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13. Excoecaria agallocha nn Syst Nat cd. 10, 1288. 1759. (Fig. 203),
Excoecaria camellia Willd. Excoecaria affinis-Endl.—Slillingia agallocha Baill.
EUPHORBIACEAE
Engl. Blinding Tree; Sinh. Telakiriya; Tarn. Agadil, Agi, Ambalatti, Ambalavirukkam,
Tillai, Perundillai; Sans. Agaru.
A small, glabrous tree with acrid milky juice and smooth, rather thick branchlets marked
with leaf scars; leaves simple, alternate, 5.4—7.8 cm long, 3—-4.7 cm broad, oval, acute or
rounded at base, shortly obtusely acuminate, obtuse, entire or obscurely crenate, rather thick,
veins except the midrib very inconspicuous; petioles 1.8—2.5 cm long, slender; flowers
regular, unisexual, apetalous, in yellow, fragrant, catkin-like spikes, males or males and females
together; male flowers sessile, spikes numerous, supraxillary, crowded, bracts rounded; sepals
3, minute, unequal, subserrulate; stamens 3, filaments distinct, elongate; female flowers
somewhat pedicellate in racemes mixed with male flowers; sepals 3, minute, ovary superior, 3locular
with a single ovule in each chamber, styles 3, free nearly to the base, undivided and
recurved; fruit capsule very variable in size, 0.6—1 2 cm long, consisting of 3, crustaceous cocci
falling away from a central column; seeds smooth, subglobose.
Flowers from February to September
Illustrations. Wight, Ic. PI. Ind. Orient pi 18655. 1852; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian
Med. Plants, pi. 883. 1933.
Distribution. Occurs in India, Ceylon, Burma, Malaya to Polynesia and Philippine
Islands, New Caledonia and North Australia. In Ceylon, it is common along the coast by tidal
estuaries and backwaters.
Ceylon. Northern Prov., Thwaites CP. 2169; Jaffna, Herb. Peradeniya., Feb. 1890.,
North Western Prov., Puttalam, J. M. Silva 41 and 42, March 1926; /. M. Silva 43. Western
Prov., Negombo, Simpson 7935, April 1931.
Uses. The milky latex which exudes from the bark of this tree is very caustic
and poisonous, causing blindness if it touches the eyes and blisters the skin. In Fiji, the smoke
of the burning wood is used in the treatment of leprosy. According to Burkill the roots are less
poisonous than the parts above the ground and pounded with ginger serves to make an
embrocation for swellings on hands and feet. The latex is used as fish poison. Dried and
powdered leaves are used for poisoning drinking water. Ridley says that this plant is used in the
composition of arrow poison. A decoction of. the leaves is used occasionally in epilepsy and
as an application on ulcers.
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