Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/460

Syn : — Myrica sapida, Wall. M. integrifolia, Roxb. 765.

Sans. : — Katphala, kaidaryama.

Vern. :— Kaiphal (B., H., Sind. Pb. and M.); Ding solir (Khasia) ; Kobusi (Nep.) ; Kari-phal (Guz.) ; Maru dampattai (Tam.) ; Kaidaryamu (Tel.).

Habitat : — Sub-tropical Himalaya, from the Ravi eastwards. The Khasia Mts., Sylhet and southwards to Singapore.

A small, aromatic, nearly glabrous, evergreen tree. Leaves crowded towards ends of branches, lanceolate, 3-5in., acute or obtuse, entire, the lower pale or rust-coloured, minutely gland- dotted, aromatic. Stalks short, pubescent ; the leaves of the young shoots sometimes 5-8in., and toothed. Bark grey, a brownish-grey, roughly with deep vertical wrinkles. Wood purplish-grey, hard, close-grained, apt to warp. Flowers minute, uni-sexual, glandular, the male and female on different trees. Male flowers in catkins, ¼-lin., long, solitary in the leaf axils or sessile on common, drooping, axillary stalk, l-3in. long ; bracts orbicular, often with 2-3 smaller ones. Perianth none. Stamens 3-6, filaments free except at the bases. Female flowers in axillary, erect spikes, ½-lin. long ; bracts 2-4; perianth none ; ovary 1-celled ; style-arms 2, 1 mg, incurved, red. Drupe sessile, scaly, ovoid, ½-¾in., flesh red; stone wrinkled and pitted. (Collett.)

A very commonly cultivated tree in China and Japan, and is much esteemed for its sub-acid fruits, which are eaten by natives and Europeans both raw and cooked. I can find no difference between it and the M. integrifolia of Roxb.,**

Myrica integrifolia is a very common native bush or tree in the mountainous parts of Bengal and the eastern peninsula of India, and especially in Silhet, where it is called Sophee, and the fruit is eaten both pickled and raw. (Hooker in Curtis' Bot. Mag. for Sept. 1, 1868.)

Uses : — The bark is described by writers on Sanskrit medicine as heating, stimulant, and useful in diseases supposed to be caused by deranged phlegm, such as catarrhal fever, cough, and affections of the throat. It enters into the composition of numerous formulæ for these diseases, in which it is combined with other stimulants and alteratives. The powdered bark is