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EUPHORBIACEAE<br />
18. Ma Hot us philippinensis (Lam.) Muell.—Arg. in Linnaea 34: 196. 1865. (Fig. 208).<br />
Rottlera tinctoria Roxb.—Rottlera aurantiaca Hook. & Arn.—Rottlera affinis Hassk.—Rottiera<br />
montana Wall.—Rottlera mollis Wall.—Rottlera philippinensis Scheff.—Rottlera manitensis<br />
Klotz.—Croton phillipense Lamk.— Croton punctatus Retz.—Croton coccineus Vahl—Croton<br />
montanus Willd.— Croton distans Wall.— Croton cascavilloides Rauesch.—Echinus phillippinensis<br />
Bail!.<br />
Engl. Monkey Face Tree; Sinh. Hamparandella, Hamparila, Hdmpirila; Tarn-<br />
Avam, Kabilam, Kabilappodi, Kamala, Kambosam, Kapila, Kopilapodi, Kungu'mam, Kurangumanjanatti,<br />
Manjanai, Suvanagesari, Tavattai, Tiruchalai; Hindi Kamala, Kambhal,<br />
Kambila, Kamela, Kamila, Kamud, Raini, Rauni, Rohni, Roini, Roli, Rora, Ruin, Rulu;<br />
Sans. Bahupushpa, Chandra, Kampilla, Kampillaka, Kapila, K ark as ha, Kesara, Laghupatraka,<br />
Lohitanga, Madhuka, Nadivasa, Pikaksha, Punnaga, Punnagakesara, Punnama, Raktachurnaka,<br />
Raktanga, Raktaphala, Ranjaka, Rechanaka, Rechani, Rechi, Rochana.<br />
A moderate-sized tree, 6—10 m tall, much branched with a smooth' bark and scurfy and<br />
fulvous pubescent young parts; leaves simple, alternate, 8—17 cm long, 4—8 cm broad,<br />
variable, ovate—lanceolate, rhomboid-ovate or linear—lanceolate, acuminate, rounded or acute<br />
at base, entire, glabrous on the upper surface when mature, finely tomentose, pale or white<br />
beneath, thickly sprinkled with minute crimson glands, strongly 3-nerved with veins prominent<br />
on the lower surface; petioles 2.5—4 cm long, cylindrical, fulvous—pubescent with 2, small,<br />
sessile glands at the summit or at base of leaf; flowers regular, small, unisexual, apetalous,<br />
dioecious, males in clusters, sessile in erect, terminal spikes which are usually several together<br />
and often longer than leaves and female flowers stalked in short racemes, both<br />
covered with ferruginous tomentum; male flowers: globose; sepals 3—5, usually 4,<br />
somewhat thick, lanceolate, valvate, densely rusty—pubescent; stamens 18—25, distinct, much<br />
exserted, anthers dorsifixed, cells small, often widely separated without-a pistillode; female<br />
flowers: sepals 3—5, ovate, valvate; ovary superior, glandular, covered with red, stellate,glandular<br />
hairs, 2—3-locular with a single ovule in each loculus, styles 3, simple, papillose: fruit<br />
a trigonous—globular capsule, 0.8 cm long, lobes rounded, smooth but covered with a scurf<br />
of minute easily detached deep red.particles, dehiscing septicidally into 3 valves; seeds nearly<br />
globose, black without a caruncle. t<br />
Flowers during August and September.<br />
Illustrations. Beddome, Flor. Sylvat. pi. 289. 1868—73; Bentley and Trimen, Med-<br />
Plants, pi. 236. 1880; Roxburgh, PI. Corom. pi. 168. 1798; Rheede, Hort. Mai. 5: pis. 21—24<br />
1678—1703; Herb. Peradeniya, drawing.<br />
Distribution. Grows from Abyssinia to S. China and Formosa through India, Ceylon-<br />
Burma and Malay Islands extending southwards to New South Wales and Philippine Islands,<br />
In Ceylon, it is rather common in both the moist and dry low-country up to 2,500 feet altitude.<br />
India. Sikkim: J. D. Hooker. Himal. Bor. Occ. T. Thomson. Behar, J. D. Hooker. East<br />
Bengal, Herb. Griffith 4766, Kew Distribution 1863—4. Assam Jenkins. Manipur,' Metaiphum,<br />
Watt 6076, Feb. 1882. Malabar, Concan, etc. Stocks, Law, etc. North Canara: Talbot, 1880;<br />
Wallich 7839, Dec. 1826. Maisor and Carnatic, G. Thomson. Mt. Nilghiri and Kurg: G. Thomson.<br />
Chittagong. King's Collector 81, Oct. 1866; King's Collector 315. Pen. Ind. Or. Herb. Wight<br />
2628, Kew Distribution 1866—8. Ceylon. North Central Prov., Ritigala, Herb. Peradeniya, July<br />
1887; Willis, March 1905. Eastern. Prov., Trincomalee, Thwaites CP. 2103. Central Prov.,<br />
Peradeniya, Herb. Peradeniya, 1900; Maturata, A. M. Silva May, 1906; Haputale, Herb. Peradeniya,<br />
Sept. 1890. Uva Prov., Bibile, J. M. Silva, Aug. 1924.<br />
Composition. The leaves contain an alkaloid. The red powder obtained from the glands<br />
and hairs which cover the fruit contains rottlerin, mallotoxin and kamalin. The seeds contain<br />
a fixed oil, camul oil and a bitter glucoside. The bark has tannin.<br />
Uses. This red powder is used as an anthelmintic for expulsion of tape-worm<br />
and other intestinal worms and to remove leprous eruptions. The leaves and bark are used as<br />
poultices on cutaneous diseases. The powdered seeds are also taken internally as an anthelmintic<br />
and a cure for itch. The root is ground into a paste and applied on regions<br />
affected by painful articular rheumatism.<br />
The capsule yields a dye which gives a permanent, rich, flame colour.<br />
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