192 
INDIAN MEDIOINAL PLANTS. 
solution, which soon becomes violet and then gradually loses its colour ; the 
violet colour is developed immediately when hydrogen peroxide is added to 
the alkaline solution. Alkaline solutions of gossypol reduce both Pehling’s 
solution and ammoniacal silver nitrate. An alcoholic solution gives a dark 
green coloration with ferric chloride, which becomes dark reddish-brown on 
adding alkalis. The acetyl and benzoyl derivatives are very soluble in organic 
solvents, and were not obtained in crystalline form ; bromine and nitric acid 
also act on gossypol, but definite products were not isolated. Gossypol is 
not a glucoside. An analysis of the lead salt indicates the presence of two 
hydroxyl groups. Gossypol gives a grey shade, with iron mordants.— J. Ch. 8. 
1899 A I. 821. 
173. G. arboreum, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 347. 
Roxb. 520. 
Vern : — Nurma, deo kapas. (H.) ; Budi Kaskom, bboga 
kuskom (Santal.) ; Manna, radhia, nurma (N.-W. P.) ; Kapas 
(Pb.) ; Deva Kapusa (Mar.) ; Samparuthi (Tam.); Patti (Tel). 
, Habitat : — Plains of India, in gardens, but generally 
cultivated. 
Arborescent or shrubby plant, rarely an herb. Branches 
purple, pilose. Leaves nearly glabrous, one-glandular, deeply 
palmately 5-7-lobed, lobes linear oblong, mucronate, con- 
tracted at the base, often with a supplementary lobe in the 
sinus. Stipules ensiform. Flowers purple, rarely white. 
Bracteoles nearly entire, cordate, ovate, acute. Petals spread- 
ing; staminal-tube antheriferous for its whole length. Capsule 
about 1 in., oblong, pointed. Seeds free, covered with white 
wool overlying a dense, green down. Cotton not readily separ- 
able from the seed. 
Uses : — In Bombay, the root is used in the treatment of 
fever. 
In the Konkan, the root, rubbed to a paste within the juice 
of patchouli leaves, has a reputation as a promoter of granula- 
tion in wounds, and the juice of the leaves, made into a paste 
with the seeds of V ernonia anthelmintica, is applied to eruptions 
of the skin following fever. In Pudukota, the leaves ground 
aod mixed with milk, are given for strangury (Dymock). 
The petals squeezed and soaked in human or cow’s milk, 
