240 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLAN fS. 
but as it is not always procurable, I have not yet had an op- 
portunity of trying it in those diseases. The firu.it is also use- 
ful in relieving thirst and febrile excitement.” (Moodeen 
Sheriff.) 
217. A Bilimbi, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 439. Roxb. 387. 
Vern : — Belambu, Bilitnb'i, Hind, and Dek. Koeh-chit- 
tamarta-kaya, Pulich-e/iakkay, Bilimbi-kaya, Tam. Pulusu- 
kayalu, Bili-bili-kayalu, Bilimbi-kaya! u, Tel. Vilanbikka, 
Vilimbi, Karichakka Malgal. Bilimbi, Beng ; Bombay Bilambu, 
Guz. Kaila-Zoun-si, Kala-Zounya-si, Bur. (Sinhalese) Bilin. 
Habitat : — Cultivated in gardens throughout India, also 
naturalized as an escape. Cvlon gardens, cultivated. 
A small tree. Wood white, tough, soft, very even-grained. 
Pores small or moderate-sized, sometimes subdivided, very 
scanty. Medullary rays extremely fine and indistinct, numer- 
ous. Faint pale concentric regular bauds, (Gamble). Leaves 
paripinnate, alternate. Leaflets 6-14 pair, lower smallest, sub- 
opposite, ovate-oblong, acuminate, unequal-sided at the base, 
glabrous, pubescent on the nerves beneath, pale beneath ; 
blade 2-20in. by l-15in.; petiolules short. Flowers dark purple 
brown says Talbot, dark crimson in Bombay (K. E. Kirtikar), 
caulillorous in short panicles from the old wood of the stem and 
branches and from tender branches also (K. R. K.). Brac- 
teoles subulate. Sepals ovate, glabrescent, or with a few 
shining hairs. Petals much longer than the sepals, pubescent. 
Fruit oblong, acid, slightly furrowed, 2in. long, obtusely lobed, 
juicy, greenish, yellow when ripe. Seeds without an arillus. 
Hart used : — The fruit. 
Uses : — Astrin gen t, stomachic and refrigerant. 
The syrup of fruit is useful in relieving thirst, febrile excite- 
ment, and also in some slight cases of haemorrhage from the 
bowels, stomach, and internal haemorrhoids. The fruit itself, 
in the form of curry, is a useful dietary article in piles and 
scurvy. 
Preparation : — Syrup: Take of the juice of the ripe fruit, 
strained through cloth, ten fluid ounces ; refined sugar, thirty 
