Encyclopedias & Dictionaries | Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 3590) vātumai: 1. Common almond, m. tr., Prunus amygdalus; 2. Indian almond, l. tr., Terminalia catappa Dymock, Warden, Hooper: Pharmacographia Indica (vol. II, pp. 16-17) Terminalia catappa, Combretaceae The Catappa of the Malays is now cultivated all over India, and is known as the almond tree (Badam) to both natives and Europeans. The fruit is an oval, compressed, smooth drupe, with two elevated grooved margins; it is about 2 inches long and of a dull purple colour when ripe, the pulp being bright purple. The nut is rough, hard and thick, and the kernel, which is about half the size of an almond and nearly cylindrical, is in common use in Bengal, amongst Europeans under the name of "leaf nut." According to Brannt the Almonds contain 28 per cent of oil, which excels almond oil as regards flavour and mildness, and has the further advantage of keeping well. It is of a pale yellowish colour and entirely inodorous. Its specific gravity is 918 at 15 degrees of C., and it is composed chiefly of sterain and olein, the sterain separating at 5 degrees of C. The bark is astringent, and has been recommended for internal administration in the form of decoction as a remedy for gonorrhoea and leucorrhoea. (Pharm. de St. Dominique.) The tree yields a gum of the Bassora type.
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