N. 0. EUI’HORBI ACE.1C. 
1153 
Filaments of the inner series connate. Anthers yellow, brownish- 
black when dry. Seeds oblong, large, black, |-£in. long, fin. 
broad, smooth. Albumen oily. 
It is a hardy plant, which has taken quite kindly to the soil of Western 
India whether it be in the Konkan or in tho Dckkan. In both these divisions 
of Western India, I have soon it grow profusoly as a hodgeplant, where no 
human hand has watered it. It evidently takes its nourishment from tho air, 
and from the soil in which it grows, depending mainly on the rain-water and 
dew, whenever it can got it. In the Konkan it gets its water-supply from 
the monsoon rains from June to October. Hooker says that the plant is 
over-green. It is pot so in tho Konkan. I have seen that in the Thana and 
Ratnagiri districts it is leafless, though in inflorescence during April and 
May. Nay in 1898 in Satara (Dckkan) I found tho plant leafless in January and 
February. The plant is a native of Brazil and of the West Indies.” (K. R. K.) 
Uses : — The seeds yield an oil which is used as a purgative 
and emetic medicine, and also as an application in cutaneous 
diseases. (Gamble.) In overdoses the seeds act as an acro- 
narcotic poison. The diluted oil forms a useful embrocation in 
chronic rheumatism. The leaves are extensively used in the 
Cape de Verd Islands, in the form of decoction and cataplasm 
to the mammte, as a lactagogue. ( Pharm . hid.) 
The root-bark is applied externally for rheumatism in Goa, 
and the same part of the plant, mixed with assafoetida and 
butter-milk, is, in the Konkan, prescribed in cases of dyspepsia 
and diarrhoea. (Dymock.) 
According to Dr. Evers the juice is useful as haemostatic. 
(I. M. G„ 1875, p. 66.) 
It may bo noted hore that like tho loaves of tho Castor-oil plant (Ricinus 
communis, Unit.) the leaves of Jatropha curcas have galactagogue properties. 
A decoction of the leaves is used in the Cape dc Verd Islands to excite 
secretion of milk in women (A. A. B. in Maunder’s Treasury of Botany, Part I, 
page S6S, Edition 1870). Dr. Bennett of Sydney (Australia) is credited with 
having made the following observation in his work entitled The Gatherings 
of a Naturalist 
“Tho milky acrid glutinous juice, when dropped on white linen, produces 
an indelible stain, at first of a light-bluo colour, but after being washed 
changes to a permanent brown : it might, therefore, form a very excellent 
marking ink." I have not been able to obtain such a stain. Will any of my 
readers help mo in settling this point? (K. R. K.) The oil of Jatropha 
curcas seeds is said to be of a light colour, and used as a substitute for 
Linseed oil, as well as for dressing cloth (Maunder’s Treasury of Botany.) 
It is also said to form a basis for tho red dye of tho cotton fabric known as 
Turkey red. 
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