540 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
durable. Stem 6-10ft., at times 10-20ft Leaves deciduous, 
exstipulate, alternate, crowded at the extremities of branches, 
crenulate, pubescent, broad, elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 3-8in. 
long, 2-3in. broad ; base often unequal, the lower margin of 
the leaf tapering as it approaches the petiole and finally merges 
into the upper margin of the petiole, leaving the petiole slightly 
grooved at the ventral aspect. Apex obtuse, retuse, usually, 
sometimes acuminate, especially in the larger leaves ; margin 
entire ;'main lateral nerves arcuate, prominent, 5-8, often reddish. 
Petiole roundish, longer than £ length of the leaf. The tree 
sheds its leaves from January to March. Flowers small ; male 
and hermaphrodite on solitary, simple spikes, which are some- 
times erect, sometimes bent, sometimes drooping ; 3-6in. long, 
arising from the axils of fresh leaves, just before or about the 
same times of the year, as tender leaves shoot out. Roxburgh and 
Brandis condemn the flowers as of a dirty-grey or greenish 
colour ; but the crimson markings of the Calyx and the soft down, 
as also the bright yellow anthers, are by no means unattractive, 
though the odour is offensive. Male flowers usually on the 
upper part of the spike, sessile. Hermaphrodite flowers chiefly 
confined to the lower part of the spike qn short pedicels. Bracts 
linear, brown, very early caducous. Calyx deciduous. Corolla 
absent. Stamens 10. Filaments, 5 short, 5 long, arranged 
alternately, inserted below the Calyx-segments ; the larger 
ones twice the length of the Calyx. In tiie hermaphrodite 
flowers there is an epigynous disk, brownish, densely hairy. 
Style slender, filiform, projecting slightly beyond the filaments. 
Stigma simple, a mere depression at the apex. Ovary tomentose, 
1-celled, ovule pendulous from the apex of the cavity. Fruit lin. 
long, ovoid-ellipsoid or globose, grey-velvety. Nut thick-walled 
and hard. 
Uses : — Sanskrit writers describe beleric myrobalans as as- 
tringent and laxative, and useful in cough, hoarseness, eye- 
diseases, &c. As a constituent of triphald, or the three myro- 
balans, they are used in almost all diseases. The kernel of 
the fruits is said to be narcotic and astringent, and used as an 
external application to inflammed parts (Dutt). 
