210 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
186. Abroma augusia, Linn., h.f.b.i., i. 375, 
Roxb. 510. 
Syn. : — A. fastuosum, Gcertn. 
Vern. : — Ulatkambal (B.) ; Olatkambol (Bomb.) 
Habitat: — Throughout the hotter parts of India,, from 
the N. W. Provinces to Sikkim, Khasia Mountains, and 
Assam. Unknown in the Western Peninsula of India. 
A small tree native or cultivated throughout the hotter 
parts of India. Branches and branchlets downy. The bark 
yields a beautiful silky fibre like that of hemp, and the shrub 
has often been recommended for growth as a crop. Wood 
light brown, soft. Pores moderate-sized, subdivided usually 
into 2 or 3 partitions. Medullary rays very short, brown, 
and very fine, bent round the pores whose diameter is greater 
than the distance between them” (Gamble). Leaves 4-6 by 
4*5in., repand, denticulate, ovate from a cordate base, often 
lobed or angled ; basal nerves 5-7, upper smaller, narrower, 
entire, glabrescent above, soft-pubescent below. Petiole J-lin. 
Stipules linear, dociduous, as long as petiole. Inflorescence 
soft-pubescent. Peduncles “ extra axillary ” (Brandis), with two 
or three purple bisexual flowers. Flowers 2in. diam. Sepals 
lin., persistent, lanceolate, free nearly to the base. Petals cover- 
ed in bud, deciduous; claw concave. Staminal-tube short, 
4-petaloid. Staminodes alternating with sessile anthers. Cap- 
sule l|in., obpyramidal, ultimately glabrous, thrice as long as 
the persistent Calyx, membranous, 5-angled, 5-winged. 
Parts used : — The root, bark and leaves. 
Uses: — The root-bark has been brought to notice as an em- 
menagogue by Mr. B. M. Sircar, in the Indian Medical Gazette, 
for 1872. In the I. M. G. for May 1900, he wrote : — “ Forty 
years ago I first came to know the medicinal properties of this 
indigenous plant as a good emmenagogue in menstrual dis- 
orders. . . . The officinal part of the plant is the fresh 
viscid sap, which abounds in the thick, easily seperable bark of 
the root and is insoluble in water. 
