358 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
and in the low country of Ceylon up to 2,000 feet.” ( Gamble , 
Manual of Indian Timbers, 2nd ed. 105.) 
A large deciduous tree, leafing and flowering early in the 
spring. “ Bark k in. thick, grey, ex-foliating in small rounded 
plates of irregular shape and size. Wood very hard. Sap-wood 
whitish ; heart-wood light and reddish brown. Pores scanty, 
moderate-sized, often oval and sub- divided, often joined by 
pale, interrupted, wavy and concentric lines. Medullary rays 
very fine, very numerous, wavy, uniform and equidistant, closely 
packed ; the distance between the rays less than the transverse 
diameter of the Pores ” (Gamble). Leaves paripinnate 8-10 in. 
Leaflets opposite, sessile, 1-10 by Mi in -> the lowest pairs the 
smallest, 1-3 in. long ; terminal pair 6-9 in. long ; deep-crimson 
when young, soon changing to green. Flowers yellow (green, 
says Trimen) ; male and bi-sexual, generally on different trees, 
fascicled on interrupted, often slender, racemes. Hiern says 
flowers are yellowish or green. Calyx small, 4-cleft. Petals 
O. Stamens 8-6, longer than Calyx ; filaments more or less 
hairy ; disk flat, undulate. Ovary 3-4-celled, hairy; style rigid ; 
stigma sometimes capitate, 3-4-cleft, one, erect, ovate in each 
cell. Fruit 1 in. long, usually echinate. Seeds 1-2 ; testa brown, 
enclosed in a succulent arillus of pleasantly acid taste. Cotyle- 
dons full of oil. This is the Ceylon Oak of the English 
(Trimen). 
There is a female tree, found by Assistant-Surgeon 
Johnstone, Sub I. M. S., incharge of the Andheri Nasurwanji 
Wadia Charitable Dispensary in the garden of Mr. Guzdar at 
Andheri (Thana District)--K. IL Ii., 1915. 
Use : — The bark is astringent ; rubbed up with oil, the 
natives use it to cure itch (Roxb.). 
The oil of the seeds proves a very efficient and stimulating 
agent for the scalp, both cleansing it and promoting the growth 
of hair (Ph. J., Dec. 3, 1887.) 
The oil is used by native practitioners for the cure of itch 
and acne. 
The Santals use the bark by external application to relieve 
pains in the back and the loins (Revd. A. Campbell). 
