Planted everywhere in Ceylon ; Southern and Western India. Wild in the sub-Himalaya bract, Burma, cultivated in Dun and Shaharanpur Districts, common along Siwalik Hills.
Parts used : — Every part of this plant, except the wood, is used in medicine, namely, the bark, root- bark, young fruit, nuts or seeds, oil, flowers, leaves, gum and toddy.
" Physiological Actions. — The physiological actions of all the parts of this plant employed as drugs may be arranged as follows : —
" The root-bark, bark and young fruit — tonic and antiperiodic.
" The oil, nuts, and leaves — local stimulant, insecticide, and antiseptic.
" The flowers — stimulant-tonic and stomachic.
" The gum— demulcent-tonic.
" The toddy-— refrigerant, nutrient and alterative tonic.
" Therapeutic Uses. — The bark, root-bark, and young fruit are useful in some slight cases of intermittent fever and general debility. The root-bark is more active and speedy in its action than the bark and young fruit. The margosa oil has proved itself a useful local remedy in some chronic forms of skin diseases and ulcers, by stimulating and exciting a healthy action. Applied to foul and sloughing ulcers, it retards the sloughing process to some extent, prevents the production of maggots, and dislodges them if already produced. The oil is also a very useful adjunct to some other and stronger remedies, as chaulmugra oil, as already mentioned in my remarks under the latter drug. The dry nuts of M. Azadirachta possess almost the same medical properties as the oil, but they require to be bruised and mixed with, water or some other liquid before they can be applied to the skin or ulcers ; and their use, is therefore, attended with so much, inconvenience that they cannot be resorted to at all, except in those places where the oil is not procurable. A strong decoction of the fresh leaves is a slight antiseptic, and is useful like a weak carbolic lotion in washing
