Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/728

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648
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.


600. Randia uliginosa, Dc. h.f.b.i., iii. 110.

Syn. : — Posoqueria Uliginosa, Roxb. 239.

Vern.: — Pendari (Bomb.) ; Pindâlu, panar, paniah, katul, pindar, bharani (H.) ; Piralo (B.); Panelra, cindra, telp-hetru, phetra, (Mar.) ; Wagata (Tam.) ; Nalaika, devâtâmalle, nalla-kâkasi, gûâku (Tel.) ; Kare, pendri, pandri (Kan).

Habitat : — Eastern, Central and Southern India ; not common northwards, Sikkim and Assam.

A small, armed, rigid, glabrous, deciduous tree. Bark ½in. thick, reddish-brown, exfoliating in thin flakes. Wood whitish-grey close-grained, hard ; no heartwood. Branches quadrangular, usually bearing short, terete, decussate branchlets, with several pair of approximate leaves and above them 2-4 strong, straight, sharp, decussate thorns. Leaves glabrous and shining above, often pubescent beneath, obovate from a cuneate base ; blade 3-6in. long; petiole ¼in. long. Stipules triangular. Flowers solitary, white, dimorphic, either large and sessile, or small and petioled, scented. The large and sessile flowers often have Corolla 2in. diam., 2 separate stigmas, and the tube longer than the free portion of the Calyx. The small pedicillate flowers have a short Corolla-tube and a clavate stigma marked with spiral lines. Calyx-lobes short. Corolla-tube glabrous outside. Fruit, when ripe, yellow, edible, with a hard pulp, those produced by the large sessile flowers are ellipsoid, 2in. long, while those of the smaller peduncled flowers are of half that size. Seeds compressed, smooth, closely packed in pulp.

Uses :— The unripe fruit roasted in wood ashes is used as a remedy in diarrhœa and dysentery, the central portion consisting of the stone and seeds being rejected ; it is astringent (Dymock). The root, boiled in ghi, is sometimes given in similar cases.

601. R. dumetorum, Lamk. h.f.b.i., iii. 110.

Syn. : — Posoqueria dumetorum, P. nutans, P. longispina and P. floribunda, Roxb. 239-241.

Sans. : — Madana.