N. 0. APOOYNACE^:. 
787 
glabrous, coriaceous, shining above, dull and pale-green beneath, 
oblong or ovate-oblong, elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate, subsessile 
or narrowed into a short petiole, }-iin. long ; lateral nerves 
numerous, straight, terminating in an intramarginal vein. 
Flowers greenish-white in compact umbellately corymbose 
pubescent, pedunculate cymes ; the umbels whorled. Peduncle 
l-2in. long. Calyx small, jVim- long, pubescent 5-lobed 
lobes jJgin , oblong, ciliate. Corolla -§-Jin. diam., villous inside; 
tube f-iin. long ; constricted in the middle, hairy on both 
sides; lobes rounded, spreading, twisted in bud. Stamens 
above the middle of the Corolla-tube, included, anthers acute. 
Ovary of two distinct carpels. Fruit of two long slen-der 
follicles, over a foot long, slender, flattened, peltately attached ; 
densely ciliate, with long hairs all round (Kanjilal). 
The tree has obtained the trivial name scholaris from the facts of its 
planks covered with a layer of sand being used as school-boards on which 
children trace their letters, as in the Lancastrian system. The natives have 
a superstitious fear of it, and say, it assembles all the trees of the forest 
once a year to pay homage. (Graham.) 
Uses : — It is officinal in the Pharmacopoeia of India. The 
bark of this is medicinally used as an astringent tonic, anthel- 
mintic, alterative and antiperiodic. It is a valuable remedy 
in chronic diarrhoea and the advanced stages of dysentery. It 
is also useful in catarrhal fever. The milky juice is applied to 
ulcers, and, mixed with oil, in ear-ache. “The tender leaves, 
roasted and pulverised and made into poultices, act as a useful 
local stimulant to unhealthy ulcers with foul discharges” (Surg. 
Thompson, Madras). 
“ The bark of this tree contains a bitter principle, known as 
dcttain, which has been reported to be equal to quinine, while 
free from its secondary effects. Largely used in the hospitals 
of Manilla, but never been experimented within India ” 
in the Concan, the bark is given in leprosy, an extract being 
prepared from the fresh bark and given in milk ; it is also 
prescribed in dyspepsia as an anthelmintic ; and the juice of 
the leaves with that of fresh ginger root or zedoary is admi- 
nistered to women after confinement. (Pharmacographia Indica, 
Vol. II, p. 387.) 
