214 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Colonel Cox says that the wood reduced to a powder acts 
as an emetic, and is employed by the natives as an antidote to 
opium poisoning. 
189. G. asiatica, Linn, h.f.b.i., i : 386., 
Roxb. 431. 
Sans, : — Purusha. 
Fern. : — Phalsa, shakri (B. and H.) ; Phalna, pharnu (Pb.) ; 
Phutiki (Tel.) ; Singhindamin (Kol.) ; Jangolat (Santal) ; Ta- 
.dachi (Tam.'; Pastaoni, shikarira-ai-wah (Pushtu) Pharaho, 
phalsa (Sind). 
Habitat ■ — Cultivated in India, except in the Gangetic 
plains and East Bengal, and said to be indigenous in the Salt 
Range, Poonch and Oudh, Ceylon. 
JV.B. — Kan j Hal's Syn. of this plant is G. Asiatica Var. vestita, Wall, (See 
p. 65. For. FI. Sch. Circ., N. W. P., 3rd Ed. 1911, Calcutta). 
The following is Kanjilal’s description : — “A tree with grey 
bark ; branches and young plants with large white blotches. 
Leaves 3-5 by 2-2f in., obliquely ovate, generally not cordate, 
acuminate, minutely serrate, sometimes obscurely 3-lobed, pale 
and softly downy beneath, especially when young ; basal nerves 
5-6 ; petiole generally not exceeding £in. ; stipules linear. 
Flowers in densely crowded (rarely solitary) axillary ..cymes ; 
peduncles J-f in. long, not ribbed. Sepals slightly pubescent, 
and yellow inside. Petals yellow, much shorter than the sepals. 
Drupe globose, £-5 in. diam., sometimes indistinctly 2-4-lobed-, 
dark brown, or black when ripe.” 
Kanjilal further remarks: — On comparing a number of 
specimens collected by me, Mr. Duthie was satisfied that G. 
elastica, Royle, was quite distinct from G. vestita, Wall., on the 
grounds that in the former the innovations were dark rusty- 
tomentose, the petals not glandular at the base, and the leaves 
very frequently lobed. .(p. 66 of cit.) Wood grey, tough, elastic, 
hard and close-grained. The bark yields white fibre. Fruit 
edible. 
Parts used : — The fruit, leaves, bark and root. 
