MATERIA INDICA

MATEUIA INDICA. PAItT II.
Cl. and Ord. Pentandria lVlonogynia. Nat. Ord.
Apocinere (Juss.) Rucltstillender Oleander (Nom.
Triv. Willd.)
The baric of this tree is lately admitted into the
British Materia Medica, under the appellation of
connessi barle. On the .Malabar coast it is called palla
patah; and by the Portuguese corte de pala, who
consider it as a valuable febrjfuge medicine. On the
Coromandel coast it seems chiefly to be given in
dysenteric affections, and is commonly administered
in decoction, in the quantity of an ounce and a half
or two ounces twice daily. The bark is of a red.
dish-brown colour, astringent, and bitter, and has
been much vaunted by Rheede (Mal. i. p.85. t. 4q.)
and others in dysenteric affections. In Cochin-China,
where the tree is termed cay-molc-llOa-tlang, it wou'ld
appear, by Loureiro's account, that it is chiefly
prized for its beautiful white wood, which is of' a fine
grain, and fit for making furniture; with regard to
the medicinal properties, for which the bark of the
tree is so much in repute, he adds, "De virtute
arboris, antidysellterica testari, non audeo experientia
dcstitutus." I perceive it is noticed by Alibert
in his " N ou veaux Elcmens de Therapelitique,"
vol. i. p. 112., and an electuary of it recommended.
Virey * also speaks of it under the appeIJatioI) __ of
cropal, observing, that it is eminently antidysente(ic
and febrifuge.
The seeJs, which in Tamool have got the name of
"ceppalei arisee, in Persian that of 1A:>\, or y,::..\, ahir,
in Arabic lissan-ul-usqfeer, and in Dukhanie and
Hindoostanie _,..:;-..).)JI an dnjou, have a pleasant taste,
not unlike that of oats, which they also resemble In
I< See his" Histoire Naturelle des Medicamenb," p. 188.