Morphological information

Large shrub or small tree, branchlets glabrous. Leaves thinly coriaceous, elliptic, sometimes elliptic-obovate, leathery, 7-15crn x 3-6 an, undersurface with rusty-brown tomentum; flowers white, in various shades of purple or pink, spotted, within few flowered corymbs; capsules cylindric, more or less curved; seeds linear oblong, compressed.

Flowering                    : April-May

Fruiting                        : October-December

History                        :

Parts                           : Leaves.

Status                          : Vulnerable

 

Medicinal

Leaves are used in chronic rheumatism, syphilis and sciatica. They are mixed with tobacco and used as snuff to cure hemicrania and colds. The leaves are poisonous to livestock. The animal suffer intense abdominal pain and constipation, followed by severe diarrhoea and straining and may die in a day or two after the onset of the symptoms. Petroleum ether and chloroform extracts of leaves, stems and flowers lower blood pressure in cats and inhibit intestinal movements in rabbits.

 

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