1176 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
membranous, deeply 2-lipped ; segments concave, rounded. 
Stamens 2 ; filaments very short, free. Anthers scarlet. Female 
flowers solitary, shortly stalked ; spike thickened in fruit. 
Sepals 2-3, ovate, long-pointed ; ovary globose, 3-celled. Styles 
3, free, short, recurved. Capsule Jin. long, obscurely 3-lobed, 
fleshy when young. Seeds 3. 
Use : — The whole tree is full of an acrid milk which, when 
applied to the skin, produces vesication. (Lisboa.) 
1163. Excoecaria Agallocha, Linn., h.f.b.i., v. 
472 ; Roxb. 713. 
Vern. Gangwa, geor, uguru, geria (B. ) ; Guna (Uriya ; 
Geva (Bom.) ; Chilla, tella-chettu (Tel.) ; Harp (Kan.). 
Habitat : — Tidal forests on all the coasts of India. 
An evergreen, small tree. Bark grey, smooth, shining, with 
numerous, round, prominent lenticels. Wood very soft, spongy. 
Branchlets rather thick, marked with leaf scars, smooth. Leaves 
2£-3!in., alternate, oval, acute at base, shortly obtusely accumi- 
nate, obtuse, entire or obscurely crenate, rather thick; veins 
except midrib very inconspicuous. Petiole f-lin., slender. 
Spikes androgynous; male flowers at the base of spikes. 
Filaments much lengthening after flowering. Styles free, nearly 
to the base. Male flowers : — sepals minute, unequal, sub-serrulate. 
Capsule jin. diam., |-Jin. diam., very variable. (Trimen). Seeds 
glabrous, smooth. Flowers yellow, fragrant. Grows occasionally 
to 5ft. in girth and 40ft. in height. 
Uses : — The milky juice, which exudes from the bark of this 
tree when green and fresh, is very acrid and injurious to the 
eyes, hence it is called “ the blinding tree of India.” 
A decoction of the leaves is occasionally given by Hindu 
doctors in epilepsy, in the quantity of a quarter of a teacupful 
twice daily. This decoction is also used as an application to 
ulcers. (Ainslie.) 
From the lower part of the trunk and roots, a soft, light, 
reddish suber is obtained, which is sold by the itinerant medi- 
cine men of Western India, under the name of Tejbul, as an 
aphrodisiacal tonic. (Pharmacogr. Ind. III. 315.) 
