638 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
suckers, within an area of 2 Oft. around (See Vol. X.p. 260, 
Journal Bombay Nat. Hist. Society, Part 11, March 1896. 
K. R. Kirtikar’s Poisonous Plants of Bombay). Brancblets 
generally spinescent. Leaves membranous, varying exceed- 
ingly in shape, from oblong to elliptic-obovate, from 
obtuse to acuminate, blade 3-6 in.; petiole J-iin. long, pubescent 
on the under surface when full-grown. Flowers very fragrant, 
white, solitary or fasciculate, pedicels and Calyx hairy, petals 
lin. long, 5-10, usually 6, hairy outside. Fruit a berry f in. 
long, with a beautiful crimson (not-black) tough epicarp, a 
pulpy mucilaginous mesocarp and a bony endocarp. Seed 
oblong, solitary, pendulous. Cotyledons large, flat, with three 
basal nerves, in copious albumen which it is not ruminated 
(Brandis). 
Uses : — The root is described by Sanskrit writers as heating, 
pungent and acrid. It is laxative and useful in worms, colic, 
inflammations and poisonous bites. The fruit ts said to be 
■cooling, tonic, nutritive, useful in burning of the body, con- 
sumption, and in haemorrhage (U. C. Dutt). It has also a 
a reputation in leprosy. 
In native practice, the root-bark is used as anthelmintic and 
purgative. In Bombay, the leaves are used as a poultice to 
relieve rheumatic pains (S. Arjun). 
Dr. Moodeen Sheriff, in his most valuable Supplement to 
the Pharmacopceia Indica says : “ It has proved itself an efficient 
and safe emetic in doses of fifty grains ; in smaller doses 
it is nauseant and febrifuge. The bark is very bitter, and its 
repute in skin diseases is not without foundation.” 
In a further report upon this drug, he states : “ It is a good 
substitute for Ipecacuanha, and proves useful in all diseases 
in which the latter is indicated, except dysentery. As a dia- 
phoretic and antipyretic, it has been found useful in relieving 
pyrexia. Doses as a nauseant, diuretic and febrifuge : 6 to 10 
grains of the root bark ; as an alterative : 2 to 5 grains ; it is 
given in leprosy and syphilis ; the natives consider it to be 
alexiteric, especially in cases of bites from rabid animals,” 
