N. 0. SIMAUUBE/E. 
285 
Habitat : — Western Peninsula, throughout the South Concan 
and Malabar. Moist low country. Ceylon. 
A small glabrous tree, 30-35ft., with stout branches. “ Bark 
pale, transversely cracked. Wood light yellow, soft, no heart- 
wood. Pores small, very scanty. Medullary rays very fine, 
uniform, closely-packed ” (Gamble). Leaves simple, 8 by 3in. 
or larger, blunt, with short thick petioles, coriaceous, elliptic — 
oblong, shining, quite entire. Flowers numerous, bisexual, 4- 
merous, pinkish yellow, in dense pedunculate umbels, short- 
stalked. Calyx small, thick, ciliated, persistent in fruit. 
Petals narrowly oblong, often spiculate, f-lin. loDg. Stamens 
twice as many as petals ; filaments, with a small hairy scale at 
base, very long. Ovary on a gynophore, usually deeply lobed. 
Fruit oval, ljin. by 1 in . (Bennett), of one carpel, thickly coriace- 
ous, shining, compressed, keeled, 2 by -1 Jin. (Brandis.) 
Parts used : — The bark, leaves, seeds and oil. 
Use : — “The bark is used by the natives as a febrifuge. An 
oil extracted from the kernels of the fruit forms a good applica- 
tion in rheumatism. The bruised leaves are externally applied 
in erysipelas. The seeds are worn round the neck as a prevent- 
ive' of asthma and chest affections. An infusion of the wood 
is also taken as a general tonic” (Rheede and Drury). 
The root is used medicinally by the Singhalese. An in- 
fusion of leaves is a good insecticide and destructive to white 
ants (Trimen.) 
“An infusion of the wood is taken as a general tonic. This 
drug may well be used as a substitute for quassia” (Dymock . 
From the seeds were obtained (1) A fatty oil, forming 63 p. e. of the 
whole, and consisting- of triolein 88, tripalmitin 8, and tristearin 4 p. c.; (2) a 
proteid, soluble in alcohol and in water, and containing 18 p. c. of nitrogen ; 
(3) sucrose ; (4) a sugar that reduces Fehling’s solution directly ; (15) inositol ; 
(6) a crystalline bitter substance.. 
From the bark (1) The same bitter substance as from the seeds; (2) 
a crystalline bitter substance crystallising in yellow plates, probably an 
anthraquinone derivative ; (3) a'tannic acid belonging to the group of phloro- 
glucotannoids ; (4) ellago tannic acid ; ;5) a tannic acid closely resembling 
tannin ; (6) a large amount of inorganic salts. 
From the wood (1) A bitter substance crystallising in yellow, rhombic 
prisms ; (2) a bitter substance very closely allied to quassiu. 
