200 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
“ The gum oxudes only from those portions of the bark which have been 
injured by decay or by insects, since incisions in the healthy bark do not 
cause the gum to flow. The gum first exudes in the form of a white, opaque, 
viscous mass, which readily turns red, and finally dries into hard, brittle, 
mahogany-coloured tears, the larger of which are hollow in the centre, the 
cavity being produced during the gradual drying of the jelly-like mass which 
first exudes from the tree. The fresh exudation contains about 84 per cent, 
of moisture which it loses on drying in air. The gum is best collected 
during the early part of the hot season— from March till June— since it has 
then lost most of its moisture, and consequently is less liable to ferment and 
deteriorate when it is stored.** 
“ Chemical properties of the gum.— The gum contains a considerabie quantity 
of tannin and belongs, in fact, to that class of tannin materials which Procter 
has classified as being of ‘ mixed and doubtful constitution.’ It contains also 
catechol tannin.” 
*' Hydrolysis of the gum . — Boiling the original substance with dilute acid, 
probably hydrochloric acid, yields a red coloured solution, together with 
an insoluble residufe which possesses the colour of crimson lake. For brevity’s 
sake this amorphous product will be referred to as ‘ 8 emu l red.’ It is only 
very moderately soluble in alcohol, and, therefore, this colouring matter does 
not possess the solubility ordinarily attributed to the phlobaphenes. The 
filtrate from the hydrolysis deposits a small quantity of a dark red, amorphous 
powder, and if the, tannin substances be removed by means of precipitation 
with lead acetate, and the excess of lead in solution be removed from 
the filtrate by means of sulphuretted hydrogen, then the residual liquid, 
freed from sulphuretted hydrogeD, ’will reduce Fehlings’ solution.” — J. Ch. I 
29-4-1911 p. 469. 
177. Eriodendron anfractuosum., D.C. h.f.b.i., 
i. 350. 
Syn. : — Bombax pentandrum, Roxb. 513. 
Vern. Safed sima], senibal, hatian (H) ; Swet Simal (B.) ; 
llavam (Tam.) ; Buruga, pur, buraga-sanna (Tel.) ; Tania, paniala 
(Mai.) ; Khatyan, safed-kbatyan (Dec.); shamicula, sapheta savara, 
shalmali, pandhari savar (Mar.) ; Biliburga, bili-barlu (Kan.). 
Habitat : — Forests, throughout the hotter parts of India, 
Ceylon. Native of Malay. 
A moderate-sized, deciduous tree. Bark greyish brown, 
green when young, peeling oil in round bosses. Wood yellowish 
or brownish while, soft. Trunk straight ; the primary branches 
horizontal, in whorls of three ; young parts, glabrous. Leaves 
