842 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 26, 1873. 
veined, blunt or pointed at both ends, copper-red, 
always much twisted at the base. 
Indigenous in South India ; extensively planted in 
North Western India, as far north as Sahamupoor. 
A variety, A. imberbiflora is found in Queensland. 
The aromatic bark is used by the natives in dyspepsia. 
Dr. Wight mentions that in the Circars the bark is 
regarded as a powerful febrifuge, and as a tonic in 
cases of debility. The wood is soft, white, light, and 
not durable, but is used for catamarans, and made into 
sword-handles and sheaths for spears in Western 
India ; the pith is large, and not much used. The 
roots throw up abundant suckers, and the tree has 
therefore been employed in the plantations made to 
clothe barren stony hills near Nice. 
3. A. malabarica , DC. Prodr. ii. 89 ; Wight, Ic. t. 
1604 ; W. and A. Prodr. 150 ; Thwaites, Ceyl. PI. 69; 
Rheede, Mai. vi. t. 15. A lofty tree with very large 
leaves; the leaflets very distant, on long stalks, the 
two sides of the midrib very unequal, nearly or quite 
entire, the margin often thickened and wavy, nearly 
glabrous, much lighter beneath. The flowers as in 
A. excelsa , but rather larger. Stamens with very 
slender exserted filaments many times as long as 
anthers. Samarae large, broadly linear, 2% inches 
long by | inch wide, rounded at both ends, reddish, 
not twisted. 
Malabar; Travancore ; Ceylon ; also in Cochin 
China. The bark has a pleasant and slightly bitter 
taste, and is given in cases of dyspepsia, and is also 
considered a valuable tonic and febrifuge. It yields 
a fragrant resin known as “ Muttee-pal ” which may 
become valuable as an article of trade. Reduced to 
powder, mixed with milk, and strained, this resin is 
given in small doses in dysentery, and also in bron¬ 
chitis, and is reputed to be an excellent remedy, 
chiefly owing to its balsamic properties. The fruit, 
triturated with mango, and mixed with rice, is 
reckoned useful in cases of ophthalmia. Wight states 
that the bark is rough and very thick, and studded 
with bright garnet-looking grains, apparently of a 
resinous nature, which do not dissolve in either 
alcohol or water. Mr. Broughton, the Government 
Quinologist, reported upon this resin as follows :— 
“ The resin, as commonly met with, is dark brown 
or grey in colour, is plastic, opaque, and has an agree¬ 
able smell. It contains much impurity. The pure 
resin is very soft, having the consistence of thick 
treacle ; and this is doubtless the reason why it is 
always mixed with fragments of wood and earth, 
which make it more easy to handle. The sample 
which I examined contained but 77 per cent, of resin, 
the remainder being adulterations. Alcohol readily 
dissolves the resin, and, on evaporation, leaves it as 
a very viscous, transparent, light brown semi-liquid, 
which does not solidify by many days’ exposure to a 
steam heat; when burnt, it gives out a fragrance, 
and hence it is sometimes used for incense. The 
perfume is, however, inferior to that produced by 
many other resins employed in the concoction of the 
incense employed in Christian and heathen worship. 
The peculiar consistency of the resin would enable it 
to be used as a substitute for Venice turpentine for 
many purposes, though its price (6 rupees for 25 lb. in 
the crude state) forbids an extensive employment.” 
2. Samadera, Gcert. 
Larger or smaller trees, with glabrous habit and 
simple leaves. Flowers hermaphrodite, in very 
long-stalked axillary or terminal umbels. Calyx 
small, 3-5 cleft, imbricate. Petals 3-5, much larger 
than the calyx, coriaceous, imbricate.* Disc large, 
conical. Stamens 8-10, included in the corolla, with 
a small scale at the base. Ovary of 4-5 distinct 
carpels, free ; styles free at the base, more or less 
united above ; stigmas acute ; ovules solitary, pen¬ 
dulous. Fruit of 1-5 large, dry, compressed 1-seeded 
drupes, with a narrow wing on one side. 
This genus includes only three species, two of 
them natives of the Indian Peninsula, Malacca, and 
Ceylon, the third of the island of Madagascar. 
1. S. indica , Gaert. Frut. ii. t. 156 ; Wight. Ill. t. 
68 ; W. and A. Prodr. 151; Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 7; 
Planch, in Hook. Jl. Bot. v. 562; Thwaites, Ceyl. 
PI. 70.— Niota pentapetcda , Poir. Encycl. iv. 490, 
DC. Prodr. i. 592; N. tetrapetala, Wall, (not of Lam. 
DC.); N. Lamarckiana, Bliune; Vittmania elliptica , 
Vahl. symb. iii. t. 62. A small tree, 30-35 feet, with 
stout branches. Leaves fleshy, 8 inches long by 
3 inches broad, or larger, elliptic-lanceolate, blunt, 
with short thick petioles. Flowers yellowish-white, 
numerous, in dense umbels, on short pedicels sur¬ 
mounting a very long peduncle, equalling the leaves 
in length. Calyx small, thick, ciliated, persistent 
in fruit. Petals narrowly oblong, often apiculate. 
Stamens double the number of the petals; filaments 
very long, with a scale at the base. Ovary usually 
of four distinct carpels. Fruit large, inch by 
1 inch, oval, coriaceous, quite glabrous, smooth or 
slightly reticulated. 
Western Peninsula and Ceylon. Colonel Drury, 
in his ‘ Useful Plants of India,’ says that this tree 
grows abundantly in Travancore and Cochin, and is 
propagated easily from seeds. The bark, known as 
“ Niepa” bark, has febrifugal properties, and is used 
by the natives for this purpose. An oil is extracted 
from the kernels of the fruit, which is extensively 
used in rheumatism on the western coast, and is 
procurable in the bazaars. In erysipelas the bruised 
leaves are applied externally. The seeds are strung 
together, and tied round children’s necks as a pre¬ 
ventive of asthma and affections of the chest. The 
following directions for the use of the bark, known 
as “ kharinghota,” are given in the Technologist: — 
u Decoction as a febrifuge. Take six ounces ol rasped 
wood, three pints of water, boil over a slow fire until 
reduced to one pint, and strain. Dose. Two ounces 
to be taken three times a day. It may be given in 
all stages of fever. When taken during a febrile 
paroxysm, it should be given in three-ounce doses. 
It abates the severity of the symptoms, shortens the 
paroxysm, and hastens the cure. Sometimes nausea 
and vomiting occur after taking the dose. This will 
rather favour the recovery of the patient than other¬ 
wise. In such cases the dose should be lessened to 
one ounce, and repeated at greater intervals, or it 
may be given during the paroxysm only. In recent 
cases the fever is generally speedily subdued by the 
decoction. An infusion of the wood may at all times 
be used as a general tonic, and it is a perfect substitute 
for the infusion of quassia in the following form:— 
Take two drachms of the rasped wood, one pint of 
boiling water; infuse for two hours in a covered 
vessel, and strain. Dose. One ounce as a bitter tonic 
to in nrove the appetite and invigorate the system. 
It is of a light lemon colour, and a good vehicle for 
the administration of iron, iodide of potassium, etc.” 
* Erroneously described as valvate in BentLam and 
Hooker’s ‘ Genera Plantarum.’ 
