564 Seriss.--"Mimosa Seris," called also Sereeka; a very large tree
of India. Its flowers have a sweet smell, and are very beautiful; it
is cool, cures boils and eruptions, poisons, aches, and swellings. If
a decoction of the leaves be taken internally in ophthalmia, and the
juice of the leaves dropped into the eye, it will be very useful, and
this I have tried. The bark of the tree dried and pounded is excellent
when sprinkled on foul ulcers, in which too it kills maggots. The smell
of the flower is useful in head-aches and hemicrania, in cough and
in jaundice. If the root of the white Seriss be kept in the mouth, it
lengthens aphrodisia. Some have called this Layetoolatees. If the seeds
be bruised with water, and this dropt into the eye, it will remove
specks; the oil of the seed is also very effectual for this purpose.
Maadentezerrubad.
"Seriss is among the Indian physicians, hot and dry, and in the
opinion of some cool and dry; it cures swellings and wind. If the
bark of the stem, the bark of the root, with the flowers and seeds
of each, 3 mashas, be bruised, sifted, and mixed with cow's urine,
and taken thrice a day, it will cure the bite of a snake, and for
one whole year no reptile will injure you. The bark of an aged
tree is the best. When the sun shall be in the division Joura,
if daily for three days, 6 mashas of the bark be taken in congee,
it will render the person invulnerable to the bite of any noxious
reptile for a year. If the oil be extracted by heat from the seeds,
and applied to the white spots of leprosy, it will cure them."
565 Sirool.--Bitter, hot, and light; cures affections of the throat,
ear, eye, and disorders of wind.
566 Sirsom or Seerkup. P. Sirshuph.--In India this is used to produce
a very common oil; it is hot, and increases disorders of the mouth,
and decreases mucus and semen; expels wind; is vermifuge, and if
much be taken it will injure the eyesight; if a woman uses it during
the lochial discharge, it will increase her strength and improve her
complexion. One kind of this is white, and is called Sedarth, q. v.
"Sinapis Dichotoma, (Roxb. MS.) Sp. ch. dichotomous, siliques
cylindric, smooth, spreading, bark straight and tapering, leaves
stem-clasping; the lower somewhat lyred, superior ovate, lanceolate,
entire, all are smooth, as are also stem and branches." Roxb.
567 Soorunkitki.--A kind of Ketki, like the Sinobir. It has twelve
leaves or more in the flower, its scent is sweet and soft. The
plant flowers only once in 6 or 7 years; both kinds are sweet, cool,
bitter, pungent, and light, and cure disorders of mucus. The juice
of the Keora is also used for the same purpose, and mixed with it,
is cardiac. The Ketki is a variety of Keora.
568 Sirunmaki.--It is astringent, pungent, light, aphrodisiac and
cardiac; cures Juzam, swellings of the body, piles, seminal weakness,
pains in the urinary bladder, marasmus, disorders of the blood,
and dropsy; is an antidote to poisons; cures hectic fever; clears
the throat, and is an ingredient in all favorite formulÊ.