Excoecaria AGALLOCHA L.
| Synonym : | Commia cochinchinensis Lour. Excoecaria affinis Endl. Excoecaria camettia Willd. Stillingia agallocha (L.) Baill. |
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| Bangla Name : | Gewa, Goa, Goria. |
| English Name : | Blinding Tree, River poison. |
| Family : | Euphorbiaceae |
| Disease : | Acrid, ulcers, leprous sores, aphrodisiac, purgative, emetic, rheumatism, leprosy, paralysis, and ulcers. |
| Description : | A small, bushy, evergreen tree, often shrubby, with copious milky juice. Leaves thickly coriaceous, 5-10 cm long, elliptic, acuminate. Flowers minute, yellowish-green. Male flowers sessile, in numerous catkin-like spikes, 2.5-5 cm long. Female flowers few, in racemes, 1.3-2.5 cm long. Capsule very variable in size, 6-25 mm across. |
| Distribution : | Sundarbans and other coastal forests of Bangladesh. |
| Chemical Constituents : | Latex contains alcohols - exocarol, agalocol, isoagalocol and mannitol, ?-amyrin and its 3-epimer, ?-amyrenone, cycloartenol and an unknown compound. Leaves contain epitaraxerol. Twigs and bark contain a piscicidal compound which is toxic to Cryzias latip |
| Uses : | The plant is poisonous, latex is very acrid and injurious to the eyes, locally applied to ulcers and leprous sores. A soft reddish substance called “Tejbul” obtained from the lower part of the trunk and roots is aphrodisiac. Bark is purgative and emetic. |
| Habit : | Tree |