ROTTLERA. TINCTORIA. Roxb. ill. p. 827.
R. aurantiaca, IL and A. C. coccineus, Larn. R. affinis, Hassk. C. montanus, Willde.
Mallotus Philippensis, L. C. punctatus, Betz. Croton Philippensis, Lam.
Tung, BENG. Punnaga, . . .
Tan tie den, . BURN. Keshoor, . . . Kinoon la, . Hamparandella, . SINGH.
Memasho, . Kapilapodi, . . TAIL Sarnakassary mara, CAN. Corunga munjemaram, Monkey-faced tree, ENG. Chendurapu chettu, TEL. Dyer's Rottlera, . . Sinduri chettu, . . Kameel, Kamila, HIND. Kunkumapuvvu chettu, Takla, Kapila, . Punnagamu chettu, . Rulya, Kembal, . Vasanta gundu chettu, Reun, Reunah, KANAWAR. Veligaram chettu, Reini, . . , Bendu rapu, . . . Shendi, Sendri, . MAHE. Soondoro-gundi, URIYA. ? Poonnagam, . MALEAL. Koomala-gundi, . Kamblaa, . . . SAME. Bosonto-gundi, . A large tree, with alternate, ovate, oblong leaves, of a ferruginous colour beneath ; flowers in the cold weather. It is common in many parts of British India, from Peshawur, ARNIM, to Ceylon, Ilurma, Java, Philippines, and China. The stellate pubescence covering the 3-coccus capsule of this large tree is collected for sale for dyeing silk. Tho colouring matter does not require a morthuit, all that is necessary being to mix it with water containing about half its weight of carbonate of soda. The colour imparted is a rich flame or orange tint of great beauty and extreme stability ; the material supplied by commerce contains 78 per cent. of colouring matter, and the powder consists of hairs obtained from the outer part of the first capsule, and when the fruit is ripe it is brushed off and collected. It is also found sparingly on the leaves, petioles, and flower stalks of the plant. The powder is of a d.ark brick-red colour, with a peculiar heavy odour, increased on its being rubbed between the fingers. Two varieties of it are sold in the bazars in the Panjab, the ono having been passed through coarse cloth to free it from impurities, such as portions of the withered flowers, dust, or insects, but the only appreciable difference is that this finer quality is cleaner than the other. To cold water the powder does not impart its yellow colour, but either floats on the surface or falls in small quantities to the bottom. Boiling water becomes slightly tinged by it. If the powder be boiled in water to which any of the alkalies have been added, a complete solution of the colouring matter takes place, and it is by means of this property that the natives of India. avail themselves of it as a dye. Alcohol and ether dissolve it with equal facility. All these pre parations of the powder have a dark-red colour, and the yellow colouring matter is only sepamted on the addition of certain re-agents. Thus, when the mineral acids are added to the alkaline decoction or infusiou, a thick flocculent precipitate of a gamboge yellow colour is thrown down, and the same effect is produced on the alcoholic and ethereal tinctures on the addition of water or the mineral acids. Contact with the atmosphere seems to cause the development of this yellow deposit, as on exposing on glass a thin film of either of the tinctures, before evaporation of the fluid is completed, the previously transparent coating becomes .opaque and of a light-;rellow colour. The process of dyeing seems a_so to bear on this idea, as silk or cloth is merely dipped in a hot alkaline solution which Ls of a dark-red colour, and on the drying of the cloth the characteristic yellow colour is developed.
The resinous deposit, on which the active pro perties of the plant both as an anthelmintic and a dye depend, is obtained in a large quantity from an alkaline decoction of the powder by boiling eight ounces of tho powder in two pints of water, along with one ounce of the bicarbonate of soda. Filter when cool, and to the filtered liquid add nitric acid till the solution becomes neutral. A considerable quantity of yellow matter theu forms in tho fluid, which is again filtered, and this yellow residue, when dry, is found to weigh ono and a half ounces, is of a dusky yellow colour, and adheres in lumps of considerable consistence. The substance pro bably exists in tho plant as an essential oil, and tho formation of the yellow-coloured deposit, on the neutralization of alkaline solutions, and tho addition of water or the acids to the alcoholic and ethereal solutions, or by the action of air, consists in the change of the essential oil to a resin, by the loss of hydrogen and the absorption of oxygen. The silk dyers of Southern India uso the following method :-4 parts of the powder, 1 part of powdered alum? 2 parts of salts of soda, rubbed well together with oil of seatimum and then boiled in water; it is sufficient, however, to mix it with water containing half its weight of carbonate of soda. The powder, as found in the bazars, is much adulterated, but some collected carefully by the Madras Forest Department, realized a high price in the Engliali markets. In the process of dyeing, as pursued in Amritsar, where a largo trade in silk is carried on, barilla, a coarse preparation of carbonate of potash, obtained by burning a herbaceous species of salsola common in the uncultivated portions of the Panjab, is mixed with water, in the propor tion of one ounce of barilla to four ounces of water. To this solution, when filtered, the kamila is added; and they are then boiled together. When the boiling has been continued long eaough to extract all the colouring rnatter, a small quan tity of lime is dissolved in the fluid. The dye is then ready for use, with the exception of tho addition of few grains of alum, in order to fix the colour. In some Flea of India, gum is occa sionally mixed with the fluid, but in the Paujab this is never considered necessary. The characteristic yellow colour is not developed in silk, etc., until after two or three immersions in the dyeing fluid. The kamila dye is sold in the drug mart of Amritsar at Rs. 18 a maund for the first quality, and Rs. 10 for the second. (This is at the rate of 2 lbs. for 6d.) It contains a yellow resin, rottlerine, soluble in carbonate of soda, and precipitated by acids. It acts as a purgative and very sure anthehnintic in cases of tapeworm, in doses of front one to two drachms. It is in some districts used as an application to cutaneous diseases, especially for itch and fevers, and it is said to be also an aphrodisiac.Cieghorn ; Ind. Annals Med. Sc. i. 85 ; Irvine's Med. Top. ; Hooker, i. 14 ; "fens. ; Honig& ; Powell ; Riddell ; Ex. Jur. Rep. ;.Thwaites ; Stewart ; Beddome.
Rorro or Rotti and Lando aro islands near Timor. Rotto is about 45 miles long, and of modemte height, with undulating hills, and its S.W. end extends to about lat. 11° 2' S., and long. 122° 51' E.