318 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
bud. Staminal-tube 8-10-fid. Segments bidentate. Anthers 
between the subulate teeth of segments. Capsule £-§in. diam. 
Valves 2, broad, obtuse. Seed enclosed in a thin white arillus. 
Testa orange, brown afterwards.. 
Use : The bark and leaves possess bitter and tonic 
principles (Duthic). 
271 . Cara'pa moluccensis, Lam, h. f. b. i., 
i . 567 . 
Syv. : — C. obovata, Bl., Xylocarpus granaUim, Koen. 
Vern : — Poshur, pussur (B.) ; Kandalanga (Tam.) 
Habitat : — Muddy sea-coasts, throughout India and Ceylon. 
In Ceylon ‘ mangrove swamps, on the west coast ; rather rare. 
Trimen says. “ This is called the common ball tree from the 
great spherical hard fruit.” The Sinhalese name is Mudu- 
nelun ; but is generally reckoned with mangroves and called, 
like them, Kadol. 
An ever green tree, all parts glabrous. Bark thin, grey, 
peeling off in regular flakes. Wood red, hard ; sapwood lighter. 
Pores small to moderate sized, often subdivided, scanty. Medul- 
lary rays prominent, fine, numerous, uniform and equidistant 
Annual rings distinctly marked by a continuous belt of pores, 
and a dark line (Gamble). Stem 25-40ft. high; clear stem 
8-20ft. long, girth 4-6ft. Leaves abruptly pinnate, or occasion- 
ally simple, the smooth rachis brown or red ; leaflets in 2 or a 
single pair, rarely the one or other solitary ovate to obovate 
oblong, narrowed at base, very shortly petioluled, round or 
retuse at the apex, 3-4in. long, entire, fleshy, coriaceous when 
fresh, glossy on both sides. Flowers pinkish yellow (Trimen), 
rather small, nearly 4 in. in diam., on 3-4 in. long, thick 
pedicels, forming meagre, short, glabisus paniclhs or Tecemes 
in axils of the leaves. Calyx 4*cleft, the lobes rottmdate. 
Petals 4, about 2 in. long. Staminal-tube 8-lobed. Capsule 
globose, as .large as a small shaddok, or smaller, apiculate, 
containing 5-6 very large angular brown seeds. (Kurz FI. 
