KUTEERA, or KATI'IIA, a kind of gum, considered in India by the native practitioners of medicine to be a good substitute for Tragacanth. Indeed, they consider it to be the true Tragacanth, which is described by Avicenna under the name kuseera in the original Arabic, while the plant which yields it is named Ketad, and its gum Dragacanthum. The Kuteera gum a good deal resembles Tragacanth in appearance, but does not in other respects correspond with that gum according to the experiments which have been made on it in Europe. It has been described by Martins under the name Kuteera (` Pharmakognosie,' p. 338), which Guibourt says is the same as his Gem me de Bassora ; it is intermediate between tragacanth and bassorin —when pure, it is almost entirely bassorin. Like the latter, it swells very much in water, and has a faint vinegar-like odour. Dr. Rox burgh states that Sterculia :Irene a gum not unlike Tragacanth, and has been sent to London as such ; but the artists, who use that gum, did not find it answer." He however mentions that the water in which he kept the green branches for examination became thick, like a clear glutinous jelly, while the bark was exceedingly astringent.
(` Fl. Ind.,' p. Ill.) Dr. Royle, on the contrary, states that the gum called and used as a substitute for Tragacanth in north-western India, is yielded by Cochlospermum Goss-pi:an, and he possesses some of the same kind of gum collected by Mr. Malcolmson in Central India, accompanied with specimens of the tree which yielded it. This is identically the above-named species, which is so highly ornamental on the lower mountains of India, with its large and rich-coloured yellow flowers. Martins considers that it may be the produce of Acacia leucophicea, Willd. or of a Simaruba, the latter conjecture a very im probable source. This gum is used in dyeing. Mr. Simmonds says that Kuteera and Kutira are two distinct gums ; the former from Stercu lie urens, the latter from Cochlospermum Gassypium. (Simmonds' ' Dictionary of Trade Products.)