Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Sapindaceæ
N. 0. SAPINDACEÆ.
310. Cardiospermum helicacabum, Linn. H.F.B.i., i. 670, Roxb. 335.
Eng, :-— Balloon-Vine, Heart Pea or Winter Cherry.
Sans. : — Jyotishmati, Kâravî.
Vern. :— Latâphatkarî, nayâphatki, noaphutki, sibjhûl (B.) ; Hab-ul-kal-kal (seed) (Pb.) ; Karolio (Guz.) ; Kânphutî, bodhâ, khibjal, Naphat (Bom.); Mûda-cottan (Tam.); Walla gûlisienda, kanakaia, bûdha-kakara (Tel.); Penel-wel (Sinhalese) ; Kâgdolio (Porebunder).
Habitat : — Throughout India, chiefly in Bengal and the North- Western Provinces, Ceylon, Malacca.
A sub-scandent annual. Stem slender, strongly furrowed, slightly branched, glabrous, young parts puberulous. Leaves biternate. Petiole long, 2-3 in., spreading or deflexed, furrowed. Leaflets sessile or shortly stalked, ovate, tapering at base, acute, deeply incised-serrate, glabous, thin, flaccid. Flowers very small, 1/6 in., on slender pedicels 3-7 in., a very small cyme, terminating to stiff, slender, horizontal, axillary peduncle 4 in., long, and provided beneath the cyme with 2 opposite reflexed, circinate or hooked tendrils. Sepals rounded, the outer pair very small. Petals rounded, scarcely clawed ; scales of upper ones emarginate. Style very short. Capsule on a short, slender stalk, bladder-like, ½-¾ in. wide, depressed-pyriform, trigonous, truncate at top, winged at the angles, valves papery, veiny, finely pubescent. Seeds 1/6-¼ in., globular, glabrous, black, the aril heart- shaped, white.
Parts used : — The roots, leaves and seeds.
Uses : — The Sanskrit writers describe the root as emetic, laxative, stomachic and rubefacient. Combined with other medicines, they prescribe it in rheumatism, nervous diseases, piles &c. The fried leaves are said to bring on the secretion of the menses (Dutt). The seeds are officinal ; and the root is considered by the native practitioners diaphoretic, diuretic and aperient. It is mucilaginous, and imparts this property to water, rendering it nauseous, and is thus administered in fevers. Rheede says that on the Malabar Coast the leaves are administered in pulmonic complaints. According to Ainslie, the leaves mixed with castor oil, are employed internally in rheumatism and lumbago.
The whole plant rubbed up with water is applied to rheumatism and stiffness of the limbs. The leaves, mixed with jaggery, and boiled in oil, is a good specific in sore-eyes (RHEEDE).
The whole plant, steeped in milk, is successfully applied to reduce swellings and hardened tumours (Drury).
In the Punjab, the seed is used as a tonic in fever, and a diaphoretic in rheumatism (BADEN POWELL).
The juice of the plant promotes the catamenial flow during the menstrual period. It is also a demulcent in gonorrhœa and in pulmonary affections (BADEN POWELL).
The Hindu practitioners in South India, especially those in villages, frequently employ the leaves and root of C. kelicacabum in the treatment of several diseases, including rheumatism, gravel and calculi ; but I have only seen the juice of the leaves, in about three-ounce doses, producing a good and satisfactory result in two cases of acute rheumatism. In each of these cases, the drug acted upon the bowels and produced four or five loose motions, but the relief it afforded to the pain and other symptoms of rheumatism was distinctly more than that generally observed in the same disease under the use of ordinary purgatives. This is the chief cause of my including the above plant in this work (MOODEEN SHERIFF).
311. Æsculus hippocastanum, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 675.*
Eng. Horse-chestnut.
Vern:— Pû (Pb.).
Habitat : — Found in India only in a state of cultivation.
North America, Temparate Asia, Asia Minor ; Central Asia.
Large trees, often reaching 50-60 ft., with a broad pyramidal outline or shrubs. Trunk erect. Leaves opposite ex-stipnlate, digitately composite ; leaflets 7, broad, unequal in size, serrate. Flowers irregular, polygamous, interminal, more or less elongate, branched cymiferous racemes. Cymes often 1-parous. Lobes of gamophyllous tubular Calyx 5, unequal, imbricate. Corolla snowy white, dashed with pink and yellow, inodorous. Petals 5, or, the 5th place vacant, 4, unequal unguiculate ; claw linear, compressed or canaliculate ; limb in-appendiculate, imbricate. Stamens 5-8, subcentric ; filaments free, interior to annular or unilateral disk. Sub-hypogynous, erect or arcuately declinate. Anthers introse, 2-rimose, dehiscent by two longitudinal clefts. Germen (in male flower rudimentary) sub-centric, sessile, 3-locular, the ovular coat is double. Style terminal, elongate, apex stigmatose, simple. Ovules in cells 2, inserted in the internal angle ; one ascendent ; raphe ventral ; the other descendent ; raphe dorsal. Fruit capsular, 3-locular, smooth or more rarely echinate, coriaceous, globose or sub-3-lobed, loculicidal, cells, 1-3, 1-2-spermous. Seeds sub-globose ; hilum large. Testa smooth, coriaceous, exarillate. Cotyledons of ex-albuminous embryo thickly fleshy, hemi-spherical, conferruminate. Radicle arched, more or less sheathed within the testa. The pollen is ellipsoid.
- In Hooker's F. B. I., contributor W. P. Hiern says, at p. 675; "the Æsculus Hippocastanum, Linn, is said to be indigenous in North India, but it is not now known in the wild state (1875 A. D.)"— K. R. K.
In 1874-1877 I used to see a row of some excellent, huge, Land some horse-chestnut trees along the garden enclosing wall of the Kensington Gardens, London (K. R K.)
Uses : — The fruit and bark Lave for long been regarded as useful in the treatment of fevers as an anti-periodic. Esculine, in doses of 15 grains, is said to have been found useful in malarial disorders.
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Chemical Abstracts for Jan. 20, 1914. p. 384.
312. Æ. indica, Colebr. h.f.b.l, i. 675.
Eng. : — Indian horse-chestnut.
Vern. : — Bankhor, gugu, kanor, pankar (H.) ; Gun, kanor (Pb.) ; Kishing (Kumaon) ; Home, hanûdûm (Kashmir) ; Torjaga (Trans-Indus).
Habitat :— Western Himalaya, from the Indus to Nepal.
A large, deciduous tree, with scaby sticky, buds. Bark grey ; when old, exfoliating upwards in long flakes or thin bands, which remain attached to the upper ends and hang down outwards, having a straight appearance. Wood white, with a pinkish tinge, soft, close-grained. A very handsome tree, reaching 100 ft. or more in height, in suitable places, with perhaps 25 ft. in girth. Leaves opposite, digitate, ex-stipulate ; common petiole 4-6 in. long. Leaflets 5-9 ; 6-10 by 2-3½ in., the centre ones the largest, oblanceolate, or oblong, acuminate, sharply serrate ; lateral nerves 15-22 pair, arcuate ; base acute. Petiolules 1/5-1 in., long. Bud scales about 1½ in. long, membranous, caducous. Flowers white, horizontal, in large thyrsoid, cyme-bearing, terminal panicles. Calyx 1/5-⅓ in. long, tubular, with 5 short, rounded lobes, often split longitudinally in open flowers. Petals 4, the place of the 5 usually vacant, white and yellow, 3/5-4/5 in. long, clawed, unequal in breadth. Stamens 7 filiform, curved upward, longer than the petals ; anthers variable. Disk one-sided. Ovary sessile, 3-celled ; style simple, sessile, slender, Fruit a 1-3-celled. Capsule, 1½ in. long, ovoid, rough outside. Seeds ex-albuminous, about 1¼ in. diam. dark brown, smooth, shining. Hilum about ½ in. diam.
Use : — The fruit is used for horses in colic. It is also applied externally in rheumatism ; for this purpose the oil is generally extracted from the seeds (WATT).
313. Schleichera trijuga, Willd., H. F. B. I., i. 681, Roxb. 331.
Vern. — Kosum, kusum, gausam, (Hind.) ; Puvatti, (Kaders.) ; Baru, (Santali ; Kol.) ; Kosum, kohan, kosimb, peduman, (Mar); Kosum, kocham, kosumb, gosam, assumar, (Guj.); Komur, pusku, (Gond.) ; Rusam, (Uriya) ; Kussam, kojba, (C. P.) ; Samma, jamoa, gausam, kussumb, (Pb.) ; Pava, pu, pulachi, zolim buriki, pumarum, pularari, puva, (Tam.) ; Pusku, posuku, pusi, may, mayi, rotanga, roatanga, (Tel.) ; Sagdi,' sagade, akota, chakota, (Kan.) ; Chendala, (Coorg) ; Puva, (Mal); Gyo, kyetmouk, kobin, (Burm.) Kon, kong, conghas, (Sing.)
Kusum is the Hindustani name for the Safflower plant, and perhaps refers to the colouring matter of the lac-insect which often feeds upon the tree. The seeds are called paka or pacca in Calcutta.
Habitat. — " Dry, chiefly deciduous forests in the greater part India, Burma, and Ceylon, but apparently absent from Bengal and Assam. It is found from the Sutlej to Nepal in the lower Himalaya, Sub-Himalayan tract and Siwalicks up to 3,000 feet, throughout Central India, the East and West coast regions, the Deccan and Carnatic, in all deciduous forests throughout Burma and in the low country of Ceylon up to 2,000 feet," (Gamble, Manual of Indian Timbers, 2nd ed. 195.)
A large deciduous tree, leafing and flowering early in the spring. "Bark ½ in. thick, grey, ex-foliating in small, rounded plates of irregular shape and size, Wood very hard. Sap-wood whitish ; heart-wood light and reddish brown. Pores scanty, moderate-sized, often oval and sub- divided, often joined by pale, interrupted, wavy and concentric lines. Medullary rays very fine, very numerous, wavy, uniform and equidistant, closely packed ; the distance between the rays less than the transverse diameter of the Pores " (Gamble). Leaves paripinnate 8-16 in. Leaflets opposite, sessile, 1-10 by ⅔-4¼ in., the lowest pairs the smallest, 1-3 in. long ; terminal pair 6-9 in. long ; deep-crimson when young, soon changing to green. Flowers yellow (green, says Trimen) ; male and bi-sexual, generally on different trees, fascicled on interrupted, often slender, racemes. Hiern says flowers are yellowish or green. Calyx small, 4-cleft. Petals 0. Stamens 8-6, longer than Calyx ; filaments more or less hairy ; disk flat, undulate. Ovary 3-4-celled. hairy ; style rigid ; stigma sometimes capitate, 3-4-cleft, one, erect, ovate in each cell. Fruit 1 in. long, usually echinate. Seeds 1-2 ; testa brown, enclosed in a succulent arillus of pleasantly acid taste. Cotyledons full of oil. This is the Ceylon Oak of the English (Trimen).
There is a female tree, found by Assistant-Surgeon Johnstone, Sub I. M. S., incharge of the Andheri Nasurwanji Wadia Charitable Dispensary in the garden of Mr, Guzdar at Andheri (Thana District)— K R. K., 1915.
Use:— The bark is astringent ; rubbed up with oil, the natives use it to cure itch (ROXB.).
The oil of the seeds proves a very efficient and stimulating agent for the scalp, both cleansing it and promoting the growth of hair (Ph. J., Dec. 3, 1887.)
The oil is used by native practitioners for the cure of itch and acne.
The Santals use the bark by external application to relieve pains in the back and the loins (Revd. A. Campbell). In the Nilgiris the oil is used for anointing the body. The medicinal effects are variously reported as purgative (in the United Provinces) and as prophylactic against cholera (in Thana division, Bombay). It is more usual to apply it externally in massage for rheumatism (Bombay), for the cure of headache (Sambalpur, Central Provinces). Its application in Bombay, Malabar, and Coorg is said to be effective in removing itch and other forms of skin diseases, and this remedy is known to the wild forest tribes. The powdered seeds are applied to ulcers of animals and for removing maggots.
The seeds,
The seeds are ovoid or rounded in shape, about five -eighths of an inch long by half an inch broad, smooth, reddish-brown in colour, and marked with an indented hilum at one end. One hundred seeds weigh 57 grains giving an average weight of 8.7 grains per seed. On removing the brown, brittle shell a dirty white kernel is disclosed with white markings on the testa. One hundred parts of seeds afford 66 parts of kernels and 34 parts of shells. The kernels extracted with ether or petroleum spirit yielded in the Calcutta Indian Museum laboratory 61.4 per cent, of oil, showing that the entire seed contains 40.5 per cent, of oil.
Mr. J. H. Walker of the Oil Department of the Gouripore Company, Naihati, obtained a yield of 60.4 per cent, of a thick fixed oil from the kernels, which is equivalent to 36.7 per cent, on the nuts.
Composition of seeds and oil.
The first analysis of the seeds appears to have been made by Dr. L. Van Itallie [Apoth. Zeitung. (1889), 4.506], who separated about 36 per cent, of a buttery fat, which he called the Macassar oil of commerce. It had a specific gravity of 0.924 at 15° C, melted at 28° C., had an iodine number of 53, a saponification equivalent of 219 (1 gram required 230 mgm. of potash for saponification), contained 91 per cent, of insoluble fatty acids and 6.3 per cent, of glycerol. The fatty acids present included acetic, butyric, lauric, arachic and oleic acids.
The next recorded analysis of Macassar oil is that of Dr. K. Trummel [Apoth., Zeitung. (1889), 4.518]. The oil had a melting point of 21°-22° C. The presence of hydrocyanic acid was detected and 0.47 per cent, obtained by steam distillation. Benzaldehyde was detected in the distillate by its transformation into benzoic acid by the action of potassium permanganate.
Dr. Trummel in conjunction with Mr, Kwassick further investigated the oil in 1891 (Pharm. Zeit. May 1891, 314), after confirming previous results the authors separated the constituents of the oil. The fatty acids, with the exception of 3.15 per cent, of free oleic acid, were present as glycerides. Of these in combination 70 per cent, consisted of oleic acid, and of the solid fatty acids 5 per cent, was palmitic and 25 per cent, arachic acid, the characteristic acid of the ground-nut. Lauric acid was not present, and of the volatile fat acids only acetic and no butyric acid could be detected. Hydrocyanic was found in the oil and in the seeds, being determined as 0.03 per cent, in the former and 0.62 per cent, in the latter. No amyadalin could be detected in the seeds, bat hydrocyanic, benzaldehyde and grape sugar, possibly the decomposition products of it, were found. A small quantity of cane sugar was also separated in the crystallised form.
In 1893 an examination was made by Mr. R. Glenk (Amer. Journ. Pharm. LXV. 528) of a specimen of the oil from seeds sent from Mirzapur. The oil was described as a yellowish- white semi-solid substance having a faint odour of bitter almonds and a specific gravity of 0.942. The oil had an acid re-action, and completely liquified at 28° C. It was readily Saponified by sodium hydrate even at a low temparature, forming a white hard soap. Concentrated sulphuric acid acquired a reddish-brown colour on addition of the oil. It is soluble in chloroform, ether, bisulphate of carbon, benzene, and the fixed and volatile oils.
Dr. J. J. A. Wijs examined the seeds in 1900 (Zeits. physic. Chem. 31.255— 257). The seeds of Schleichera trijuga were obtained from the Celebes, and 60 per cent, consisted of kernels. The kernels had the following composition : —
- Water ... ... ... ... ... 3.5
- Fat ... ................ 70.5
- Proteids ... ... ... ... 12.0
- Fibre and ash... ... ... 14.0
- Total .............. 100.0
The fat extracted by means of petroleum ether had the colour and consistence of butter. The following constants were determined: melting point (by the Le Sueur and Crossley method), 22° C. ; melting point of the fatty acids, 52 — 54° C; Hehner value, 91.55; saponification value (Henriques 1 cold process), 215.3 ; iodine value (Wijs' iodine chloride and acetic acid method), 55*0, that of the fatty acids being 58.9 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 9; acid number 19.2 ; acid number of the fatty acids, 191.2—192.0 ; unsaponiflable matter, 3.12 per cent. The volatile acids (acetic acid with a little butyric acid) were examined by the Duclaux method ; and the ratio of the solid (45per cent.) to the liquid fatty acids (55 per cent, with iodine value 193.2) was determined by the Rose method. (Agricultural Ledger 1905— No. 1).
314. Sapindus trifoliatus, Linn. H. F. B. I., I. 682.
Syn. : — S. laurifolia, Vahl. Roxb. 331. S. Emarginata, Vahl. Roxb. 331.
San : — Arishta and Phenila.
Vern. :— The fruit — Ritha (Hind.); Bara-ritha, ritha (Beng.); ud-rack, rithâ, ringin, rithâ, rithâ (Mar.); Arithan, aritha (Guz.) ; ritha (Dec.) ; Ponnauga, ponâu-kottai, pureandi, puvanti (Tam.) ; Kunkudu chettu, kukudû, koukudu, kukudu-koyalu, kukudu- Kayalu, Neykkoddaû, Pannalaw (Tel.) ; Autala, artala, thalog morathu, kukate-kayi, kugate, auta wala, puvella, punerai gaspenela, Penela (Sing.).
Eng. : — The Soap-nut Tree.
Habitat :— Common about the villages in South India and cultivated in Bengal, Ceylon, Bombay. Baroda city, in the Lakshmi Vilas Palace gardens.
A large tree. Bark shining, grey, with rough, deciduous scales. Wood yellow, hard. Leaves 5-12 in. (usually) ; normally abruptly pinnate. Leaflets 2-3 pair, elliptic, generally obtuse and somewhat emarginate, at times acute, those of the terminal pair longest, 3-7in., glabrous or especially beneath, pubescent, with short curved or stellate hairs ; base obtuse, petioles short. Inflorescence rusty-pubscent, in terminal panicles. Calyx rusty pubescent. Flowers 1/6-1/5 in. long, white, hairy, greenish-white (Trimen). Sepals 5 elliptic, obtuse. Petals 4-5, narrower, oblong or lanceolate without scales, or with two tufts of white hair (Brandis ; " scale of the petals membranous, pilose, ciliate," says Hiern. Disk concave, edge fleshy, hirsute. Stamens 8, anthers oblong, spiculate. Ovary hairy densely rusty, tomentose. Fruit 2-3-lobed fleshy. Drupes slightly united, ½ -¾ in. long, at length glaucescent, saponaceous. There are two forms of this tree usually regarded as distinct species, corresponding to ValiTs names, one with acuminate, glabrous leaves, the other with emarginate leaves, pubescent beneath.
Part used : — The fruit.
Uses : — The fruit is described in the Makhzan-ul-Adwiya, as hot, dry, tonic and alexipharmic. Four grains in wine or sherbet cure colic ; one miskal rubbed in water until it soaps, and then strained, may be given to people who have been bitten by venomous reptiles, and to those suffering from diarrhœa or cholera. Three or four grains may be given by the nose in all kinds of fits producing insensibility. Fumigations with it are useful in hysteria and melancholia. Externally, it may be applied, by being made into a plaster with vinegar, to the bites of reptiles, and to scrofulous swellings. The root is said to be useful as an expectorant. Pessaries made of the kernel of the seed are used to stimulate the uterus in child-birth and amenorrhœa. One miskal of the pulp, with one-eighth of a miskal of scammony, act as a good brisk purgative (DYMOCK).
According to Ainslie, the Vytians use it as an expectorant in asthma. Externally, it is applied on pimples and abscesses T. N. MOOKERJI),
Honniberger recommended a tincture of the capsules in chlorosis. If brayed in water and inserted under the lids, it causes a copious flow of tears, and was used in ordinary opthalmia with considerable benefit by the late Mr. Narayan Daji (S. Arjun). In Bombay, it is given successfully as an anthelmintic, in four grain doses (DYMOCK).
Physiological Action : — Internally: emetic, nauseant and expectorant. Through the nose : a remedy in hemicrania, asthma, hysteria and epilepsy. Externally : detergent, and a remedy for the stings and bites of poisonous insects, as scorpions, centipedes, &c.
Therapeutic Uses : — As an emetic : nauseant and expectorant. The pericarp or pulp of soap-nut is quite equal to ipecacuanha, if not superior to it, and is very useful in all the affections in which the latter is indicated. The emetic action of soap-nut always relieves asthma to a more or less extent, and generally more speedily than ipecacuanha and Tylophora asthmatica. It is also useful in the same way in some classes of colic, particularly when the latter is depending on indigestion. A thick watery solution of the drug is often resorted to by the natives of this country for the relief of hemicrania, hysteria, and epilepsy. They drop a few drops of the solution in each nostril during the fit of any of the above diseases, and it produces a temporary relief by irritating the mucous membrane and increasing its secretion, which flows out by the nostrils or the mouth or by both. I gave a trial to this plan of treatment, in my own practice, not only in the above maladies, but also in asthma, and the result was pretty favourable. There was more or less relief in almost every case of hemicrania and asthma in which the solution was tried ; but the cases of hysteria and epilepsy benefited by it were very few. Although the relief afforded by the solution is always temporary, yet it is in many cases instantaneous. The quantity of the solution must not be more than four or five drops in each nostril, for in one case in which it exceeded ten or twelve drops, the irritation of the membrane was severe and lasted for one or two days. Applied in the form of paste or poultice over the parts stung or bitten by poisonous insects, as scorpions, centipedes, &c., the pulp of soap-nut relieved the pain in two or three cases to my own knowledge. When bruised and agitated in water, it forms suds like soap, and in this condition is an efficient detergent and very useful for washing and cleaning the body, linen and hair. The kernel of the seeds is sweetish, nutrient, and yields an oil on expression, which is a very good substitute for almond oil.
I have been using the pericarp of soap-nut in my practice for several months, and have just (August 1887) discovered it to be the one of the best, cheapest and commonest emetics in India. While it is as safe as ipecacuanha and several other vegetable emetics, it is decidedly more speedy in its action than all those drugs. It is however, required to be employed in a much larger dose than ipecacuanha ; but this is no disadvantage, for it is always administered in the form of a draught, and this draught is less nauseous and unpleasant than that of ipecacuanha and many other emetics. As an emetic, the soap-nut well deserves to be brought into general use by the medical profession.
Soap-nut is supposed to be a good anthelmintic in some native medical works, in four or five grain doses ; but this is not really the case. I have used it in very large doses ( 3 j to 3 ij) in many cases, and its emetic action was sometimes accompanied by one or two loose motions. But 1 have neither seen nor heard of any of my patients passing a single round or any other abdominal worm on any occasion. The root of the soap-nut tree is woody, very bard and quite inert. The root- bark and bark, however, contain the vegetable principle, saponin, and form froth-like soap, when bruised and agitated in water. I have used each of these drugs in decoction, and in large and repeated doses, and found them to be very mild expectorants and demulcents. As medicines, they are so weak, that I did not consider them worthy of being treated as such. (MOODEEN SHERIFF).
315. S. Mukorossi, Gaertn. h.f.b.l, i. 683.
There are two forms of this plant : — (I) S. detergens Roxb. 332 ; (2) S. Acuminata Wall. Royle, 111. 139.
Sans. : — Phenila, Arista.
Vern. : — Rithá, dodan, kammar (H.) ; Dodan (Pb.) ; Itá (Uriya).
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout N. W. India, Bengal, Kumaon, Sylhet and Assam.
A handsome tree, attaining 60ft., deciduous. Bark grey, wood light yellow, rough, moderately hard, compact and close-grained. Leaves alternate, paripinnate, 12-20in. long. Leaflets 5-10 pair; opposite or alternate, 3½-6 by l-3in.. gradually smaller towards the apex of the rachis, lanceolate, acuminate, entire, coriaceous, glabrous ; lateral nerves numerous, petiolate 1/10-1/5 in. long. Inflorescence a terminal thyrsus or compound cymose panicle. Flowers small, regular, polygamous. Calyxlobes somewhat unequal, ciliate. Petals white, inserted in the centre of the disk ; filaments 8, white, woolly ; anthers versatile. Ovary usually 3-ceiled. Fruit a fleshy globose, 1-seeded drupe ; ½-1in. diam. Seed smooth black, loose inside when dry. The saponaceous pericarp wrinkled and translucent in the dry fruit (Kanjilal).
Parts used : -~ The fruits and seeds.
Uses : — The fruits are used medicinally in salivation, epilepsy and as an expectorant. They are also recommended for the cure of chlorosis (Watt).
Honnigberger states that seeds pounded with water, are said often to put an end to an epileptic paroxysm, a small quantity being introduced into the patient's mouth.
From the soft parts of the dried berries, 10.5 p. c. of the saponin, C17H26O10 2t5 O 10 is obtained. J. Ch. S. 1901 A. I. 648.
The sajponin occurs in the form of salts, probably Na and K. The powdered fruit shells are extd. with 95% alc., Pb (OAC)2 is aded to ppt. the Pb salt of the saponin, and the Pb salt is decompd. by H2S, the solu. evapd., dild. with water and acidified with dil. HCl ; the saponin seps. very slowly as an almost white flocculent ppt. It is filtered, washed with dil. alc. and purified first by dialysis, then by pptn. from alc. with H2O. When dried it forms a white power, sol. in alc., MeOH. insol. in H2O, Et2O, CHCl3, acetone and petr. ether. H2SO4 gives a yellowish red color changing to reddish violet ; when the saponin is added drop by drop, to a soln. in Ac2O, a violet-red color results. NaOH added to a suspension in H2O, forms a foaming, strongly hemolytic soln., [a]20D+13-28° (in alc). Fehling soln, is not reduced directly. On hydrolysis with 3% H2SO4 or alc. HCl. sapogenin and d-arabinose are formed. Sapogenin, white, odorless and tasteless plates from alc. m. 319°, insol. in H2O, Et2O, CHC13 , acetone and petr. ether, sol, in alc, MeOH and alc KOH. Potassium salt, C31H47O5K, white needles, difficulty sol. in H2O. Barium salt, white needles. Triacetylsapogenin, prepd. by heating a mixt. of sapogenin, AcCl and AcONa at the b. p., fine white needles, m. 167°. Benzoylsapogenin, m. 107°. Monomethylsapoyenin, prepd. with Me2SO4 , needles (from alc), m. 218°.— Chemical Abstracts, for July 20, 1916 p. 1864.
316. Nephelium litchi, Camb. h.f.b.l, I. 687. Roxb. 328.
Habitat : — Cultivated in India ; originally an ative of China.
Vern : — Litchi (H.) ; Kyetmauk (Burm.) ; Lichi (Bomb.).
A handsome, evergreen tree, 30-40ft. high ; clear stem 12-20ft. long, girth 3-4ft. Bark thin, grey, rough. Wood red, hard, heavy. Pores moderate-sized, the transverse diameter usually considerably greater than the distance between the rays. Medullary rays very fine, very numerous (Gamble), all parts glabrous. Leaves usually abruptly pinnate ; leaflets in 6 to 8 pair, opposite, lanceolate, shortly petioled, about 3-6in. long, acuminate, entire, coriaceous, glossy above, glaucous beneath, the netvenation obsolete ; flowers minute, greenish, shortly pedicelled, forming a terminal branched, usually slightly puberulous panicle, of the length of the leaves or longer ; petals none. Stamens 6-8 ; filaments and ovary pubescent. Style with 2-stigmate lobes ; fruit-lobes usually solitary by abortion, rarely haired, oval, the size of a pigeon's egg, covered by the red muricate-areolate, somewhat crustaceous epicarp, 1-seeded ; the seed large, black, shining, completely covered with the sappy, whitish or pale bluish edible, delicious, sweet arillus, with a fine rosy smell ; juice refreshing.
Uses : — In China the leaves are stated to be officinal as a remedy for the bites of animals (Duthie in Watt's Dictionary).
317. N . Longana, Camb. h.f.b.i., i. 688, Roxb. 329.
Vern. : — Ashphal (B.) ; Wumb, wumb-ashphal (Bomb.) ; Vomb (Mar.) ; Púvati, Nuraí. (Tam.) ; Malahcota, Kanakindali (Kan.); Kayetmauk (Lower Burma) ; Tawthayet (Upper Burma) ; Mora, Rasamora (Sinhalese).
Habitat: — Westside of the Peninsula, from the Konkan southwards. Khasi Hills. Burma.
Cultivated in N. India, Ceylon, Malaya Peninsula, Himalaya, from the Jhelum to Bhutan. Dehra Dun.
A large evergreen tree, attaining 50ft. Bark smooth, yellowish grey. Wood red, moderately hard. Leaves paripinnate, 4-18in. Leaflets 4-10 (2-5 pair) opposite, alternate usually rather obtuse at both ends, glabrous above, sub-glaucescent, glabrous or nearly so, marked with lateral veins beneath, wavy, entire, base oblique. Panicles ample, rusty pubescent. Flowers monoecious fin. across. Calyx tomentose, segments 5-6, narrowly imbricate. Petals pubescent, spathulate, as long as Calyx. Stamens 6-10 ; in the male flower long-exserted, in the hermaphrodite flower, as long as Calyx ; filaments hairy near base. Anthers glabrous, ovary 2-3-lobed, hairy. Carpel usually one, ovoid or globose, nearly smooth, yellowish-red, ¾in. diam. Seed entirely enclosed by the succulent sweet edible arillus.
Use : — In China the fruit is reputed to be nutrient, stomachic and anthelmintic (Duthie l. c.)
The seed of the following plant belonging to this genus has been chemically analysed.
Nephelium Lappaceum, Linn, h.f.b.i., i. 687.
The percentage composition of the ground seed is as follows. Water, 5.87 ; fat, soluble in ether and petroleum 35.07 ; ether extractive matter, insoluble in petroleum, 3.00 ; ash, 1.95 ; albumin, 8.89. Crude fibre, 6.90; starch, 25.63 ; sugar, 1.25. The fats consist of the triglycerides of arachic and oleic acids, together with a very small quantity of the triglyceride of stearic acid —J. Ch. S. LXX, pt. II. (1896), p. 209.
318. Acer pictum, Thunb. h.f.b.i., i. 696.
The commonest Maple of the West Himayalan range.
Current name : Acer cultratum. Wall.
Vern. : — Kilpattar, trekhan, tarkhana, Kakru, Kanjar, Kunzal, jerimu, laur, tian (Pb.) ; Kanchali, Kainjli (N. W. P.), Kainchli, Kabûsi, Dûdh Kainju (Jaunsar) ; Dhadonjra (Simla) ; Tikta, pata, bankima (Kumaon) ; Gudkima, potli, dumitha (Garhwal) ; Chindia, tilani, Chitulia, (Dotial).
Habitat : — Outer and Middle Himalaya, from the Indus to Assam at 4-9,000ft. Tibetan drinking-cups are made out of the knotty excrescences.
A handsome, moderate-sized tree. Bark thin grey. Wood white, soft to moderately hard, close-grained. Pores very small, scanty. Medullary rays fine and very fine, dark, with a pretty, fine silver-grain (Gamble). Leaves 2 to 5 by 2½ to 7in., broader than long, 5-7-lobed, rather membranous, glabrous, turning red before falling ; margins quite entire ; base usually deeply cordate, rarely truncate. Petiole l-6in. long, slender, flexuous. Flowers glabrous, on slender pedicels, arranged in terminal or lateral corymbs. Sepals about 1/10in. long, oblong. Petals as long as the sepals, spathulate. Stamens shorter than the petals. Fruit glabrous ; nuts thin ; wings 1-1⅓in. long, very divergent, with the back sigmoidly curved. Flowers, April to May. Fruit, June and July.
Uses : — The knots on the stems are made into the curious water-cups supposed by some of the hill tribes to have a medicinal influence over the water.
The leaves are said to yield an acrid juice in Kanáwar which blisters the hands.
319. Dodonœa viscosa, Linn. ; h.f.b.i., i. 697.
Syn.: — D. angustifolia, Willd and D. diodea, Roxb. 324.
Vern. : — Bandari, zakhmi (Bomb.); Alíar (H.); Sanatha (Hazara) ; Dhásera, dawa ka jhár, latchmi, Sanatha, mendru banmandú, Sántha, mendar (Pb,) ; Ghuráské, vera-vena (Pushtu) ; Pipalu (Simla) ; Virali (Tam.) ; Bandaru, golla pulleda bandédu (Tel.); Bandurgi, bandrike (Kan.) ; Eta and Werella (Sinhalese). Habitat : — Throughout India, from the Indus eastwards, and southwards to Ceylon and Malacca.
A gregarious evergreen shrub or small tree. Bark thin, grey, exfoliating, in long thin strips. Heart-wood extremely hard and close-grained, dark brown, with an irregular outline, sometimes mottled with black ; sap-wood pale. Pores very small, scattered or in short radial lines. Medullary rays fine, very numerous, the distance between them equal to the diameter of the pores (Gamble). Shoots terete or somewhat angular. Leaves more or less viscid, with shining yellowish resin, very variable in breadth, 1-5 by 1 -1½in., undivided, oblanceolate, glabrous, subapiculate, base cuneate-alternate, subsessile, margin, revolute, entire or nearly so. Cymes terminal, short. Flowers regular, yellowish, polygamous, inconspicuous. Sepals oblong, 5-2 imbricate or valvate, 1/10-⅛in long. Petals absent. Stamens usually 8, as long as sepals in male flowers, shorter than the sepals in hermaphrodite (lowers ; filaments much shorter than the anthers. Disk inconspicuous. Ovary 3 or 4- celled, 2 ovules in each cell. Style cylindric, 2-lobed on top. Fruit a membranous capsule, with 2-4 broad wings from base to style, ½ in. long and ¾in. across, including the wings, separating septicidally into as many valves as cells, each valve winged on its back. Seeds opaque, dark brown or black, with a thickened funicle.
Parts used : — The leaves.
Uses : — The leaves of this shrub are viscid, and have a somewhat sour and bitter taste (Dymock.)
Lindley says the leaves are used in baths and fomentations.
It is believed that the powdered leaves applied over a wound will heal it without leaving a white scar. It is applied in burns and scalds. Said to be useful also in rheumatism (C. J. Peters in Watt's Dictionary.) Said to possess febrifuge properties.
In the Punjab, it is used in snake-bite. For this purpose, the leaves are bruised and applied to the bitten part ; juice of the leaves is also given internally (B. D. B.).
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