CATIIARTOCARPUS FISTULA. Pers.
Cassia fistula, Linn. Bukhur, . . . knelt Pykassie, . . . DDT. Banner lati-gach'h, BEND. Pudding pipe tree, ENO. Soudan ; Sonalu, Purging cassia, . „ Gnoo.shwoay, . . Bumf. Came fistulense, . Fa.
Ono° gyee, . . • Purgir cassie, . . GEE.
Kakae ; Cunari, . CAN. Gurmalla, . . . GILL Chang-kwo-tsz-sbu, Cum. Amultas ; Bhawa, HIND.
Its Product. Hwai-hwa-tsing, . Crux. Cassia purgante, . PORT. l'olpa di Cassia, . . IT. Suvarnuka, . . SANSIC. Dranguli; Tung-guli, Jev. Ahilla, . . . SINGH. Cassia pulps, . . LAT. Konne; Sarakonne, TAM. Bawa ; Baya, . . Menu. Suvarnamu ; Beyla, TEL. Mentus, . . . MALEAL. Sunari, . . . USIA.
.
The genus belongs to the Fabacem. This is a tree from twenty to forty feet high, met with up to 4000 feet elevation all over Southern Asia, with a girth of three or four feet, and the height to the first branch ten to fifteen feet. It is un commonly beautiful when in flower, few trees surpassing it in the elegance of its numerous long pendulous racemes of large bright yellow flowers, intermixed with the young lively green foliage.
It bears a striking resemblance to the laburnum. It varies in size in different localities,—in Coim batore being too small for useful timber, but in Malabar it attains sufficient size to be adapted for the spars of native vessels. The wood weighs 66 lbs. to the cubic foot, is close-grained, red coloured, heavy, brittle, and of moderate strength ; in Coimbatore used for tom-toms. In Ganjam and Gumsur, where it is tolerably common, it is made into ploughshares and rice-pounders. It is common on the hills and plains of Pegu, where it is used for bows, axles of carts, etc. It has long cylindrical pods, from nine inches to two feet in length, internally divided into partitions, each with a flat seed, surrounded by a soft pulp.
Two pounds weight of the fruit yield eight ounces of the concrete pulp, which forms an article of commerce. Its bark is used in tanning. The bark of the root is a strong purge.—Drs. 1Vight, Gibson, Irvine, ltoxb. ii. p. 333, Stewart, 7'homp son, and Rrandis; Mr. Rohde; Powell.