# Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Saxifrageæ

N. 0. SAXIFRAGACEAE.
479. Saxifraga ligulata, Wall, h.b.f.i., ii. 398.
Vern.:—Pakhan-bed; Silphora (H.); Batpia, popal, shafrochi, banpatrak, dakachru (Pb.); Pashanbheda (Bomb.); Kamarghwal (Pushtu).
Habitat:—Temperate Himalaya, from Bhotan to Kashmir, and the Khasia Mts.
Perennial herbs. Rootstock stout. Leaves ample, undivided, with a large sheath at the base of the petiole; 2 in.-1 ft. in diam.; glabrous on both surfaces, dotted on the lower; scape corymbose, 6-18in. high. Petals white or red, rose or purplish, ½-1 in. long, orbicular, with a claw of variable length. Calyx-lobes erect in fruit Fruit sub-globose; styles very long. Capsules sometimes three-seeded, much larger than in any of the other species, elongate, sub-pyramidal, smooth.
Part used:—The root.
Use:—The root is used as a tonic in fevers, diarrhoea and cough, and also as an antiscorbutic. It is bruised and applied to boils and also in ophthalmia. It is also considered absorbent and given in dysentery (Atkinson and Dr. Stewart). In Sind, the root is rubbed down and given with honey to children when teething. (Murray.)
480. Dichroa febrifuga, Lour, h.f.b.l, ii., 406.
Syn.:—Adamia cyanea, Wall.
Vern:—Basak, bansuk asern Nepal); Gebocanak (Lepcha); Singnaamuk (Bhutia.)
Habitat:—Temperate Himalaya from Bhotan to Nepal and Khasia Mts.
An evergreen shrub, 5-9 ft. high, somewhat virgate. Bark yellow, peeling off in flakes; wood white, moderately hard; young offshoots and inflorescence pubescent, with short hair. Leaves opposite 3-8 in., lanceolate, blade 3-8, tapering into the petiole, ½-1 in. long; pubescent or puberulous on the nerves, otherwise glabrous, usually narrow, sometimes obovate-lanceolate. Petals 5 or 6, thick, valvate, 3/16 in. long. Ovary ¾ inferior ​Ovules numerous, on 3-5 parietal placentas. Berry finally bright intensely dark-blue.
Use.:—The shoots and the bark of the roots are made into a decoction and used as a febrifuge by the Nepalese (Watt).
"It appears to have no active effects, unless it be taken in large quantity in the form of decoction. The natives take it in doses large enough to make them sick, and so indirectly to cure the fever."
481. Ribes orientate Poir. h.f.b.l, ii. 410.
Syn.:—R. Villosum, Wall. Roxb.
Vern.:—Nanghe; Phulanch (Chenab); Askûta (Laduk.); Gwáldakh, Kaghak (Kaghan) (N.-W. P.); Yange (Spiti).
Habitat:—Kashmir and Baltistan.
A shrub 6ft. high, polygamo-dioecious, unarmed, sticky, glandular and minutely hairy. Leaves round-reniform, crenate, obscurely 3-5-lobed, 1-l¼in. diam. Bracts 1/5in.. long, linear, often exceeding the pedicels. Racemes erect somewhat dense in flowers, lax and pendant in fruit. Flowers small, greenish. Calyx-tube hardly produced above the fruit. Berries glandular-pubescent, 1/5in. diam; roundish yellow or reddish.
Use:—The berries taken one or two at a time, are considered by the natives an excellent purgative (Aitchison.)
N. 0. CRASSULACEÆ.
482. Bryophyllum calycinum, Salisb. H.F.B.L, ii. 413.
Syn.:—Cotyledon rhizophylla, Roxb. 388.
Vern.:—Kop-pátá (B.); Zakhm-haiyat-ká-pattá (Duk.); Malai- kalli, runá-kalli (Tam.); Sima-jamudu (Tel.); Elamarunna, elamarunga, murikuti (Mal.); Lonua-hadakana-Jidâ (Kan.); Ghaimári, aranmaran, Ahirâvan-Mahirâvan (Bomb.)
Habitat :—Throughout the tropical plains of India, universal in Lower Bengal.
A perennial, succulent, glabrous herb. Stem erect, hollow, l-4 ft. Leaves usually simple, rarely compound, with 3 leaflets, opposite-stalked, fleshy, ovate or oblong, 3-6 in., crenate, obtuse.
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