Encyclopedias &
Dictionaries | Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 1167)
samudraphala, n. "sea-fruit", a partic. drug L. Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 1301)
camuttirappaḻam: Sea-fish Dymock, Warden, Hooper: Pharmacographia Indica (vol. II, pp. 17-18)
Barringtonia acutangula, Myrtaceae
This is an evergreen tree of moderate size, called by Sanskrit writers Hijja or Hijjala. The fruit is spoken of as Samudra-phala and DhÄtriphala or "nurse's fruit," and is one of the best known domestic remedies. When children suffer from a cold in the chest, the seed is rubbed down on a stone with water and applied over the sternum, and if there is much dyspnoea a few grains with or without the juice of fresh ginger are administered internally and seldom fail to induce vomiting and the expulsion of mucus from the air passages. To reduce the enlarged abdomen of children it is given in doses of from 2 to 3 grains in milk. Rumphius states that the roots are used to kill fish, and this use of the bark is known in most parts of India. The fish are said to be not unwholesome.
Barringtonia racemosa has similar properties, the bark, root and seed being bitter. Ainslie states that in Java and in Ternate the seeds are used for intoxicating fish. The powdered seeds of these plants induce sneezing.
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