150 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Ran undi, sweet, i.e., godi undi, und (Koncan) ; Ptinnag, suringi 
(Mar.) ; Rati-nag-kesar (Guz.) ; Nagap-pu, nagashftp-pu, 
nigesar-pu, (the flowers), (Tam) ; Sura-*poona (Tel ) ; Wanai, 
laringi (male), pune (female), suringi, gardundi (Kan.); Seraya 
(Malay.). 
Habitat : — Forests of the Western Peninsula, from Oanara 
to the Concan. 
A large evergreen tree, young branches terete, youngest 
4-gonous — “ Bark reddish-brown, |-in. thick, exuding a red gum. 
Wood red, hard, close and even-grained. Pores moderately 
broad, very numerous, the distance between them equal to or 
less than, the diameter of the pores. Annual rings marked by 
a dark line. Lines of soft texture numerous, but indistinct. 
Numerous resin-ducts in radial long cells, which appear as 
shining lines on a horizontal, and black points on. a vertical 
section” (Gamble). Leaves 5-9 by 2-2£in., thickly coriaceous, 
dark green, base rounded, mid-rib stout, prominent, veins few, 
indistinct, very slender, united by innumerable venules, which 
give the dried leaf a very beautifully lacunose appearance ; 
petiole short, stout, din. Flower-buds globose, used to dye 
silk. Flowers highly fragrant, in dense fascicles. Male 
and bisexual, fin. diam., on nodes clothed with subulate brac- 
teoles in the axils of fallen leaves, or on the old wood. Pedicels 
1 in. slender. Calyx bursting in 2 valves, reflected during the 
flowering. Petals 4, acute, thin, deciduous, white, tinged 
yellowish red, almost orange. Stamens many ; Style subulate, 
Sitgma broad, discoid. Fruit obliquely ovoid, pointed; 1 it), 
long, tipped by the hg,rd pointed style, stipitate, L-seeded. 
“ Flowers often hermaphrodite, and used for dying silk” 
(Beddome). Flowering time January, to March, in the Konkan 
forests. 
Part used : —The flower-buds. Fruit edible, when ripe, 
sweet, refreshing. 
Uses : — The flower-buds possess astringent and aromatic 
properties, and are sometimes prescribed medicinally (Dymock.) 
The flowers are stimulant and carminative. They are use- 
ful in some forms of dyspepsia and in haemorrhoids. (Moodeen 
Sheriff.) 
