Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/566

by ¾-lin. ; common petiole at base ¾-lin. broad ; the fascicles of leaflets up to 3in. apart. Spathe 12-14in., scurfy. Spadices erect, fruiting inclined, with spreading branches. Branches of male filiform. Male inflorescence, says Brandis, " white, scented, compact, on short peduncle." Fruiting peduncle 2-2½ft. long, 1-1½ft. wide, terminating in large branches of spikes ; spathe thick, almost woody. Fruit 1-1 1/5in. long, yellow while ripening, reddish-brown when fully ripe, then sweet pulp around the terete ; stony hard seed — seed ventrally grooved — in long embryo, ventral.

Uses : — The fruit, pounded and mixed with almonds, quince seeds, pistachio nuts, spices and sugar forms a paushtik, or restorative remedy, much in vogue. A paste, formed of kernels and the root of the Achryanthes aspera, is eaten with betel leaves as a remedy for ague. (Dymock.) The juice obtained from the tree is considered a cooling beverage. The central tender part is used in gonorrhœa and gleet. The root is used in tooth-ache. From the tree a gum is obtained, of which very little is known.

Vern.: — Mazri, nozarái (Trans.-Indus) ; Kilu, kaliúm (Salt Range) ; Pfis, pesh, pharra (Sind and Beluch.) ; Maizurrye (Pushtu).

Habitat : — Sindh, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the Western Punjab.

A gregarious, tufted, low-growing, glabrous palm, with prostrate branching, robust rhizomes or stems, 8-10ft. long, as thick as a man's arm, dichotomously branched, covered with the old leaf sheaths. Leaves 2-4ft. long and broad, whitish, split to the middle or lower into rigid segments, with often interposed fibres. Petiole unarmed, 6-12in. ; margins serrulate. Spadix pyramidal, 2-3ft. Branches ascending and recurved. Branchlets slender. Flowers in pair within a membranous spathella, one sessile, bracteate, the other pedicelled or bracteate. Flowers polygamous, male and bisexual in a large, erect, pyramidal,