# Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Rosaceæ

N. 0. ROSACAE.
459. Prunus Amygdalus, Baill, h.f.b.i., ii. 313.
Syn.: — Amygdalus communis, Linn. Roxb. 403.
Var.: — Amara.
Vern.: — Karda-badam (H.J ; kadven-badâm (MJ
Var.:— Dulcis.
Vern.:—Mitha badâm (H.) ; Gode badâm (M.)
Habitat : — Cultivated in the cooler parts of India.
A middle-sized tree-wood light brown, moderately bard. Leaves greyish when full grown, oblong-lanceolate, serrulate, petiole equal to or longer than the greatest width of leaf, stipules fimbriate. Flowers white, tinged with red appearing before the leaves from scaly buds on last year's wood, peduncles much shorter than the campanulate Calyx. Drupes velvety, pericarp dry, when ripe, separating into 2 valves, stone compressed with shallow wrinkles and minute holes.
Use: — The author of the Makhzan notices the use of the burnt shells as tooth-powder, and of the unripe fruit as an astringent application to the gums and mouth. Bitter almonds are described by Mahomed a writers as attenuant and detergent; they are recommended both internally and externally for a variety of purposes. As a plaster made with vinegar, they are used to relieve neuralgic pains ; as a collyrium, to strengthen the sight; in emulsion with starch and peppermint to allay cough. They are also considered to be lithontriptic and diuretic, and of use for removing obstructions of the liver and spleen; applied to the hear], they kill lice : as a suppository, they relieve pain in difficult mensturation; as a poultice, they are a valuable application to irritable sores and skin eruptions. The root of the tree is described as discutient and alternative ; it is used both internally and externally (DYMOCK).
The juice of almonds mixed with sugar is used in coughs. Almonds mixed with figs are used as a laxative and to relieve pain in the bowels. (DR.EMERSON.) ​ Officinal in both Indian and British Pharmacopœias.
"Bitter almonds produce analogous effects to those of hydrocyanic acid, and may therefore be medicinally used in similar cases; but their administration is not desirable, as the amount of hydrocyanic acid generated is liable to great variation, and their effects, therefore, cannot be relied on with the same degree of certainty as those of hydrocyanic acid. In large quantities bitter almonds have caused serious and even fatal consequences, their poisonous effects being similar to those of hydrocyanic acid." (Bentley and Trimen).
"Sweet almonds may be used for the extraction of almond oil, yet they are but rarely so employed (at least in England), on account of the inferior value of the residual cake. The only other use of the sweet almond in medicine, is for making the emulsion called Mistura Amygdalœ." (Pharmacographia).
Sweet almonds yield from 44 to 55 per cent, of oil, whereas bitter almonds, on an average, give from 38 to 45 per cent. Bitter almonds are more frequently used for expressing the oil, though the oil from both varieties is practically identical. Almond oil does not easily turn rancid, and is largely used for pharmaceutical purposes. The constants of this oil are : Specific gravity at 15°, 0.914—.920; saponification value, 189.5— 195.4 : iodine value, 94— 101 ; Maumene test, 51.5—54 ; oleo-refructometer reading at 22°,+8 to+10.5 ; fatty acids, melting point 13°— 14° ; iodine value, 93.5 to 96.5.
The German Pharmacopœia test for pure almond oil is that the mixed fatty acids should remain liquid at 15° for an indefinite length of time.
460. P. persica, Bentl and Hook ; h.f.b.i., ii. 313.
Syn.: — Amygdalus Persica, Linn. Roxb. 403.
ern.: — Arū (H.) Tapks (Lepcha) ; Arū sunnū, fsūnu, arūi, chamnânu, aor, bem beimi, bemhi, katharti, mundla, aru Pb.)
Habitat : — Cultivated in the cooler parts of India.
A middle-sized tree. Bark grey, shining, smooth, with numerous horizontal corky lenticels divided in the middle. Wood red, scented, hard, close-grained ; structure the same as in P. amygdalus (Baillon). Foliage dark-green. Leaves lanceolate, sharply serate ; petiole shorter than the greatest width of leaf; stipules subulate, fimbriate. Flowers sessile, pink, generally appearing before the leaves, mostly solitary, from ​scaly buds on the previous year's wood. Calyx cainpanulate, segments woolly. Drupe downy or glabrous. Pericarp tender, succulent, stone deeply and irregularly furrowed (Brandis).
Use : — The fruit is given as a demulcent, an antiscorbutic, and a stomachic.
The natives of the Punjab believe the fruit to be useful in worms, Ascaris lumbricoides (Balfour.)
The flowers are purgative.
Like other species of Prunus, the kernels yield an oil, used by the natives of North-West Himalaya for cookery, illuminating purposes, and- as a dressing for the hair. The kernels contain 32—35 per cent, of a pale yellow oil similar to almond oil. In Europe the oil enters into the composition of " French almond oil."
461. P. Armeniaca Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 313, Roxb. 403.
Vern.:— Chuari, zardâlu khobani (H.) ; Hari, gardali, shiran (Pb.); Iser (Kashmir); Chúâru, chola (Kumaon); Zardâlu (Push.) (to.)
Eng.: — The apricot.
Habitat : — Cultivated and almost naturalised in N. W. India.
A middle-sized, deciduous tree. Bark dark-brown, rough with narrow longitudinal clefts. Sapwood white; heart wood greyish-brown, mottled with dark-brown streaks, moderately hard. Leaves convolute in bud, appearing after or with the flowers, broadly ovate, nearly as broad as long, acuminate, crenate ; petiole glandular, half the length of the leaf; stipules lanceolate. Flowers pinkish white, solitary or fasciculate, from scaly buds on the previous year's wood. Peduncles short. Drupe downy or glabrous ; pericarp tender, succulent, indehiscent. Stone smooth, with a thickened sulcate margin.
Use : — It is stated that apricots form antidotes to hill sickness. In Tibet, they are applied after mastication in ophthalmia ; and Bellew mentions that the dried fruit is in Afghanistân, used as a laxative and refrigerant in fevers, &c. (Stewart). ​
Differences between Almond and Apricot kernel oil.
Apricot kernels contain from 40 to 45 per cent, of an almost colourless oil which becomes yellow on keeping. Apricot oil is so similar to almond oil in its physical and chemical characters that most ot the figures for these constants are of very little use for the purpose of identification. Apricot oil, however, with nitric acid, specific gravity 1.4, assumes an orange colour, and with Bieber's reagent a peach-blossom colour is obtained. Bieber's test is carried out by agitating five volumes of oil with one volume of a mixture consisting of equal parts (by weight) of concentrated sulphuric acid, fuming nitric acid, and water. Pure almond oil does not change in colour, whereas apricot kernel oil gives a pink (peach-blossom) colour, and peach kernel a faint pink colouration after standing some time. Mixtures containing 25 per cent, of apricot oil cannot be detected with certainty by means oi this test,
462. P. Cerasus, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 313. Roxb. 403.
Vern.:— Alu-bâlu (U. P.); Gilâs, olchi (Pb.)
Habitat : — Cultivated in the Himalayas, the Punjab and the United Provinces.
A middle-sized tree, the bark peeling off m horizontal stripes. Leaves elliptic or obovate, abruptly acuminate, irregularly crenate, serrate ; petioles less than breadth of leaf, 2 glands on petiole or on the base of the blade, stipules fimbriate. Flowers white, on long slender pedicels, in fascicles of 2-5, from lateral, generally leaf-bearing, buds. Calyx turbinate, lobes obtuse. Drupes glabrous, with a polished round stone.
Uses:— The bark which is bitter, is said to possess febrifugal properties. The kernel is supposed to be a nervine tonic, and is used for the same purposes as hydrocyanic acid, of which it contains a considerable proportion. (WATT). ​
463. P. puddum, Roxb. h.f.b.i., ii, 314.
Syn.: — P. sylvatica, Roxb. 403. Cerasus pudum, Wall.
Sans. : —Padmaka, padmâksh.
Vern.: — Paddam, pâya (Hind.); Kongki (Lepcha); Chamiari amalguch (Pb.); Padma kâstha, padmaka (Mar.); Padma kathi, padmak (Guz.).
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Garhwal to Sikkim and Bhotan.
A middle-sized or large, deciduous tree. Bark pale-brown to dark-brown, shining, peeling off in thin horizontal shining layers. Wood moderately hard, scented ; sapwood white ; heart-wood nearly glabrous. Leaves conduplicate in bud, glossy, ovate, long acuminate, sharply serrate; blade 3-5, petiole ½in. long, one or more conspicuous glands on petiole. Stipules pinnately or palmately divided, the divisions linear, glandular- fimbriate. Flowers white, pink or crimson, appearing before the leaves in umbellate fascicles, approximate near the ends of branchlets ; pedicels slender, as long as or longer than the Calyx. Calyx turbinate, lobes ovate, acute.
Fruit, a drupe oblong or ellipsoid, obtuse at both ends. Flesh, scanty yellow, or reddish, ½-2/3in. long, acid, somewhat astringent. Stone ovoid, bony, rugose and furrowed, supported by the calyx base, from which the tube separates after flowering.
Use : — The kernel is used in stone and gravel. The bark contains amygdalin, and the smaller branches are sold in the bazaars as substitutes for hydrocyanic acid in native practice (Watt) .
The seeds of the Bird cherry growing in the Himalayas yield a peculiar oil remarkable for its siccative properties. A sample of the freshly expressed oil gave the iodine value (Hubl) 172. It dried to a skin in glass more rapidly than boiled linseed oil. The pressed cake and seeds distilled with water afforded considerable quantities of hydrocyanic acid and benzoyl aldehyde (oil of bitter almonds.)
464. P. communis, Huds. h.f.b.i., ii. 315.
Habitat : — Western temperate Himalaya ; cultivated or indigenous from Garhwal to Kashmir. ​ A shrub or moderate-sized tree, unarmed or spinescent, young shoots pubescent. Wood reddish brown, hard, very close-grained, warps and splits. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, serrate or more or less pubescent beneath, along the nerves; petioles shorter than greatest breadth of leaf, stipules linear, fimbriate. Pedicels slender, 3 or 4 times the length of Calyx, solitary or fasciculate from lateral, often leaf-bearing buds, Calyx-tube campanulate. Drupe globose or oblong, pericarp fleshy.
The plum.
(I) Var. Domestica.
Vern.: — Olchi, er, aor (Pb.)
A small, rigid, much-branched shrub. Branches without pines always smooth, straight. Bark brown. Leaves ovate lanceolate, a little pubescent and in pair. Calyx velvety inside, flowers white appearing together with or a little before the young leaves. Drupe 1-1½in, diam ; black.
Commonly wild and cultivated in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Madden states that it is also cultivated about Almora.
The dried drupes are demulcent and laxative ; rarely employed alone for medicinal purposes. The pulp forms an ingredient of Confectio Sennæ , the Eleetuarium lenitivum of the old Pharmacopoeias. The fruit, stewed and sweetened, is used as a domestic laxative (Pharmacographia),
(IT.) Var. Insititia.
Syn : — P. bokhariensis Linn and P. aloocha, Royle.
Vern.: — Aloo-bokhârâ (Hind., Bom., and Pers.) ; Alpogâda pazham (Tarn.).
Western temperate Himalaya, cultivated or indigenous, from Garhwal to Kashmir, 5,000 to 7,000 feet in altitude.
Var,: — Insititia, Linn.
Syn.:—P. insititia, Linn.
P. bokhariensis and P. aloocha, Roxb.
Shrubby, unarmed or spinous. Leaves obovate ovate or ovate-lanceolate, serrulate, obtuse, acute or cuspidate, nerves hairy ​ beneath; peduncles solitary or in pair. Calyx-tube obconic. Drupe globose or ovoid, drooping.
The Bokhara Plum, in a dry state, is met with in the Indian bazaars. It is described as sub-acid, cold and moist, digestive and aperient, especially when taken on an empty stomach, useful in bilious states of the system and heat of body. The root is astringent, and the gum may be used as a substitute for Gum Arabic (Dymock). Largely imported into India and exhibited for sale in every bazaar, being largely used as an article of food. With a little sugar they are pleasant and refreshing.
The oil, resembling apricot kernel oil, is prepared from the seeds, and is used for illuminating and edible purposes.
465. P. Padus, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 315.
Syn : — Cerasus corunta, Wall.
English : — The Bird Cherry.
Vern : — Jamana (Hind.); Likh-aru, arupatai (Nepal); Hlo sa hlot-kûng (Lepcha) ; Pâras, kala-kat, gidar-dâk, zambu, chûle (Pb.) ; Jâman, zamb-chûle (Kashmir).
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Murree to Sikkim and Bhotan.
A deciduous tree attaining 50-60ft., with dark rough bark. Wood moderately hard; sap wood large, whitish ; heart-wood reddish-brown, with an unpleasant smell, says Gamble. Wood handsome, " polishes well," says Brandis. Young shoots, inflorescence, and underside of leaves along nerves pubescent. Leaves conduplicate in bud, from a slightly cordate base, ovate, oblong, acuminate, serrate ; stipules thin, linear lanceolate, early caducous. Flowers white, appearing after the leaves ; Racemes 3-8in. long, at the end of short lateral (often leaf-bearing) branchlets ; bracts thin, caducous longer than buds. Drupe acid, globose, ½in. diam. first red, then dark purple, or nearly black. Stone rugose, thick.
Use : — Yields a poisonous oil, like oil of almonds, much used in medicinal preparations (Watt), ​
466. Prinsepia utilis, Royle. h.f.b.i,, ii. 323.
Vern.: — Bhekal, karanga, cherra jhatela (H.) ; Gurinda (Hazara) ; Jinti (Chenab) ; Bekling (Kanâwarj ; Chirârâ, jhatela, dhatela, phalâwa bhekla, dintili, bhekra, bhekala (Kumaon).
Habitat: — Dry rocky hills on the temperate Himalayas, from Hazara to Sikkim and Bhotan, and the Khasia Mts.
A deciduous, thorny shrub, glabrous, youngest shoots very pubescent, spines green, axillary, often leaf-bearing. Bark thin brown, peeling off in small vertical flakes; under bark orange. Wood red, very hard and compact, close and even-grained, but much liable to split ; pith large, separating when dry into horizontal layers. Leaves lanceolate, entire or serrate, 1-5 in., coriaceous, acuminate. Flowers ¼in. diam.; white, in short racemes, generally at the base of spines. Calyx- tube cup-shaped, lobes 5, unequal imbricate in bud ; petals rounded, claw short, stamens numerous, inserted below the petals in several rows, auther-cells separated by a broad connective. Carpel one, sessile, ovules 2, collateral. Fruit an oblique, oblong-cylindrical, fleshy purple Drupe, ½-2/3in., subtended by the withered calyx. Scar of style basal, endocarp coriaceous. Seed only one.
Use : — This shrub yields an oil, used as a rubefacient and as an application in rheumatism and pains from over-fatigue (Atkinson.)
The seeds of this shrub, known as Bhekul. yield an oil by expression which is used in the North- West Himalaya for food, illuminating, and occasionally in medicine. It is said to be exported in small quantities from Garhwal and Kumaon. There are two samples in the Indian Museum; one from the Kangra Valley of a bright green colour, and the other from Bashahr in the Punjab, opaque and light brown in colour. In specific gravity, iodine value and melting point of the insoluble fatty acids, the oils resemble that derived from cotton seed.
467. Rubus moluccanus, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 330, Roxb. 408.
Vern.: — Bipem-Kanta (Nepal); Sufokji (Lepcha) ; Katsol (Kumaon) .
Habitat : — Central and Eastern tropical and temperate Himalaya ; Nepal; Sikkim; Assam; Khasia Mts, Eastern Peninsula. Western Peninsula, on the Ghats from Bombay southward. ​ A prickly shrub. Stems stout, densely covered with woolly grey or yellowish hair and set with numerous strong, hooked prickles. Leaves simple, 3½-5 in., usually about as broad as long, cordate at base, acute, more or less deeply 5-(7-)-lobed, with obtuse or subacute lobes, unequally dentate-serrate, glabrous or hairy on veins, and bright green above, very hairy and more or less yellowish or grey beneath, with prominent reticulate venation and often with prickles on the main veins. Petiole long, l½-l½in., very hairy, with prickles beneath. Stipules large, ovate, deeply pectinate, very silky, enclosing the buds, caducous. Flowers white (often two recognized varieties, the other being bright pink), in elongated terminal panicles, on long stout pedicels ; bracts oval, toothed or pectinate at end only. Calyx densely silky-hairy, segments entire or pectinately toothed at end. Petals fully half as long as the Calyx-segments. Fruit bright red or dull purplish, succulent, carpels numerous.
One of the varieties, named Macrocarpus Gardner, " is the only real black-berry of Ceylon, and is large and juicy, and when quite ripe has a good flavour " (Trimen).
Use : — The fruit is considered by the Malayans a valuable remedy for the nocturnal micturiation of children, and the leaves a powerful emmenagogue and abortifacient (Rumphias).
468. Gerish urbanum Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 342.
Habitat. — Western temperate Himalaya from Murree to Kumaon, at an altitude of 6,000 to 11,000 feet.
Erect, perennial herbs. Stems l-3 ft., stout or slender, from a woody root-stock, sparsely hairy. Lower leaves pinnatisect, terminal leaflets of radical leaves 2-3 in. diam. orbicular, lobed or crenate; lateral much smaller, often minute, sessile, broad, variously cut and lobed. Stipules leafy, lobed and toothed. Flowers erect, ½-¾in. diam.; peduncle slender. Petals yellow, narrowly obovate toothed, equalling or exceeding the Calyx- lobes, which are acuminate and reflexed in fruit. Style in fruit, forming an awn, ¼in., booked at the tip or below it. Achenes spreading and recurved; receptacle villous; head of hispid achenes sessile. ​ Uses : — The root is astringent, tonic, and antiseptic, but it is undeservingly neglected in modern practice (British Flora Meidca).
This plant does not seem to be used for medicinal purposes in India.
Source and composition of the essential oil of Herb Bennett Root. A new glucoside and Enzyme.
The dried root of Herb Bennett (Geum urbanum) has a feeble odour resembling that of cloves. If the plant be carefully plucked so as to leave the root intact, there is no manifestation of the characteristic odour, but this is at once detectable when the root is crushed between the fingers. The explanation of this phenomenon was established by the following experiments.
By extraction of the fresh root with boiling alcohol of 95°, distillation of the extract under reduced pressure, extraction of all the residue with alcohol, and precipitation of the solution by excess of ether, a substance is obtained which is odourless, but however contains the substance which gives rise to odoriferous principle. This proves to be eugenol.
Another portion of the root was macerated with sand and extracted with cold alcohol of 90°. The residual powder, which contains an enzyme, was dried at 30°. On adding to an aqueous solution of the first substance, a little of the ferment powder, a distinct odour of cloves is at once evident. If the ferment powder is previously heated in boiling water, the effect is not observable. It is concluded from these observations that the odoriferous principle does not exist free in the Herb Bennett root, but is produced from some other substance present by the action of an enzyme. The substance is a glucoside ; on addition of the enzyme to its aqueous solution, the reducing power and the rotary power both gradually increase.
The active enzyme is characteristic, the resolution of the glucoside is not effected by emulsin, invertase, onor by the enzyme of Aspergillus niger. It cannot be extracted by treatment of the roots with water.
The glucoside can be isolated in globular crystals by addition of ether to the alcoholic solution. The term gein is proposed for the glucoside, and gease for the enzyme.- J. Ch. S. 1905 A II 345.
469. G. elatum, Wall, h.f.b.l, ii. 343.
Vern. : — Gunglu junglic (Pers.); gogjemool (Cashmere).
Habitat : — Subalpine to Alpine Himalaya; from Kashmir to Sikkim.
Rootstock stout, woody. Leaves pinnatisect, hairy, 4-12in., linear-oblong ; leaflets ½-lin., close and imbricating or scattered, uniform or the alternate smaller, terminal orbicular, all lobed and coarsely crenate, upper all adnate by a broad base. ​Flowering stems with few leaves, and 1-6 flowers. Flowers ½-1½in. diam. Calyx-tobes deltoid-ovate, acute, silky, spreading in fruit. Petals orbicular, yellow, much exceeding the Calyx. Carpels sessile on the base of the Calyx, clothed with long, silky hairs. Achenes elliposoid, acute at both ends, hairy. Style |in., slender, straight in fruit.
Use : — The root of this plant, officinal in Kashmere, is one of the most valuable of remedies (Honnigberger). Its uses are similar to those of G. urbanum.
470. Potentilla nepalensis, Hook, h.f.b.i., ii. 355.
Vern.:— Rattanjot (Pb.)
Habitat : — Western temperate Himalaya, from Murree to Kumaon.
Herbs, with perennial woody root-stock. Leaves long petioled, digitately 5-foliate, or upper 3-foliate. Stems erect, leafy- branched, 3-flowered, stout or slender, from densely villous to glabrate. Radical leaves 12 by 3in. ; leaflets sessile ; 1-3 by ¼-1¼in., membranous, rarely acute, teeth obtuse or acute, base entire, cuneate ; obovate or elliptic obovate, green. Petiole slender, cauline stipules ¾-lin., ovate or oblong, lower entire, upperlobed. Flowers pedicelled in dichotomous panicles, 2/3-in. diam., petals obcordate, purple. Fruiting pedicels sometimes 3in., divaricate. Calyx-lobes acute ; bracteoles obtuse. Achenes very numerous, minute, wrinkled on a globose, hairy receptacle.
Use : — The roots are officinal, being considered depurative. They are used externally in the Yunani system, the ashes being applied with oil to burns (Dr. Stewart).
471. P. supina, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 359.
Syn.: — Comarum flavum, Roxb. 409.
Habitat : — Throughout the warmer parts of India, from Kashmir to Malacca and the Nilghiri Hills.
Root annual. Stems very numerous from the root. 6-1 8in., hairy, spreading, leafy dichotomously branched, prostrate or suberect, stout or slender. Leaves pinnate, ½-3in., flaccidly ​ membranous. Leaflets 3-9, opposite and alternate oblong, obtuse, lobate or serrate. Stipules ovate entire, very broad or narrow. Petiole slender ½-2in., pedicels axillary, solitary, slender, 1/6-½in. Calyx-lobes obtuse or acute, as are the bracteoles. Petals smaller than the calyx, oblong, yellow. Achenes very many, minute, smooth or rigid ; receptacle globose, villous; style subterminal.
Use : — The roots are employed in Sind as a febrifuge (Murray, 143). The medicinal properties depend upon tannin ; they are astringent and tonic (Dymock).
472. Agrimonia eupatorium Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 461.
Syn. ' — A. nepalensis, Don Prodr.
English : — Agrimony.
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Murree and Kashmir, altitude 3- 10,000ft. ; Sikkim, alt. 7-10,000ft. ; Khasia Mts., 4-6,000ft. Mishmi Hills. Westwards from Persia to the Atlantic, Siberia and Java. N. America. Java ? (J. W. Hooker).
A slender, erect, leafy perennial herb. Rootstock woody, short or long. Leaves 4-7in. Leaflets 6-21, sessile, alternate, often small hairy on both surfaces, larger 1-⅓in. elliptic-ovate or obovate rarely orbicular ; smaller often orbicular and minute; petiole slender. Stipules large, leafy, lunate entire or toothed. Racemes slender, lengthening in fruit ; pedicels reflexed in fruit ; bracts 3-fid or 3-partite. Flowers ¼in. diam. Petals oblong-ovate, yellow. Calyx-tube -Jin., hardened in fruit, grooved, lobes conniving in fruit ; top of tube with a dense ring of spines which become hooked in fruit and are erect, with the outer spreading.
Use : — From the remotest times Agrimony has enjoyed a high reputation among the herbalists of Europe; it is strange that it should be apparently quite unknown to the native doctors of India. The root is a powerful astringent, a useful tonic, and a mild febrifuge (Watt).
473. Rosa damascena, Mill, h.f.b.i., ii. 364.
Vern :— Gulâb ; Sudburg (H. and Bomb.) ; Gulâppâ irro​ jappu (Tam.) ; Gulâb-kali (the flower buds.) (Guz. and Mar.) ; Gulâb, gul, guláb (Pushtu.)
Habitat : — The commonest Indian Garden Rose, cultivated for Attar. Native country unknown.
Prickles unequal, large, hooked, sepals reflexed in flower.
Use : — In India, rose buds are preferred for medicinal use, as they are more astringent than the expanded flowers ; they are considered to be cold and dry, cephalic, cardiacal, tonic and aperient, removing bile and cold humors. Externally applied, the petals are used as an astringent. The stamens are thought to be hot, dry and astringent, and the fruit is credited with similar properties. A conserve made from equal parts of rose petals and white sugar beaten together, known as gulkand, is considered tonic and fattening, and is much used by women and old people. Shaikh-el-Rais says that he cured a consumptive young woman with it (Dymock).
474. R. centifolia Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 364, Roxb. 404.
Vern.:— Gulâb (H.) ; (Golâp (B.) ; Groja (Tam.) ; Roja (Tel.) ; Paninir (Mal.) ; Gulabi (Kan).
Eng.: — The Hundred-leaved or Cabbage Rose.
Habitat : — A native of Caucasus and Assyria, cultivated in India.
Styles distinct. Stem erect, prickles mixed with the glandular bristles, unequal, large, hooked, bristles numerous ; leaflets and calyx glandular-cilliate ; flowers nodding.
Parts used : —The Petals and Oil.
Use : — The petals are said to be mildly laxative. The oil or the attar of roses is employed in medicine to disguise the unpleasant odor of certain ointments, and other external applications. The petals are given in the form of a syrup as a laxative to infants (Watt).
475. R. Gallica Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 364.
Habitat : — -Europe and Asia Minor. Cultivated in India.
Style distinct. Stem erect, prickles mixed with glandular bristles, slender, equal. Flowers erect. ​ Use : —The dried petals are slightly tonic and astringent, and useful in debility. They are officinal in the Indian and British Pharmacopœias.
476. R. alba Linn. H.F.B.I., ii. 364.
Vern.: — Swet or Sevanti gulâb (H. and B.) ; Gul-seati (Pb.)
Syn.: — R. glandulifera, Roxb. 407.
Habitat : — Cultivated in India.
Caucasus, Afghanistan ? (J. D. Hooker).
Leaflets 5-7, large, grey, rugose, downy and pale beneath. Flowers large white pale, or bluish, double. Sepals often pinnatifid.
Use : — The flowers are used as a cooling medicine in fevers, also in palpitation of the heart (Baden Powell.) The petals made into gulkand in Poona (a preserve with cane-sugar).
477. Cydonia vulgaris Pers, h.f.b.i., ii. 369.
Syn : — Pyrus cydonia, Linn. Roxb, 406.
Vern : Bihi (H.) ; Bamtsunt, bamsutu (Kashmir) ; Shimai-madala virai (Tam.).
Eng :-— The Quince.
Habitat : —Cultivated in N.-W. India.
A large shrub ; branchlets, underside of leaves, peduncles and calyx white-tomentose. Wood light brown, soft, even-grained. Leaves ovate from an obtuse base, entire ; petioles short, stipules oblong, obtuse, glandular-serrate. Flowers white, 2in. across. Calyx-lobes leafy, glandular-serrate, longer than tube. Fruit large, clothed with grey, woolly tomentum ; 5-celled ; endocarp cartilaginous. Seeds many, testa mucilaginous. Flowers in March and April.
Parts used :— -The seeds.
Use : — The sweet and sub-acicl quinces are commonly eaten as a fruit by the Arabs and Persians, and are considered cephalic, cardiacal and tonic. The leaves, buds and bark of the tree are domestic remedies among the Arabs on account of their astringent properties. In India, the seeds are considered cold, moist, and slightly astringent, and are one of the most popular remedies in native practice, the mucilage being ​prescribed in coughs and bowel complaints as a demulcent ; externally it is applied to scalds, burns and blisters (Dymock).
The seeds act as demulcent, and are used by the natives in diarrhoea, dysentery, sore-throat, and fever. The dried fruit is used as a refrigerant (Watt).
Fatty oil of seeds.— Seeds were ground, dried carefully, and extracted with ether, chloroform or light petroleum ; fresh seeds yielded 15.3 per cent, of oil. This oil was yellow and had a faint odour of oil of almonds ; it had a solidification point— 13.5°, sp. gr. 0.922 at 15° solubility 4.15 parts in 100 of 95 per cent, alcohol, index of refraction 1.47248 for green, 1.47292 for red, viscosity 16.4 at 17° (by Schubler's method, comparing its velocity of efflux with that of water) ; it was optically inactive and showed obscure absorption bands in the blue and violet . 1 gram neutralised 31.7 milligrams K. O. H. in the cold (" acid number "), 181.7 on heating (" Kœttstorfer's " or " saponification number ") ; 5 grams contained volatile acids, soluble in water sufficient to neutralise 0.508 c.c. N./10 K. O. H. solution (" Reichert-Meissl number ") ; it contained 95.2 per cent, of fatty acids, insoluble in water "Hehner's number"), and united with 113 per cent, of iodine (" Hǘbl's iodine number. ").
By hydrolysis of the oil with lead oxide, glycerol was obtained to the extent of 4.1 per cent. A larger quantity of the oil was hydrolysed with caustic soda, and the acids converted into calcium salts, which were then treated with ether. From the calcium salt, soluble in ether, a liquid acid was obtained, and purified by conversion into its ethylic salt and fractional distillation of the latter. This acid has a sp. gr. 0.8931 and composition OH. C$_{17}$H$_{32}$COOH ; its ethylic salt boils at 223-226° under 7.5 mm., pressure ; an anhydrous barium salt, melting at 79°, and a monacetyl derivative were prepared ; a dibromide, C$_{18}$N$_{34}$O$_3$ Br$_2$ , was also prepared, and the acid was found to darken in the air, absorbing oxygen. From the calcium salt, insoluble in ether, a mixture of solid acids was obtained from which two were separated by crystallisation from 70 per cent, alcohol ; these were myristic acid, the main product, and a small amount of an acid which melts at 42°, contains C. 75.1 and H12.1 per cent., and is possibly an isomeride of pentadecylic acid. (J. Ch. S. 1899 A. I. 822).
Pectin from Quince. This pectin is strongly dextrorotatory, [a]D = 181.2°. On hydrolysis with dilute sulphuric acid, it yields arabinose ; when treated with nitric acid, it gives mucic acid, and with diastase from germinated barley it behaves exactly like the pectin obtained from the gentian and the gooseberry— (J. Ch. S. 1899 A. I. 822).
478. Eriobotrya japonica, Lindl. h.f.b.i., ii. 372.
Vern.: — Logat (H.).
Habitat: — The tree is indigenous in China and Japan. The fruit of Saharanpur is especially in repute, says Gamble. It ​ is an ornamental tree. Much cultivated at Dehra Dun and Saharanpur and in other parts of Northern India.
I used to see a solitary tree grown in the Thana Jail garden, in the early eightie's, from seed sent by my friend Mr. W. F. Sinclair, I. C. S., Collector of Colaba, over 25 years ago, from Alibag, Colaba District. He subsequently was Collector of Thana in 1894, and used to highly admire the tree for its beauty and healthy and rapid growth in foreign soil. (K. R. Kirtikar.)
A middle-sized tree, bark thin, dark-grey. Wood pink, hard, close-grained. Branches very robust, as thick as the little finger. Leaves beneath and inflorescence softly densely woolly, subsessile, narrowly oblanceolate, acuminate, nerves 10-15 pair, strong beneath (Kanjilal). Hooker says the leaves are 6-8 by l½-3in., nerves 12-15 pair. Petiole very short, woolly. Flowers dull white, dense, fragrant, ½in. across, in terminal panicles which latter are 3-6in. long and broad ; branches very stout. Calyx-tube short ; lobes ovate, subacute, petals broadly ovate. Fruit ovoid intruded at top, pyriform or globose, baccate, l-l½in. or even 2in. long, yellow or orange when ripe. Seeds 2-5, dark-brown, smooth, sessile.
Flowers in August to November and December. Fruits in March and April.
Uses : — Dr. Peokolt finds that the leaves taken in infusion, in the proportion of 30 grams to 240 grams of water, in the dose of a tablespoonful every two hours, produce a good effect in diarrhoœa. The tincture of the leaves is employed in indigestion (Ph. J. Jan. 30th, 1886.)
{{smaller|The seeds contain 0.35-0.45 p. c. of fat. Specimens of the fat, prepared by pressing (1), and by extraction with ether (II), and of the fatty acids (III) separated therefrom, had the following characters : — Sp. gr. at 15°C, I, 0.967 ; m. pt. I. 49°, II. 48°C. ; refractometer reading at 45°C, I. 75.5, II. 76 ; acid value, I. 90.5, II. 89.5 ; III. 160 ; Saponification value, I, 179.9 ; III. 173 ; Hehner value, I. 92.6, II. 92.2 ; Reichert-Meissl value, I. 5.4 ; iodine value, I. 48.7, II. 48, III. 58.5. The product obtained by the oxidation of the liquid fatty acids by Hazura's method (perm anganate, in alkaline solution) yielded to ether, dihydroxy stearic acid of m. pt. 234.5° C, ; the residue melted at 154°-154.5°C, Archidic and palmitic acids were detected in the solid fatty acids. J. Ch. I., 15th February 1911, p. 140.
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