956. Gmelina arborea, Linn., h.f.b.l, iv 581 ; Roxb. 486.
Sans. : — Kásmari (growing in Káshmere), Sarvato-Bhadra (auspicious in every quarter), Shri-parni (fortune-leaved), Krishna-vrintaka (black stalk), Kambari (of variegated color), Hira (a plant).
Vern. : — Kúmhár gúmhár, kákódrúmbari (Hind, and Pb.) ; Gúmár, gúmbár (Beng.) ; Gambari (Nepal) ; Gomari (Ass.) ; Numbor (Lepcha) ; Bolkobak (Garo) ; Gumadi, cummi (Tam.) ; Gúmar-tek, pedda-gomru, tagumúda (Tel.) ; Shewney, kuli (Kan.) ; Kurse (Gond.) ; At-demmata (Cingh.) Shewan, Shivan (Mar.).
Habitat. — Throughout the Dekkan and Konkan, C. P., Berar, North West Himalaya, Ceylon, Chittagong, Eastern Bengal.
An unarmed deciduous tree, up to 60ft. high ; bark some-what corky, greyish outside and yellow within ; young parts covered with white mealy pubescence. Leaves 4-8in. long, broadly ovate, acuminate, entire ; upper surface glabrous when mature, lower persistently clothed with fulvous stellate hairs, base cordate or truncate and shortly cuncate ; petioles 2-3in. long, cylindric, puberulous, glandular at the top. Flowers in small usually 3-flowered cymes which are arranged along the branches of a densely fulvous-tomentose panicle, about 12in. in length ; buds clavate, angled ; bracts ⅛in. long, linear lanceolate. Calyx broadly campanulate, 1/5in. long, densely fulvous-tomentose ; teeth small, triangular, acute. Corolla 5-lobed, 1½in, long, brownish-yellow, very hairy outside ; upper lip ⅜-½in. long, deeply divided into 2 oblong obtusebes lower lip about twice as long, 3-lobed, the middle lobe much longer than the lateral ones and with a crenulate margin. Drupe ¾-lin. long, ovoid or pyriform, smooth, orange-yellow when ripe.
Uses : — In Hindu medicine, the juice of the leaves is used to remove fœtid discharges and worms from ulcers (Dutt). The fruit is officinal in the Punjab. The root is bitter, tonic, stomachic and laxative ; given in cough, rheumatism, fever and indigestion, and is said to have anthelmintic properties (Watt).
