# Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Rhamneæ

N. 0. RHAMNEÆ.
284. Ventilago madraspatana, Gaertn. H. f. b. I., i. 631.
Sans. : — Raktavalli.
Vern. : — Pitti (H.) ; Raktapita (B.) ; Chorgu (Hyderabad) ; Kroti pitti (C. P.) ; Lokandi, kanwail (Bomb.) ; Ragatarohado (Guz.) ; Luri-chakka (Dec.) ; Pappili-chakka, suralpattai, lurala chaki, surate cheka, papli, vembadain, veinpadon (Triman) (Tam.) ; Surabi ; papri Kali-bili (Dun) ; Bonga-Sarjom (Kol.) petli tige, lurala tige, arra chiratali (Tel) ; Paipli-chakka, papli, popli (Kan.) ; yaccaduvel (Sinhalese).
Habitat : — Western Peninsula, from the Concan southward. Tenasserim. Throughout the plains of India. Forests of Burma and Ceylon, in hot dry places.
A large, much-branched, woody climber or climbing shrub. Bark grey white. Vertical cracks, exposing the inner surface which has a vermilion colour. Wood yellow, porous, soft ; branchlets elongated, slender, younger parts, branchlets, petioles and young leaves pubescent.
A very conspicuous forest climber, climbing over the tallest trees and hanging its branches down in festoons (Gamble). Tendrils woody. Leaves 1½-5in. (usually about 2½), ovate, ovate- lanceolate, obtuse or rounded at base, acuminate, obtuse or rarely acute, shallowly crenate-serrate or entire, glabrous and shining ; lateral veins 6-10 in each side, fine but conspicuous, oblique, connected by very fine transverse reticulation. Petiole, ⅛-¼in., stipules very small, lanceolate, pubescent. Flowers pale green, ⅓ in., numerous, on short pubescent pedicels, arranged in clusters on the branches of large spreading and drooping, pubescent, elongated, terminal panicles. Calyx pubescent, lobes erect, very acute. Petals shorter than calyx, 2-lobed. Stamens as long as petals. Styles short. Nut small, globular, supported on persistent calyx. Wing 1-1½ in. linear oblong, leathery, pubescent, slightly, bifid at apex. ​ Part used : — The root-bark.
Uses: — The powdered root-bark is carminative, stomachic, tonic and stimulant ; useful in atonic dyspepsia, debility and slight cases of fever (Moodeen Sheriff).
The powdered bark (mixed with gingelly oil) is also said to be sometimes used in South India as an external application for itch and other skin diseases (Watt).
VENTILAGO MADRASPATANA.
On treating this dye-stuff with carbon bisulphide five crystalline substances are extracted, together with a wax and a resinous colouring matter.
1. A substance of the formula C$_{16}$H$_{12}$O$_5$. This crystallises in long, orange-red needles, melting at 200° ; it sublimes at higher temperatures, partially carbonising. Its alkaline solutions have a purple tint, and the corresponding salt can be obtained in the form of violet-colored needles sparingly soluble in alcohol. There is a great deal of similarity in appearance, properties, and melting point between emodin from Rhamnus frangula and this substance. They are probably identical.
2. A substance of the formula C$_{16}$H$_{14}$O$_4$(A). This forms long, colourless needles, which decompose at about 260° before melting ; it is soluble in alkaline solutions with a yellowish brown coloration.
3. A substance of the formula C$_{16}$H$_{14}$O$_4$(B). This crystallises in pale yellow needles melting at 173°. With acetic anhydride, it yields what is probably a triacetyl compound melting at 227-229°, the alcoholic solution of which has a strong blue fluorescence. Tt dissolves in alkalis forming yellowish brown solutions which on long exposure to air become red, and on treatment with acid yield a precipitate of emodin methyl ether.
4. A substance of the formula C$_{16}$H$_8$O$_8$. This is an orange-red, crystalline powder, which, when heated, begins to darken at 260°, and melts and carbonises at 275-280°. It is distinguished from the preceding substances by its sparing solubility in most solvents. Solutions of the alkalis dissolve it with an orange-red coloration, and it yields an acetyl derivative, C$_{16}$H$_7$O$_8$(C$_2$H$_3$O), which crystallises in yellow needles melting and decomposing at 216-220°.
5. A substance of the formula C$_{17}$H$_{12}$O$_5$. This is a chocolate-colored, crystalline powder. When treated with dilute alkali, it dissolves with a yellow coloration, but on exposure to air the solution deposits a blue, amorphous precipitate, and it therefore appears to contain in its molecule a reduced quinone group.
6. The wax (C$_9$H$_{16}$O)$_n$, consists of nearly colourless, minute needles, melting at 72°. ​ 7. The colouring matter is a reddish-brown, brittle resin of the formula C$_{15}$H$_{14}$O$_6$, and, up to the present, has resisted all attempts to obtain it in a crystalline condition, It softens at about 100°, and melts at 100-110°. Dilute alkalis dissolve it with a purple-violet coloration, and the corresponding salts are obtained as violet, amorphous precipitates, on adding common salts to these solutions. From its nature and properties, it appears possible that it is allied to alkanin, C$_{15}$H$_{14}$O$_4$, the colouring matter of the roots of the Anchusa tinctoria. Alkanin is also of a resinous nature. It is possible, therefore, that the coloring matter of the Ventilago madraspatana, for which the name of ventilagin is proposed, is represented by alkanin containing two additional hydroxyl groups.— J. Ch. S. T. 1894, p. 924 et seq.
285. V. calyculata, Tulasne. h.f.b.l, i. 631.
Syn : : — V. Madraspatana, Roxb., Roxb. 211.
[King Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, Vol. 65 (1897) 379] considers this to be a variety of V. Madraspatana, so also does Duthie (Fl. of the Upper Gang. Plain, p. 162).
Vern. : — Rai ohani (H.) ; Raktapita (B.) ; Bonga-sarjun, dœsaraj, noduâr (Kol.) ; Bonga-sarjom (Santal) ; Raktapita kala lag (Kumaon) ; Papri (C. P.); Sakal yel (Mar.); Zerra chiotali (Tel.); Karkandi châyeh ; Kányel (Bomb.).
Habitat: —Throughout hotter parts of India, from the Kumaon Himalaya and Nepal to Bhutan.
Sylhet, Tenassarim. Dun, Saharanpur. Throughout the Western Peninsula.
A large woody climber, with strong tendrils. Branchlets pubescent. Bark dark grey. Leaves 2-4 by 1-2½in., ovate or oblong-elliptic, more or less acute, cuneate or entire, sub-coriaceous, pubescent when young; lateral nerves 6-8 pair, arcuate ; base unequal ; petiole 1/5-2/5in. pubescent. Flowers numerous, small, greenish, in large terminal panicles. Calyx pubescent; lobes 5, keeled inside. Petals 5, deflexed. Disk 5-lobed, filling the Calyx-tube. Ovary 2-celled, sunk in disk. Style short, prolonged and winged on both sides in fruit. Fruit a sub-globose nut, 1/5in, diam., girt about middle by ten rims of the adherent Calyx-tube and prolonged into a wing, which is 1-1½ by ⅓-2/5 in., linear, strongly reaticulate and with a prominent straight midrib. ​ Brandis says:— I follow King in uniting this with V. Madraspatana, Gœrtn :— V. calyculata, Tulsane, is supposed to be recognized by broader leaves, rounded at the base, a pubescent disk, and half the fruit enclosed in the cup-shaped Calyx.
Parts used : — The bark and shoots.
Uses : — The juice of the bark and young shoots is, in Chutia Nagpur, applied to the body as a remedy for the pains which accompany malarial fever. A ring made from the tendril is used as a charm against toothache. (Campbell.)
286. Zizyphus Jujuba, Lamk h. f. b. I., i. 632. Roxb. 204.
Habitat : — Throughout India, wild and extensively cultivated. Ceylon, dry region common. Afghanistan, China, Malay.
Sans. : — Badari.
Arab : — Sidr.
Pers. : — Kunar.
Trimen says it is usually known in Ceylon by its Portugese name ' Masun ' (Masca, an apple).
Vern. : — Janun jan (Kol.) ; Ringa (Gond.) ; Jelachi (Kan.) ; Ziben (Burmese) — Brandis. Ber, baer (H.) ; Kul, ber (B.) ; Beyr, jangra (Sind) ; Reugha, regi, rega-panda (Tel.) ; Yellaude, Elandap-pazham (Tam.) ; Yelchi (Kan.) Jom Janum (Santal and Kol); Bar Koli (Uriya). J. Indraji : — (Porebunder & Guj.) Bordi, Bori ; (Marathi) Baher, Bor ; (Hindi) Ber, Ben, Baher.
Trimen :— (Sinh ) Mahâdebara ; (Tamil) Ilantai.
A moderate-sized, deciduous thorny tree, almost ever-green, 30-50ft. Young branches and flowers covered with a dense fuscous tomentum. Large branches drooping, armed with stipular spines, equal, or, one straight, the other bent, ​ rarely unarmed. " Branchlets, petioles, underside of leaves, and inflorescence densely clothed with bright tawny or nearly white tomentum" (Brandis). " Bark ⅓in. thick, dark grey, nearly black, with irregular cracks. Wood hard, reddish ; no heart-wood. Annual rings distinct, in specimens from N. India, indistinct from those in warmer regions. Pores small or mode- rate-sized, scanty, often oval and sub-divided. Medullary rays fine, very numerous, uniform and equidistant ; the distance between two rays much less than the transverse diameter of the pores. Pores frequently joined by short, fine, concentric lines (Gamble). A very variable tree. Leaves variable. 1-2½ by ¾-2in., elliptic-ovate or sub-orbicular, dark green and glabrous above, covered beneath with a dense woolly pale coloured tomentum. Margin entire or serrulate. Petiole 1/10-⅔in. long. Flowers greenish-yellow, greenish-white, says Trimen, on short axillary cymes ¾in. long. Calyx glabrous, white. Petals unguiculate, sub-spathulate, very caducous, reflexed ; lamina oblong, concave or hooded. Disk fleshy, 10-lobed ; lobes grooved. Ovary 2-celled. Style 2, united to the middle. Drupes 2-celled, fleshy and mealy, glabrous, mucilaginous when ripe and orange or red. Stone tuberculate, bony, irregularly furrowed, generally one-celled, never more than 2-celled.
Use :— The fruit is said to be nourishing (mawkish), mucilaginous, and pectoral and styptic. I think that the ripe fruit has a very agreeable taste — K.R.K. It is refreshing at any rate, Trimen says: — "The pulp has a pleasant sweetish flavour, when fully ripe. The berries are considered to purify the blood and to assist digestion. The bark is said to be a remedy in diarrhœa. The root is used in decoction in fever, and powdered to be applied to ulcers and old wounds. The leaves form a plaster in strangury (Baden-Powell.)
The young leaves are pounded with those of Ficus glomerata, and applied to scorpion stings in the Concan ; they are also, with acacia catechu leaves, given as a cooling medicine in hot weather : dose 2 tolâs. According to Ainslie, the root is prescribed in decoction by the Vytians in conjunction with sundry warm seeds, as a drink in certain cases of fever (Dymock). ​
287. Z. glabrata, Heyne, h.f.b.l, i. 633.
Syn.: — Z. trinervia, Roxb, not Poir. Roxb. 204.
Sans. : — Vata-dalla.
Vern. :— Carookoova Kurka tura karukatá, karkattam (Tam.) ; Kakoopala (Tel.).
Habitat : — Eastern Bengal and Bhotan ; Western Peninsula and the Nilghiri Mts.
A small, unarmed tree, youngest shoots and inflorescence pubescent. Leaves glabrous, obtusely minutely-serrate. Basal nerves prominent, continued to the apex. Secondary nerves faint ; veins minutely reticulate ; blade 1-3 by ⅔ by 1½in., elliptic, glabrous on both sides, dark green. Petiole ¼in. long. Cymes nearly sessile or ½in. long. Flowers slightly puberulous, yellowish, or greenish-yellow, ¼in diam. Petals obtriangular, with convolute margins. Disk faintly 10-lobed, not pitted or grooved, glabrous. Anthers-cells parallel, not diverging at base. Ovary 2-celled ; styles 2, united to the middle. Drupe globose, ½-¾in. long, often apiculate.
Part used : — The leaves.
Use:— A decoction of the leaves is given to purify the blood in cases of cachexia, and as an alterative in old venereal affections (AINSLIE.)
288. Z. nummularia, W. & A., h.f.b.l, i. 633.
Syn. : — Z. microphylla, Roxb. 206.
Sans : — Bhu-hrdari-bâlakapriyâ, Aja-priyâ, Bhu-kamtaka, Sukshma-phalâ.
Vern. : — Jhárberi (Pb.) ; Nundo-jangro (Sind) ; Malla, bêr, jhari, kanta (U. P.); Parpalli (Kan.) Gangar (Guz).
Vern.: — J. Indraji (Porebuncler) Paleran, (Guj.) Adbâu bordi, Khetrâû Bordi, Jhardân Bor. Chanyâ Bor., (Mârâthi) Gañgar, Juñgar Jungle bor, (Hindi) Jharberi, Jharber, Jhadia-ber.
Habitat : — The Punjab ascending to 3,000ft. Gujerat, and the Western Peninsula, from the Dekkan and the Concan southward, Persia.
A profusely-armed shrub, with widely divaricating flexuous ​ brandies. Young branches puberulous. Leaves serrate, dark green and velvety above, pale and more felted beneath, ½-1in., ovate to orbicular. Cymes under |in. Petals ovate, with convolute margins. Disk 10-lobed. with a pit opposite each lobe. Ovary 2-celled, styles 2, united to above the middle. Fruit ⅜in. diam., globose, woody, black, 2-celled. Much used for fencing and for the sweet subacid fruit as food, especially in famine time.
Use :— In the Punjab, the fruit is used in bilious affections ; and considered by the natives to be cool and astringent (SETWART).
289. Z. vulgaris, Lamk h.f.b.i., i. 633, Roxb. 204.
Vern. : — Unnáb (Arab). ; Sinjid-i-jiláni (Pers.) ; Titni-ber, kandiari (H), Sanjit (Pb); Unâb (Bomb).
Habitat : — The Punjab, extending to the Western Frontier from the Punjab Himalaya. Wild and cultivated, extending to Bengal, Kashmir, Baluchistan. The best fruit (Dried) comes from China and Japan.
A large shrub or small tree, armed. Bark rough, with longitudinal furrows, dark grey. Wood pale, yellow-brown. Heartwood dark-brown, even grained. Stewart says this is the handsomest species, and that he has seen it as large as 5-6ft. in girth and 25-30ft. high Gamble). Rigid, spreading boughs and stiff branches, which are often unarmed. The whole plant is quite glabrous. Leaves ¾-2½in. sub-obliquely ovate, obtuse or sub-acute, crenate-serrate ; prickles usually gemmate, the straight one often over 1in. long, stout. Flowers few, fascicled in the axils of the leaves. Petals cucullate. Disk thin, obscurely 5-lobed. Ovary 2-celled. Styles 2, united to the middle. Fruit ½in. diam., globose or oblong, esculent, red and black, shining.
Use. — Mir Muhamraed Husain regards the dried fruits as a suppurative, expectorant, and purifier of the blood. The bark of the tree is used to clean wounds and sores. The gum ​ in certain affections of the eyes, and the leaves when chewed, are said to destroy the power of the tongue to appreciate the taste of disagreeable medicines (DYMOCK).
A syrup of the dried fruits is used in the Punjab for bronchitis.
290. Z. rugosa, Lamk., h.f.b.i., i, 636.
Syn. :— Z. glabra, Roxb, 206.
Vern. :•— Suran, churan (Hindi) ; Dhaush (Oudh) ; Sekra (Santh.) ; Todali (Mal.) Mayanksi (Lower Burma.) ; Tabu, Mitha Tabu (Upper Burma). Toran, Churna (Bomb).
Trimen; — (Sinhalese), Maha-eraminiya, (Tamil) Churai.
Habitat:— Eastern Himalaya, 2,000ft. Behar. Shan hills to 4000ft. Sub-Himalayan tract, from the Ganges eastward, ascending to 2,000ft. Burma, South India, Western Peninsula ; Ceylon, moist low country to 2,000 ft ; common.
A large, straggling or climbing bush, with long virgate branches, fulvous, tometose, when young. Leaves 2-3in., broadly oval or rotundate, unequal, sided, oblique at base, very short-acuminate, denticulate, glabrous above, densely fulvous tomentose, becoming glabrous beneath. Petiole ⅜in., prickles usually solitary, numerous, strong, broad-based, recurved or nearly straight, heavy. Flowers greenish, very small, numerous, in tomentose, pedunculate cymes about 1 in., arranged along one side of short, usually leafless, lateral branches. Calyx hairy outside, lobes ovate. Petals O ; dark, 5- lobed ; styles 2, connate at base. Fruit small, ¼-⅓in. Drupe edible, sweet, pinkish when ripe, pyriform globose, apiculate, smooth. Stone very thin, 1-celled, 1- seeded.
Use : — The flowers, with an equal quantity of the petioles of the betel leaf and half as much lime, are given in 4-grain pills twice a day for menorrhagia (DYMOCK.)
291. Rhamnus dahuricus, Pall., h.f.b.i., i639.
Syn. : — R. Virgatus, Roxb. 203.
Vern. : — Chato, chedwala, chadua (H.); Tsápo, mail (Tibet); Spiti (Kumaon) ; Phipai, dâdûr tadru, setapajja, hangi, mamral, ​ shomfol reteon, gogsa, sindool, mûtûi, mor, chakra, romúsk, thalot, chetain (Pb.) ; Wurak (Pushtu).
Habitat :— Trans-Indus Himalaya 2,400-7,000 ft., from the Indus eastward ; Manipur, Shan Hills, Upper Burma, 4,000 ft.
A spinescent large shrub, or small tree; heart-wood brown, hard, possessing wavy radial belts ; branches often spinescent, young shoots pubescent. Leaves membranous, almost opposite, glabrous, frequently fascicled or arrested branchlets, lanceolate, or obovate-lanceolate, blade 1-4 in., petiole ¼- ⅓in. long. Flowers greenish, on slender pedicels, in axillary clusters ; 4-merous ; petals, minute, linear, spathulate. Fruit obovate, orbicular, 1/5 in. long. Seed grooved, groove narrow, nearly closed. Closely allied to the European R. Catharticus (Lowson)
Part used : — The fruit.
Use: — The fruit which is bitter, even when ripe, has emetic and purgative properties, and is given (Trans-Indus) in affections of the spleen, (WATT.)
Closely allied to the European R. Catharticus for which it may be used as a substitute in India. (B. D. B.)
292. R. Wightii, W. and A., h.f.b.i, i. 639.
Vern : — Rakta-rohida, Rakt zorar (Bom.).
Habitat : — Western Peninsula, and from the highest hills of the Concan southwards to the Nilghiris. There is a fine tree in Thana Judge's garden. Common in Upper Montane Zone, Ceylon.
Brandis says : " It is found on the Western Ghats, from Mahabaleshwar southwards ; Nilgiris, Palm Hills.
A large shrub, young parts puberulous. Leaves 2-3½in., ovate-oval or ovate, rounded at base, acuminate, obtuse, apiculate, finely glandular-serrate, glabrous on both sides. Petiole ½ in.; Stipules very early caducous. Flowers yellowish green, on glabrous pedicels, shorter than the petiole, 1-5 in. axillary clusters. Calyx glabrous ; segments 5, triangular. Petals 5, very small, spathulate. Stamens 5 ; ovary 3 (or 4J-celled ; Styles 3-(or 4), connate half way up. Berry ¼ in. globose, supported on flat persistent Calyx-tube, tipped with persistent styles, smooth, reddish purple. ​ Trimen says it is nearly allied to R. frangula, the Alder buck-thorn of England.
Use : —In the Western Peninsula the bark is in much repute on account of its tonic, astringent and deobstruent properties (DYMOCK.)
293. R. purpureus, Edgew, h.f.b.i., i. 639.
Vern. ' — Bal sinjal, káru, memarira, Kinji (Pb.).
Habitat : — West Himalaya, from Murree to Kumaon, Indus to Sard river 4500 p. 10,000.
An unarmed, middle-sized tree, young shoots pubescent, the previous year's branchlets purple. Leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Secondary nerves 6-10 pair, prominent, blade 3-4 in. Petiole ¼in. Flowers mostly bi-sexual, 5-merous, in axillary clusters or Cymes. Petals O ; style short, 3-cleft nearly to the base. Drupe ¼ to ½ in. long, sub-globose, bitter.
Use : — In Hazara the fruit is used as a purgative (STEWART).
294. R. triqueter, Wall, h. f. b. i., i. 639.
Vern. : — Rangrek (Pb.) Lhish Jaunsar.
Habitat : — Punjab, in the Salt Range ; Western Himalaya, from the Jhelum, alt. 3-4,000 ft., to Kumaon. Lanowla, Purandhar Hill, in the Poona District.
A small tree. Branchlets and leaves, with dense short tomentum. Leaves ovate or elliptic-oblong. Secondary nerves 6-10 pair, prominent. Blade 2-5 in., petiole ½-¾in. long. Flowers clustered on axillary racemes attaining 3 in., puberulous, fascicled on the leafless (very rarely leafy) branches. Fruit ⅛ in., obovoid, 3-lobed. Seeds, with a broad open groove.
Use : — Talbot writes that " it is very like R. Wightii, and may have been formerly cultivated in the Deccan for its medicinal qualities " (Forest Flora, p. 30).
295. Gouania leptostachya, D.C., h.f.b.i., i. 643.
Vern. : — Batwasi, tung-cheougmourik (Sikkim.) ​Habitat : — (Brandis) Sub-Himalayan tract and outer hills from the Jumna eastward, ascending up to 6,000 ft. in Sikkim. Khasi Hills, Lower Burma, Andamans. Tonkin, Cochin China, Malay Peninsula and the Archipelago.
An unarmed, climbing shrub ; branches glabrous ; leaves 3-4 by 1¾- 2 in., ovate, acuminate, slightly cordate at the base, coarsely crenate-serrated, glabrous : racemes interrupted, axillary or in terminal panicles, elongated, pubescent when young, afterward glabrous. Flowers on very short pedicels, polygamous. Disk glabrous, stellate ; accessory angles partly adnate to the calycine-lobes, free and acuminated towards the 2-horned apex. Fruit, glabrous, shortly winged.
Use : — The leaves are used by Lepchas to make poultices for sores (GAMBLE.)
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