MORINGACEÆ.
Moringa pterygosperma, Gaertn. (= Hyperanthera Moringa, Vahl.).
Well known in India as the Horse-radish tree, on account of its roots possessing a pungent odour and biting aromatic taste similar to those of our common horse-radish, for which they are substituted by European residents in both the East and West Indies. They are also used medicinally by the native doctors as a stimulant in paralysis and intermittent fevers, and are also considered valuable as a rubefacient. "Morunghy," from which the generic name adopted by modern botanists has been derived, is the Tamul name; and "Sujna" or "Salijuna," the Hindu. It is a small tree, seldom more than twenty feet high, and has large compound three-times pinnated leaves, and axillary bunches of whitish flowers, producing long pendulous three-sided fruits, containing numerous winged seeds, which some authors regard as the source of the celebrated Ben-oil.
CARYOPHYLLACEÆ.
Mollugo Cerviana, Ser. (= Pharnaceum Cervianum, Linn.).
This little herb is used as a medicine in fevers in Ceylon, where it is called "Pat-paadagan;" and as the plant is also found in the Indian peninsula, it is most probably employed in a similar manner by the Hindu doctors. The order to which it belongs is remarkable for little besides the presence of saponine in several species.
MALVACEÆ.