 purgative ; hence it is suggested by Mr. Wood as a substitute for 

 castor oil and other nauseous purgatives." {Pharm. Ind. 247.) 



The following is a prescription known in Hindu medicine 

 as N arikela-khanda : " Take of the pounded pulp of cocoa-nut 

 half a seer, fry it in 8 tolas of clarified butter, and afterwards 

 boil in 4 seers of cocoa-nut water till reduced to a syrupy con- 

 sistence. Now add coriander, pepper, bamboo manna, cumin 

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