# Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Compositæ

N. 0. COMPOSITÆ.
625. Lamprachaenium microcephalum, Benth. H.F.B.I., III. 229.
Vern. : — Brahma-dandi (Bomb.).
Habitat: — The Concan ; at Parwar Ghat, Bombay.
An erect, branched annual. Branches slender, glabrous. Stem l-2ft., simple or branched from the base, glabrous hairy glandular. Leaves petioled, 2-4in. hairy above, white tomentose beneath. Heads ¼-⅓in, diam. ; peduncles slender, hispid or glabrate. Involucre bracts acute, ciliate, none leafy, erect or recurved. Achenes 1/12in. Pappus reddish, equalling the Corolla tube.
Use : — Used medicinally as an aromatic bitter (Dymock). It smells of chamomile.
626. Vernonia cinerea, Lees, h.f.b.l, iii. 233.
Syn. : — Serratula cinerea Roxb 594.
Sans. : — Sahadevi.
Vern. : — Pápar ; Kunchli (Chutia Nagpur.) Kuksim, (B.) ; Sira-shengalanir (Tam.). Moti Sádori (Bomb.).
Habitat : —Throughout India.
One of the commonest weeds throughout India, and Ceylon, abundant everywhere. A pubescent, annual, erect herb. Stems ​ 6-12in., or even 2ft., erect, stiff, cylindric, striate, more or less pubescent, slightly branched. " Sometimes decumbent at the base, grooved " (Collet). Leaves alternate distant, the lower 2in., but generally smaller upwards, nearly sessile, lanceolate, or ovate, broadly oval to linear-lanceolate, tapering to the base, subobtuse, apiculate, coarsely and shallowly crenate-serrate, more or less hairy on both sides, ½-1½in. ; teeth few, coarse. Petiole ¼-¾in. Heads numerous, ¼in. diam., small, on long stalks, in lax divaricate terminal corymbs. Involucre-bracts linear, mucronate ; silky, outer ones smaller than the inner. Flowers 20-25, bright, pinkish-violet ; pappus white ; outer row very short. Achenes not ribbed, hairy terete, 1/16in. A very variable plant.
Uses : — Used in medicine by the Hindus in decoction, to promote perspiration in febrile affections (Ainslie). The expressed juice of the plant is given in piles (B. D. B.).
The seeds are employed in Patna as an alexipharmic and anthelmintic, and as a constituent of masalas for horses (Irvine). In Chutia Nagpur, the whole plant is given as a remedy for spasm of the bladder and strangury ; the flowers are administered for conjunctivitis (Campbell). The latter use is interesting, since, according to Piso, the leaves of another species of the same genus are similarly employed in Jamaica. (Watt.). In Chutia Nagpur, root is given for dropsy (J. J. Wood's Plants of Chutia Nagpur, p. III.).
627. V. anthelmintica, Willd., ill. 236.
Syn. : — Serratula anthelmintica, Roxb. 594.
Sans. : — Somarája ; Avalguja; Vákuchi.
Vern.:— Káli-ziri ; Bukchi (H. and B.) ; Káralye (Mar.) ; Káttu shiragam, Neernoochie (Tam.) ; Neela-vayalie, Adavie-zula-kuru (Tel).
Habitat : — Throughout India, from Kashmir to Ceylon.
A tall, robust, leafy annual, branched, glandular-pubescent, stem 2-3ft, much branched striate, often blotched with purple. Leaves petioled, 3-8in., rather membranous, lanceolate or ​ ovate-lanceolate, coarsely serrate. Heads ½-¾in. diam., about 40-fid, subcorymbose. Involucre-bracts linear, with broad purplish tips. Achenes 1/5in., 10-ribbed, pubescent; outer pappus rather longer, shining, reddish, flattened, deciduous ; inner very short, rigid, paleaceous.
Uses : — In Hindoo medicine, the seeds are of great repute as a medicine for leucoderma and other skin diseases, and also used as an anthelmintic in combination with other remedies (Dutt).
The author of the Makhzan informs us that it is given internally to remove phlegm and worms from the intestines, and that a poultice or plaster of it is used to disperse cold tumors. It is much used as a cattle medicine (Dymock).
The seeds are considered as powerfully anthelmintic, and are also an ingredient of a compound powder prescribed in snake bites. (Ainslie.) On the Malabar Coast an infusion of the seeds is given for coughs and against flatulency. (Rheede.)
In the Concan, the following formula is in vogue as an anteperiodic ; vernonia seeds, chiretta, picrorrhiza root, dikamâli, rocksalt and ginger, p. æq. powder, and give 6 massâs in cold water, in which a red hot tile has been quenched, every morning (Dymock).
The juice of the leaf is given to cure phlegmatic, discharges from the nostrils (Agra Exhibition).
Dr. Æ. Ross speaks favorably of an infusion of the powdered seeds (in doses of from 10 to 30 grains) as a good and certain anthelmintic for ascarides. In Travancore, the bruised seeds, ground up in a paste with limejuice, are largely employed as a means of destroying pediculi. Dr. Gibson regards them as a valuable tonic and stomachic, in doses of 20 to 25 grains ; diuretic properties are also assigned to them (Ph. Ind.).
They are also given in anasarca and used for plasters for abscesses (Watt).
The seeds are in the Punjab considered febrifuge (Baden- Powell).
The seeds on extraction with ether yielded 18.25 per cent, of a dark brown coloured and strong smelling oil with some resinous matter. The expressed ​ oil is of a light yellow colour and very viscid ; it deposits " stearin " on standing.
Physical and chemical characteristics.— Fat : Specific gravity at 100°, 0.9168 ; acid value, 58.2 ; saponification value, 202.88 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 7.88 ; iodine value, 71.0 ; unsaponifiable, 1-79 ; butyro-refractometer' at 25°, 75°. Fatty acids : per cent. 91.6 ; melting point, 35.6°; iodine value, 73.4; neutrali- sation value, 195.1 ; mean molecular weight, 287.4. (A. K. Menon.)
628. Elephantopsus scaber, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii. 242 ; Roxb. 607.
Sans. — Gojivhâ.
Vern.— Gobhi (H.) ; Kalia gangawan (Chanda, C.P.) ; Gojialatâ, Samdlullum (B.) ; Hastipata, Mháka, Pâthri (Bomb.); Anashovadi (Tam.); Tâl Mûli ; Mûrgi Chûndi (Jaspur).
Habitat. — Throughout India, from the Punjab.
A rigid, perennial herb, dichotomously branched, l-2ft.,high, strigose, scabrid and villous. Leaves alternate. Radical leaves ovate, oblong, crenate. Cauline leaves few, sessile. Head clusters of 1in, diam., surrounded by cordate, leafy bracts. Involucre-bracts pungent, dry, stiff, alternately flat and con-duplicate ; receptacle naked. Flowers violet or purple, all equally 4-lobed and cleft on one side and with lobes spreading somewhat palmately. Anthers bases obtuse. Style arms subulate. Achenes truncate, hairy, 10-ribbed, pappus of 4-5 rigid bristles, shining, slender, and dilated at the base, or chaff-like. The most noteworthy point with reference to this plant is that the embryo not unfrequently germinates in the head.
Uses. — A decoction of the root and leaves is given, on the Malabar Coast, in cases of dysuria (Rheede).
In Travancore, the natives are reported to boil the bruised leaves with rice, and give them internally for swellings or pains in the stomach (Watt).
In Chutia Nagpur, a preparation from the root is given for fever (Revd. A. Campbell).
{{c|629. Ageratum conyzoides, Linn, h.f.b.l, iii. 243 ]]
Syn. — A. cordifolium, Roxb. 597.
Vern. — Dochunti (B.) ; Osâdi, Sahadvi, Gomera (Bomb.)
Habitat. — Throughout India. ​ An erect, annual herb, l-2ft, hispidly hairy. Stem branched, terete. Leaves petioled, ovate, crenate. Heads many, small, in dense terminal corymbs, Bracts striate, acute. Ray-flowers many, pale-blue or white. Achenes black, pappus scales 5, awned, often serrate below.
Uses. — The whole plant has a strong aromatic, rather disagreeable smell, and has a reputation among the Hindus as an external application in agues; it is also worn as a charm against ague when dug up on Sunday morning with the proper ceremonies. The juice is also said to be a good remedy for prolapsus ani ; it is freely applied, and the parts replaced (Dymock). The juice of the root is said to possess antilithic properties (K.R.K.).
630. Eupatorium cannabinum, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 243.
Habitat. — Temperate Hamalaya, and the Khasia Mountains.
A tall, coarse, pubescent or puberulous herb. Leaves simple or trisect, lanceolate, coarsely serrate. Corymbs many, rounded. Heads ⅓in. long. Inner involucere-bracts subacute.
Use. — " Was strongly recommended by Tournefort as a deobstruent in visceral obstructions, consequent to intermittent fevers, and externally as a discutient in hydropic swellings of the legs and scrotum " (Fleming).
631. E. ayapana, Vent., h.f.b.i., iii. 244.
Vern. — Ayâpâna (Mar.)
Habitat. — An American plant, naturalized in many parts of India. I have seen it in Bombay. I grew it in my Ratnagiri garden in 1900-1904. K. R. K.
A small shrubby plant, 5 to 6 feet high ; branches straight, reddish, with a few simple scattered hairs ; young shoots have a somewhat mealy appearance, due to the presence of small particles of a white balsamic exudation ; leaves opposite, in pairs, their bases uniting round the stem, about 4 inches long and ¾ inch broad, fleshy, smooth, lanceolate, attenuated at the base ; midrib thick and reddish ; flowers like those of the groundsel, purple. The odour of the plant is aromatic, ​ somewhat like ivy, but more agreeable ; taste bitter and aromatic, peculiar (Dymock),
Uses. —At the Mauritius, it is in great repute, and the leaves are considered as alterative and antiscorbutic. An infusion of the leaves has an agreeable and somewhat spicy taste, and is a good drink, when fresh and bruised. They are one of the best applications I know of for cleaning the face of a foul ulcer (Ainslie).
For long it held a high position as a medicinal plant, but the exaggerated ideas of its virtues have now exploded. It is a good simple stimulant, tonic and diaphoretic. In cholera, it has been used to restore warmth to the body, and it is said also to be used internally and externally in the treatment of snake-bite (Ph. Ind.).
Ayâpâna may be compared with chamomile in its effects ; it is stimulant and tonic in small doses, and laxative when taken in quantity ; the hot infusion is emetic and diaphoretic, and may be given with advantage in the cold stage of ague and in the state of depression which precedes acute inflammatory affections. The infusion may be made with 1oz. of the herb to a pint of water, and be given in 2oz. doses, every three hours (Dymock).
632. Solidago Virga-aurea, Linn, h.f.b.l, iii. 245.
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir eastwards, alt. 5— 9,000ft. Khasia Mts, alt. 4— 6,000ft.
A perennial, glabrous, or pubescent herb ; stem erect, stout, subsimple 6-24in. Lower leaves petioled, ovate or oblong subserrate, upper smaller, narrower entire, heads 1-4 on short axillary peduncles collected in a long leafy panicle. Involucre-bracts narrow, acute. Ray-flowers about 8, Achense glabrous or puberulous.
Uses :— In English the plant is called Woundwort, from its reputation as a vulnerary. The flowering herb contains a volatile oil, is of an aromatic odour and a bitterish and astringent taste. ​ It is reported to have been used very successfully by Dr. Mascarel in cases of dropsy (La France Medicale, Oct. 8, 1889). He reduces the dried plant— stems, leaves and flowers — to a coarse powder, and gives it in doses of one tablespoonful, beaten with an entire egg (yolk and white). He gives but one dose on the first day ; but on each of the following days he adds a tablespoonful, until seven or eight doses are being taken during the twentyfour hours. The diuresis is said to continue until œdema permanently disappears.
Very little is known about the chemistry of this genus. Volatile oils have been obtained from 4 American Species but with the exception of Solidago canadensis, L, nothing is known about their chemistry. Chemical Abstracts, Feb. 20 p. 521.
633. Grangea maderaspatana, Poir. h.f.b.l, iii. 247.
Syn. — Artemisia maderaspatana, Roxb. 600.
Vern. — Mustarû (Hind.) ; Namuti(Beng.) ; Afsanteen (Arab) ; Baranjâsif kowhi (Pers.) ; Mashi pattiri (Tam.) ; Douana (Kan.) ; Nelampala (Mal.) ; Savi (Tel.)
Habitat. — Throughout India, from the Punjab eastwards and southwards.
Annual, stems numerous, spreading from centre, prostrate, 6-12in., hairy branched, buds white woolly. Leaves numerous, 1½-2½in., sessile, deeply, sinnuately pinnatifid, with 2-4 pair of opposite or sub-opposite lobes, smaller towards the base, terminal part larger, all coarsely serrate, dentate, pubescent. Heads yellow, ⅜-½in., depressed, globose, on short pedicels, usually in pair on leaf opposed peduncle ; involucre-bracts oval, obtuse, thick and rigid, pubescent. Corolla-tube campanulate above, persistent, lobes acute ; pappus hairs connate into a cylindric fimbriate tube. Achenes glandular, 1/10in., long including the pappus tube.
Uses. — The leaves are regarded as a valuable stomachic and to possess deobstruent and antispasmodic properties, and are prescribed in infusion and electuary in cases of obstructed menses and hysteria. They are also sometimes used in pre​ paring antiseptic and anodyne fomentations (Ainslie, Mat. Ind. I, p. 483.)
The juice of the leaves is employed as an instillation for ear-ache (Kinsley, in Watt's Dictionary).
634. Erigeron asteroides, Roxb. H f.b.i., iii. 254 ; Roxb. 603.
Vern. — Mâredi, Sonsali (Bomb.).
Habitat. — Tropical Himalaya ; Nepal, Sikkim, Bengal and the Western Peninsula.
A coarse annual, l-2ft. high, erect, or in a dwarf state, decumbent; pubescent or villous. Branched. Radical leaves obovate, petioled. Cauline leaves ½-1in., numerous, obovate or oblong, ½-amplexicaul, all toothed or lobulate. Involucre-bracts 1-2-seriate, very narrow, with their hair points much shorter than the pappus. Heads ¼-½in., peduncled, solitary or corymbose. Ligules capillary, rather blue, longer than the dirty white or reddish pappus. Achenes very minute, 1/30in., nearly glabrous, flat, pale.
Uses. — Dr. Dymock writes that he noticed it, being offered for sale in the bazaar as a stimulating and diuretic medicine. Several species of Erigeron are used as diuretic in America.
635. Blumea lacera, DC, h. f.b.i., iii. 263.
Syn.— Conyza lacera, Roxb. 601.
Sans. — Kukuradru.
Vern. — Kôkrondâ, Kukkurbandâ, Jangli-mûli (H.) ; Kukur-sungâ, bura-sûksung (B.) ; Nimurdi (Bomb.); Jangli-kâsni, jangli-mulli, divâri-mulli (Duk.) ; Nârak-karandai, Kattu-mullângi (Tam.) ; Kârn pogâku, advi-mulangi (Tel.).
" Kakronda and other vernacular names are applied to more than one allied species of Blumea and Laggera, without much regard to the color of their flowers" (Moodeen Sheriff).
Habitat : — Throughout the plains of India, from the N.-W. Himalaya to Travancore.
A hairy, villous, or glandular, rarely glabrescent herb, stem erect, simple or branched very leafy, rarely 2ft. high. Leaves ​ petioled obovate, toothed or serrate, rarely tabulate. Heads ⅓in., in short axillary cymes and collected in terminal spiciform panicles, rarely corymbose. Involucre-bracts narrow, acuminate, hairy. Receptacle glabrous. Corolla yellow, lobes of hermaphrodite flowers nearly glabrous, pappus white. Achenes sub-4-gonens, not ribbed, glabrate.
Uses : — The fresh root held in the mouth is said to relieve dryness (U. C. Dutt).
Mixed with black pepper it is given in cholera (Watt).
The expressed juice of the leaves is a useful anthelmintic, especially in cases of thread-worm, either internally or applied locally (Surg. J. Anderson, Bijnor). Used by many Hospital Assistants and highly thought of by them as a febrifuge and astringent. Is an invaluable remedy in Tinea Tarsi (Asst.- Surg. Bollye Chand Sen, Campbell Med. School, Sealdah), in Watt's Dictionary.
The expressed juice of the leaves, mixed with black pepper, is given in bleeding piles.
It is also given in retention of urine
636. B. eriantha, DC, h.f.b.i., iii. 266.
Vern. : — Nimurdi (Mar.).
" Under the names of Bhâmburdi (Mar.) Kalara and Chân-chari- mari, ' flea- killer ' (Guz.), several kinds of Bhumea are used indiscriminately by the natives of Western India " (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II., p. 255).
Habitat: — The Concan ; Banda.
A prostrate or decumbent herb, pubescent or tomentose, or clothed with scattered long hairs, rarely silky, villous. Stems 1ft., very slender, dichotomously divaricately branched from the base. Leaves 1-3in., acutely irregularly toothed, the teeth often subspinescent ; lower leaves petioled, obovate, obtuse, upper sessile, obovate or oblong-acute. Heads small, ¼-⅓in. mostly, on the long slender peduncles of dichotomous cymes, rarely fascicled. Peduncles and involucre clothed with long, silky, hairs, receptacle glabrous, pappus white, achenes very minute, angles minute, sparingly silky. ​ The very woolly white undersurfaces of the leaves, which, however, Kurz unites with balsamifera, perhaps as Clarke thinks rightly, but the Corolla-lobes in this are hairy, and very glandular in balsamifera.
Use : —The juice of the plant is administered as a carminative, and the herb used along with the leaves of Vitex Negundo and Careya arborea for fomentations. A warm infusion is given as a sudorific in catarrhal affections, cold it is considered to be diuretic and emmenagogue.
637. B. densiflora, DC, h.f.b.i., iii. 269.
Syn. : — B. grandis, D.C ; B, Milnei, Seem.
Vern. : — Pung-ma-theing (Burm.).
Habitat : — Tropical Himalaya ; Sikkim ; Assam ; Mishmi and Naga Hills, and Khasia Mountains.
Herbs with a stout stem. Panicles and leaves beneath densely tomentose, or clothed with thick white felted wool. Leaves very large, 8-18in., broadly elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, narrowed into a long, winged, sometimes appendaged, petiole, puberulous above serrate-toothed or pinnatifid. Heads ¼in. diam ; sessile, in rounded clusters, in a large branched panicle. Invo- lucre-bracts narrow, rather rigid. Receptacle narrow, glabrous. Corolla-lobes of hermaphrodite flowers hairy. Pappus red. Achenes 10-ribbed, pubescent (J. D. Hooker).
Use :— A few years ago, Mr. E. O'Riley prepared camphor from this plant which was pronounced identical with that imported from China (Watt).
638. B. balsamifera, DC, h.f.b.l, iii. 270.
Syn. : — Conyza balsamifera, Linn. Roxb. 601.
Vern. : — Kakarondâ (H.) ; Kalâhâd (Guz.) ; Bhamburdâ (Mar.).
Habitat : — Tropical Himalaya ; Nepal and Sikkim, Assam, Khasia Mountains, Chittagong, and the Eastern Peninsula.
An erect, green, short-lived shrub, or small tree, branches, ​ leaves and inflorescence densley tomentose or villous, or silkily woolly. Stem tall, corymbosely branched above. Sometimes this plant springs up gregariously in sites of previous temporary cultivation in the Eastern Himalaya and in the hill country, from thence to and through Burma. Leaves 4-10in., coriaceous, elliptic oblong-lanceolate, serrate, sometimes pinnatifid, narrowed into a usually auricled short petiole ⅓-1in. long. Heads yellow, ¼-⅓in. diam., sessile, densely clustered on the branches of a large terminal, spreading or pyramidal, leafy panicle. Involucre-bracts tomentose. Receptacle glabrous. Pappus red. Achenes 10-ribbed, silky.
The most arboreous of all the species, smelling strongly of camphor — J. D. Hooker.
Use : — A warm infusion, acts as a pleasant sudorific, and it is a useful expectorant as a decoction. (Watt.)
639. Pluchea indica, Less, h.f,b.i., iii. 272 ; Roxb. 601.
Vern : — Munghu rûkha ; Kukronda (B.).
Habitat : — Sunderbunds.
A low shrub, glabrous, or nearly so. It is an evergreen large shrub in the tidal and beach forests, from the Hughli round the coast of Chittagong, Arracan and Burma (Gamble), Leaves ovate obtuse more or less dentate, 1-2in., acute or apiculate, often gland-dotted. Narrowed into a short slender petiole. Corymbs pubescent. Heads ¼in. diameter, in compound terminal corymbs. Outer involucre-bracts broad, tips rounded. Flowers of disk hermaphrodite, of ray, female, numerous. Achenes minute, ribbed, nearly glabrous ; pappus scanty, white, spreading.
Use : — The root and leaves are employed medicinally in Patna as astringents and in cases of fever (Irvine).
640. P. lanceolata, Oliv. h.f.b.l, iii. 272.
Vern. : — Ra-sana (Pb.) ; Kourasana (Sind.) ; Marwande (Pushtu) ; Chota kalia (Raj.) Banserai (Aligarh) ; Choti Kalia (Agra) ; Sorahi (Cawnpore). ​ Habitat : — Upper Bengal, at Cawnpore, Oudb, and west- ward to the Punjab and Scind.
A shrubby, hoary- pubescent plant. Branches rather slender. Leaves l-2in., sessile, very coriaceous, oblong oblanceolate, pungent, quite entire, strongly nerved ; pale when dry ; nerves very oblique on both surfaces. Heads in compound corymbs, longer than broad. Involucre contracted at the mouth, bracts short, rounded ; outer bracts hoary.
Use : — The leaves are aperient, and are used as a substitute for Senna (Murray).
641. Sphœranthus indicus, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 275.
Syn. :— S. mollis, Roxb. 608.
Sans. : — Mundi ; Munditika.
Vern. : — Mundi. Gorakhmundi (H. and Bomb.) ; Murmuria, Chagul-nudie (B.) ; Kottak-karandai (Tam.) ; Boda-tarapu (Tel.) ; Miran-gani, attakâ manni (Mal.).
Habitat : — Tropical Himalaya, from Kumaon to Sikkim ; Assam, Silhet, and southwards to Ceylon ; common in rice fields.
A low annual, about 1ft. high, with spreading branches, long, divaricate, ascending, with toothed wings, glandular tomentose or villous. Stem cylindrical, strongly winged with the sharp-toothed decurrent bases of the leaves. Leaves l-2in., sessile, decurrent, oval, slightly tapering at the base, obtuse or subacute, sharply spinous-serrate, very glandular, and also with long white hair on both sides, glaucous-green ; compound heads ⅜-⅝in., ovoid, globose, on winged peduncles, heads very numerous, densely packed, purple bracts, linear acuminate, rather shorter than flower-heads, ciliate at the end ; achenes stalked, smooth.
Parts used : —The seeds, root, bark and flowers.
Uses : — The oblong seeds and the root are considered by the Hindus to have anthelmintic properties. ​ The powder of the root is considered stomachic, and that the bark ground and mixed with whey, is a valuable remedy for piles (Rheede).
Dr. Horsfield reports that in Java it is considered as a useful diuretic.
The author of the Makhzan speaks of it as a powerful tonic, deobstruent and alterative, and observes that the odour of the plant may be perceived in the urine and perspiration of those who are taking it. The administration of the drug is recommended in bilious affections, and for the dispersion of various kinds of tumors. He also informs us that the Hindus use the bark, and make a kind of confection of the young plant by rubbing it up with clarified butter, flour and sugar ; a portion of this taken daily is said to be a good tonic, and to prevent the hair turning white or falling off. An oil, prepared from the root, by steeping it in water and then boiling in oil of Sesamum until all the water is expelled, taken fasting every morning, for 41 days, in doses of 2 dirhems, is said to be a powerful aphrodisiac (Dymock).
In the Punjab the flowers are highly esteemed as alterative, depurative, cooling and tonic. (Stewart.)
642. Anaphalis neelgerriana, DC, h.f.b.l, iii. 287.
Vern. : — Kaat-plaster (Nilgiris).
Habitat :— Nilgherry Mts. ; alt. 7-8,000ft.
A perennial, wholly clothed with cottony wool, branches very many, crowded on a stout woody stock, some very short, densely leafy, flowerless, others 4-10in. long and flower- bearing. Leaves 1/6-½in., narrowly linear, those on the flowerless branches and base of the flowering parts most dense, spreading and reflexed, on the upper part of the flowering branches erect, all acute with recurved margins, heads 1/6-¼in. diam. sessile, most densely crowded or solitary or in corymbose clusters ; margins of leaves revolute. Involucre-bracts. 1/6 in., ​ long, elliptic-oblong or lanceolate, obtuse or acute, white, opaque.
Use. — The fresh leaves are bruised and applied to the wound under a rag.
The authors of the Pharmacographia Indica write that "other species (of Anaphalis) are used on the Nilgiris for cut wounds."
643. Gnaphalium luteo-album, Linn, h.f.b.l, iii. 288.
Syn. :— G. orixense and G. albo-luteum, Roxb. 600.
Vern. : — Bâl-raksha (Pb.).
Habitat : — From Kashmir and Sikkim throughout India.
A woolly, very variable annual, 4-12in. high. Stem corymbosely branched above. Leaves woolly on both surfaces, sessile l-2in. long, rarely more than ½in. broad, oblong-spathulate, obtuse ; upper lanceolate acute, half-amplexicaul. When leafless, there are instead dense corymbose clusters of glistening heads, whitish yellow or brown. Involucre-bracts oblong obtuse. Achenes tubercled, or with minute curved bristles.
Use : — The leaves are said to be officinal in the bazaars of the Punjab (Watt).
644. Inula racemosa, Hook. f. h.f.b.l, iii. 292.
Vern. : — Râsan (Arab.) ; Zanjabil-i-Shami (Pers.). Poshkar (Kashmir).
Habitat : — Western Himalaya ; on the borders of fields, &c, Kashmir and Piti.
Tall stout herbs, l-5ft., stem grooved, scabrid. Leaves scabrid above, densely tomentose beneath, crenate. radical 8-18 by 5-8in., narrowed into a petiole as long, elliptic-lanceolate ; cauline often deeply lobed at the base, oblong, ½-amplexicaul. Heads many, very large 1½-2in. diam., racemed. Outer involucre bracts broad, with recurved triangular tips ; ligules ​ slender, ½in., inner involucre-bracts linear acute. Achenes 1/6in , glabrous, slender; pappus ⅓in., reddish.
Uses : — The root of this plant is used in veterinary medicine. The dry roots have a weak, aromatic odour, resembling orris and camphor ; their flavor is aromatic and slightly bitter, and their action a mild tonic (Watt).
In Kashmir, it is used to adulterate Saussurea Lappa.
Arabian writers recommend it as an expectorant, and as a resolvent in indurations (Honnigberger).
Useful in atonic dyspepsia (Meadows' Prescriber's Companion).
In America, the drug is still resorted to, in the treatment of amenorrhœa, while it is found to be sometimes beneficial in chronic diseases of the lungs, when complications of general debility or want of tone in the digestive organs exist.
They also possess diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant and emmenagogue properties (Watt).
645. Pulicaria crispa, Benth., h.f.b.i., iii. 299.
Vern. : — Búi, gidi, sutei, phatmer (Pb.) ; Burhnâ (H.).
Habitat: — The Punjab and the Upper Gangetic Plain, and eastwards to Behar.
A stout perennial, 1-2ft high, very leafy ; shrubby below ; branches and leaves beneath densely cottony. Leaves ½-1½in. sessile, linear-oblong, or sub-spathulate, margins recurved, toothed, and crisped, lower ½-amplexicaul. Involucre pubescent, bracts very slender, setaceous, or sub-herbaceous, ligules shorter than the bracts. Pappus white, bearded, thickened at the tips, three times as long as the glabrate achenes, outer scales connate with the hairs, and deciduous with. them.
Use : — In the Salt Range, the dried plant is applied as a vulnerary to bruises, &c, of bullocks (Stewart),
646. Xanthium strumarium, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 303.
Syn. : — X. indicum, D.C. Roxb. 660.
Sans. : — Aristha. ​ Vern. :— Chhotâ-gokhru ? (Hind.) ; Bun-okra (Beng.) ; Shan keshvara ; Dhupâ (Bomb.) ; Marlumulta (Tam.) ; Veritel-nep (Tel.) ; Gokhroo, kullan (Sind ; Pb.)
Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India, usually near houses ; ascending the Western Himalaya to 5,000 ft.
An annual coarse, rough, unarmed herb. Stem short, stout, slightly branched, spotted, harsh with bristly hairs. Leaves petioled, 2-3in. long, scabrid, triangular-cordate or orbicular lobed and toothed, base cuneate. Heads in terminal and axillary racemes, fruiting involucres ⅝in. long, ovoid or oblong, beaks erect or diverging. Achenes enclosed in the hardened involucral cells, ovoid thick ; pappus absent.
Use : — The whole plant is supposed to possess powerful diaphoretic and sedative properties. It is generally administered in the form of decoction, and is said to be very efficacious in long standing cases of malarious fever (S. Arjun). Mr. Baden- Powell says that the root is a bitter tonic, useful in cancer and strumous diseases. The prickly fruit considered cooling and demulcent and is given in small-pox (Stewart).
In America and Australia, this plant has been observed to prove fatal to cattle and pigs. Its hairs and prickles are employed as medicine in China (Dymock).
In Southern India, the prickly involucre is applied to the ear, or tied in a bunch to the ear-ring, to cure hemi-crania (Elliott).
Has proved very useful in urinary diseases, a good diuretic, diminishes the irritability of the bladder. Very useful also in gleet and leucorrhœa, given as infusion or in one drachm doses in powder. Has also been given in menorrhagia (Penny, in Watt's Dictionary).
The fruits are slightly narcotic (Surgeon Mukerji, in Watt's Dictionary.)
647. Siegesbeckia Orientalis, Linn, h.f.b.l, III. 304.
Syn. : — S. brachiata, Roxb. 605.
Habitat : — Throughout India, ascending to 5,000ft., in the Himalaya and other mountains. ​ A large, annual herb, 2-4ft. (Trimen), l-3ft, (J. D. Hooker), 6-7ft. (Kanjilal), common on damp fallow lands. Stem stiff, erect, with spreading opposite horizontal branches below, and dichotomously branched above, finely pubescent purple. Leaves opposite, l-5in. long and broad, oval-triangular or short petioles, shortly tapering at base, acuminate, acute, deeply and irregularly laciniate serrate, densely and finely pubescent on both sides, pale, yellowish-green, the uppermost much smaller and nearly entire. Heads ¼in. in diam. small, pedunculate, yellow, subglobose, solitary in the forks of very large lax dichotomous corymbose inflorescence. Involucre-bracts very dissimilar, five outer over ½in., linear spathulate or club-shaped at end, horizontally spreading, with recurved margins, upper surface set with numerous large, extremely viscous, glandular on back. Ray flower red beneath, very short, recurved, 3-toothed. Achenes each enclosed in a boat-shaped bractler, glabrous, slightly rough (Trimen) ; curved, quadrangular, black (Kanjilal).
Uses : — " It has a high reputation as a valuable depurative, and also for its healing properties in gangrenous ulcers and sores. It is strongly recommended in diseases of urethra. ** Dr. Daruty, of Mauritius, writes me that he prescribes it with very good results in the from of an aqueous extract, in syrup and sometimes combined with iodide of potassium, in cases where a powerful alterative, sudorific, and anti-syphilitic is required. He believed it to much more powerful than Sarsaparilla " (Christy's 'New Commercial Plants and Drugs' No. IX., p. 49, 1886)
Externally, a mixture of equal parts of the tincture and glycerine has been tried in Europe with good effect in ringworm and similar parasitic eruptions. Antiseptic properties have been ascribed to the fresh plant, applied to unhealthy ulcers.
648. Enhydra fluctuans, Lour, h.f.b.i., iii. 304.
Syn.:— Hingtsha repens, Roxb. 609.
Sans. : — Hilamochikâ.
Vern. :— Harhuch (H.) ; Hingcha(B.)
Habitat : — Eastern Bengal, Assam and Silhet. ​ A marsh herb, usually quite glabrous, sometimes pubescent or glandular; stems l-2fc, elongate, simple or divaricating, branches rooting at the nodes. Leaves sessile, linear-oblong, acute or obtuse, entire or subcrenate, l-3in., variable in 'breadth, base narrowed or truncate. Heads axillary and terminal sessile, ⅓-½in. outer dorsally, inner sometimes literally compressed, pappus absent.
Uses : — The leaves of this aquatic plant are regarded as laxative and useful in diseases of the skin and nervous system. The fresh juice of the leaves, in doses of about a tola, is prescribed by some kavirajas in Calcutta, as an adjunct to tonic metallic medicines, given in neuralgia and other nervous diseases (Dutt).
The leaves are antibilious (K. L. Dey). Expressed juice of the leaves is used as demulcent in cases of gonorrhœa ; it is taken mixed with milk, either of cow or goat. The leaves are pounded and made into a paste which is applied cold over the head as a cooling agent (Assistant-Surgeon Mookerji, in Watt's Dictionary).
Useful in the torpidity of the liver. The infusion should be made the previous evening. It is boiled with rice and used with mustared oil and salt; dose infusion, one drachm. (Mr. Forsyth, F.R.C.S., in Watt's Dictionary).
649. Eclipta alba, Hassk, h.f.b.l, iii. 304.
Syn. : — E. prostrata, Roxb. 605.
Sans. : — Kesarâja ; also Bhringarâja (K.R.K.).
Vern. :— Moch Kand, Bhangrâ, Bâbri, Mâka, Dodhak (Pb.) ; Mik (Sind.) ; Kesuti, Keysuria (B) ; Karisha langauni, Kaikeshi, Kaivishi-ilai, Kaiantagarie (Tam.) ; Goontagelinjeroo (Tel). Bhâugra (U.).
Habitat :— From the Himalaya throughout India.
Hirsute or strigillose annual, erect or diffuse, branched, slender weed. Leaves opposite, sessile, linear or oblong-lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, l-4in. long, very variable in form and width. Peduncles 1-2, axillary, short or long, and slender. Involucre bracts ovate obtuse, or acute, about equally or exceeding the flowers. Heads ¼-⅓in. diam. ​ Uses : — In Sanskrit medicine it is principally used as a tonic and deobstruent in hepatic and splenic enlargements, and in various chronic skin diseases. There is a popular opinion that the herb taken internally and applied externally will turn the hair black.
The fresh juice of the leaves is rubbed on the shaven scalp for the purpose of promoting the growth of hair (Dutt).
Mahomedan writers ascribe the same properties to this plant as the Hindus.
In Bombay, the natives use the juice in combination with aromatics, as a tonic and deobstruent, and give 2 drops of it with eight drops of honey to new-born children, suffering from catarrh. The following prescription is used in the Concan for tetanus : — Mâka juice, I tola; Juice of Leucas cephalotes (Tumbâ) ¼ tola; Ginger juice, 2 tolas ; Juice of Vitex trifolia, 1 tola ; and leaf-juice of Sesbania grandiflora, 3 tolas : to be boiled with four times the quantity of cocoanut juice and a little rice and treacle to from a khir, to be given twice a day. (Dymock).
In the Gujrat district of the Punjab, it is used externally for ulcers, and an antiseptic for wounds in cattle (Ibbetson's Gujrat : p. 11.)
The Indian Pharmacopoeia recommends the expressed juice as the best form of administration in hepatic derangements, as a substitute for taraxacum.
The fresh plant is applied with sesamum oil in elephantiasis, and the expressed juice in affections of the liver and dropsy. When used in large doses, it acts as an emetic. It is also considered cooling (Watt).
It is anodyne and absorbent, and relieves headache when applied with a little oil. It is an excellent substitute for taraxacum (Kannye Lal De Bahadur).
In Chutia Nagpur, the root is applied in conjunctivitis and galled necks in cattle (Revd. A. Campbell).
The juice of the leaves is given in one teaspoonful doses in jaundice and fevers. The root is given to relieve the scalding ​ of the urine in closes of 180 grains mixed with salt (Dr. Peters, in Watt's Dictionary).
650. Wedelia calendulacea, Lees, h.f.b.l, iii 306.
Syn. : — Verbesina calendulacea, Linn; Roxb. 606.
Sans. : — Pita-bhringi ; Bhringarâja.
Vern. — Bangra, Kesaraja (B.) ; Bhânra (H) ; Pivala bhângra (Bomb.) ; Pivalâmâkâ (Mar.).
Habitat : — In wet places, Assam, Silhet, and the Eastern and Western Peninsulas.
A scentless, tasteless perennial herb. Stem short, 6-18in., procumbent at base and rooting at the nodes, then ascending, cylindrical, slightly rough, with adpressed hair. Leaves l-3in., variable in breadth, opposite, nearly sessile, oblong, strap-shaped, or oblong-oval, tapering to base, acute, sparingly and shallowly serrate or entire, slightly rough with adpressed, rigid, white hair on both sides. Heads yellow, solitary, few, on very long, erect axillary (apparently terminal) peduncles, about ¾in. diam. Bracts few, 5-8, ⅜in., leafy oblong, obtuse, inner 2 or 3 much smaller. Receptacle flat, with a linear, acute, hyaline, ciliate bractlet to each flower. Ray-flowers 8-12, spreading, about equalling bracts, broad, deeply 2-3ft. toothed ; disk-flowers about 20, short, narrowed acute, recurved. Achene nearly cylindric, pubescent, shorter than bractlet, crowned with a shallow ring of short, scarious, ciliate scales (Trimen).
Uses : — The leaves are used in dyeing grey hair and in promoting the growth of hair. They are considered tonic, alterative and useful in cough, cephalalgia, skin diseases and alopecia. The juice of the leaves is much used as a snuff in cephalalgia. (Dutt). The seeds, flowers, as well as the leaves, are used in decoction, in the quantity of half a teacupful twice daily, as deobstruent (Ainslie).
In decoction, the plant is used in uterine hæmorrhage and menorrhagia (S. Arjun). ​
651. Spilanthes Acmella, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii 307.
Habitat: — Throughout India.
An annual herb, more or less pubescent, sometimes hairy. Stems prostrate near the base or ascending, l-2ft., much branched, cylindric, more or less hairy. Leaves opposite, ¾-1½in., ovate, ovate-lanceolate, suddenly tapering at base, acute, faintly and irregularly serrate, glabrous or nearly so, thin, somewhat 3-nerved ; petiole long, slender pilose. Beads apparently terminal, really axillary on long glabrous peduncles, ovate ovoid, bracts leafy, lanceolate, subacute ; discoid or radial, ⅓-¾in. long, solitary. Receptacle narrowly conical, or covered with concave scales, each enclosing the lower part of the flower. Flowers yellow (or white, Collett), mostly 2-sexual, or the outer female, and shortly rayed. Pappus none, 1 or 2 bristles. Corolla bell-shaped, tube, short, lobes triangular, 4, spreading. Achenes flattened, oblong, dark-brown, dull, each enclosed in a scale.
Uses: — The flower-heads are by far the most pungent part, and are chewed by the natives to relieve toothache, which they do by producing redness of the gums and salivation. Dr. W. Farquhar has used and recommended a tincture of the flower-heads for toothache, in place of tincture of pyrethrum. He says it is a specific for inflammation of the periosteum of the jaws. A bit of lint, dipped in the tincture and laid on the gums, repeated 3 or 4 times a day, has a speedy effect in reducing the pain and swelling (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II. p. 283).
652. S. oleracea, Jacq. h.f.b.l, iii. 307 ; Roxb.
(Reduced to a variety of S. Acmella. Linn, Fl. Br. Ind.) p. 307, Vol. III by D. Hooker.
Vern. : — Akarâ (Bomb.); Roshuniya (B,) ; Akarkarhâ, Pokurmul (Pb.); Ukrâ (M.) Marâtimogga, Marâtitige (Tel.).
Habitat: — Cultivated in gardens throughout India.
With regard to variety, Oleracea Clarke, J. D. Hooker remarks thus : — " More robust and succulent, heads and leaves larger, peduncles subsolitary, achenes as in variety Acmella ​ proper, that is, "margined, scabrid, pappus usually of 1-2 bristles."
Uses :— The whole plaint is very acrid, but the flower-heads are especially so, having a hot, burning taste, which causes profuse salivation. It is on this account that the plant has been named Akalkhura by the gardeners. This is a popular remedy for children who stammer. The flower-heads are sometimes chewed to relieve toothache (Dymock).
It is considered by the natives a powerful stimulant and sialogogue, and is used in headaches, paralysis of the tongue, affections of the throat and gums, and for tooth-ache.
Pyrethrin is obtained from this plant. It is resolved by alcoholic potash into pyrethric acid and piperidine.
653. Guizotia abyssinica, Cass , h.f.b.l, iii. 308.
Syn. : — Verbesina sativa, Roxb. 606.
Habitat : — A native of Tropical Africa, cultivated in various parts of India.
Vern. :— Râmtil ; Kâlâtil (H. B. and Bomb.) ; Valesulû (Tel) ; Karmadoo (Mysore).
A stout, erect annual, smooth or scabrid, pubescent upwards. Leaves 3-5in., sessile, half-amplexicaul, linear, ovate-lanceolate, lanceolate-oblong, or subcordate, serrate, obtuse. Heads ½-lin. diam., peduncles naked, l-2in. Involucral bracts 5 ; outer broadly elliptic or ovate, obtuse, green ; ligules few, broad.
Achenes dorsally pressed, glabrous, tip rounded, yielding a bland oil.
Use : — The oil is sweet, and may be used for the same pharmaceutical purposes as sesamum oil (Dymock).
The achenes contain from 40 to 45 per cent, of a yellow sweet oil. According to Leather seeds from cultivated Indian plants yield on an average 40 per cent, of oil. The oil is used in soap-making and as a substitute for Unseed oil ; in India it is occasionally employed as a substitute for ghee.
Crossley and Le Sueur in 1898 examined four samples of East Indian oil : Specific gravity at 15.5°, 0.9248—0.9263 ; solidifies below zero ; saponification value, 188.9— 192.2; iodine value, 126.6 — 133.8 ; Reichert-Meissl value, O.ll— 0.63; Maumene test, 81° ; butyro refractometer, 63° at 40°. Fatty scids and unsapomfiable, per cent. 94.11 ; iodine value, 147.5. The oil has slight siccative powers and gained 7.2 per cent, in weight in fifteen days. ​
654. Glossocordia linearifolia, Cass, h.f.b.i., iii. 308.
Syn. : — Verbesina Boswellia, Roxb. 607.
Sans. : — Pithari.
Vern. : — Phatara-suva (Bomb.); Pitta-pâpadâ (Poona) ; Seri (H.) ; Para palavum (Tel)
Habitat : — Rohilkhund ; at Delhi ; Banda ; Central India and the Deccan.
An annual herb, prostrate or erect, glabrous, diffusely branched from the base. Branches 3-10in, long, strict or flexuous. Leaves ½-2in., 2-pinnatisect, petiole, long slender, blade broadly- ovate in outline, segments filiform. Heads ⅓in. long, shortly peduncled ; outer involucre bracts small, usually 3, with a greenish midrib and membranous ciliate margins ; inner involucre bracts large, obtuse, with a striated disk glabrous, and with pale membranous margins. Achenes ¼in. long, odour of fennel, densely bearded especially on the edges with stiff hairs. Pappus awns spreading.
Use : — According to Dalzell and Gibson it is much used in female complaints (Dymock).
655. Glossogyne pinnatifida, DC. h.f.b.i., iii. 310 ; Roxb. 604.
Vern, :-- Barangone bir barangone (Santal).
Habitat :— Plains of India, from Jammu and Garhwal to western Bengal and Behar, and southwards to Madras.
Perennial, glabrous herbs. Root fusiform, woody. Stems usually many from the root, erect or ascending, 6-18 in. high. Branches slender, forked. Leaves mostly radical, pinnatifid, triangular in outline, segments linear acute, few, often recurved, coriaceous ; petiole l-2in. ; veins prominent beneath. Flowering branches 6-12in., strict, stiff, grooved, nearly leafless. Heads in flower ¼in. diam. Involucre-bracts linear, obtuse, glabrous, 1/6in. long. Achenes ¼-⅓in., deeply grooved, black.
Use : — A preparation from the root is employed by the Santals as an application to snake-bite and scorpion-sting (Rev, A Campbell). ​
656. Achillea millefolium Linn, h.f.b.l, III. 312.
Syn. :— A. cuspidata, DC. Wall. Cat. 32-30.
Vern. : — Rojamari (Bomb.) ; Biranjasif (Cutch) ; Stewart says that this is one of the plants sold in the Bazars under the names Momâdru chopândiga (Kashmir) ; Bui Mâderan (Afghanistan).
Eng. : — Milfoil or common Yarrow. The older English writers called this plant Nose-bleed, because the leaves, if inserted into the nostrils, were supposed to cause bleeding. Sold in Bombay as Rosemary.
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Kumaon ; alt. 6-9,000 feet.
An erect, pubescent herb. Root stoloniferous. Stems 6-24 in., furrowed, leafy. Leaves alternate, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 3 pinnatisect, 2-4 by ¼-⅓in. ; radical leaves petioled, segments close set, acute ; upper leaves sessile. Heads many, radiate, ¼in. diam., crowded in compound corymbs. Involucre bracts few, erect ; outer ones shorter ; receptacle flat, covered with thin, oblong scales, nearly as long as the flowers. Flowers white or pale-pink. Pappus none ; 5-lobed. Achenes oblong, flattened shining.
Parts used : — Leaves and flower-heads.
Uses: — In Scotland at the present day, a warm decoction of the fresh leaves is regarded as a family specific against the colds and other ailments common to childhood.
This plant once held a creditable position amongst British drugs, and its recent introduction into the American Pharmacopœia may have the effect of reviving its use in England. It might, with great advantage, be added to our list of Indian indigenous drugs. Formerly, it was much used in England as a " vulnerary, and was given internally for the supression of hæmorrhages and of profuse mucous discharges. It was employed also in intermittents and as an antispasmodic in flatulent colic and nervous affections. Its hot infusion is used as an emmenagogue in France, and also in the suppression of the lochia ; it is sometimes employed in low exanthematous fevers ​ with difficult eruption. In these cases, it probably acts as a stimulant sudorific, as do most aromatic herbs (U. S. Dispensatory, Ed. 15th, 1560.) It is Carminative.
" It was formerly much esteemed as a vulnerary, and its old names of ' soldiers wound-wort ' and ' knight's milfoil' bear witness to this. The High-landers still make an ointment from it, which they apply to wounds, and Professor Bromel states that milfoil-tea is held in much repute in the Orkney Islands for dispelling melancholy !
" One of its common names among country people is ' nose-bleed" ; for the leaf being rolled up and applied to the nostrils causes a bleeding at the nose more or less copious. It is also called ' old man's pepper,' on account of the pungency of its foliage."— Sowerby's Eng. Bot. v. pp. 57-58.
From the whole plant, are obtained : —
(A) A glucoside named Achillein, C$_{20}$H$_{38}$O$_{15}$ . It is amorphous, reddish brown, bitter, alkaline ; soluble in water easily (giving yellow solution), in alcohol with difficulty. Insoluble in ether. With boiling dilute acids, is converted into sugar and Achilletin, C$_{11}$H$_{17}$N0$_4$, which is an amorphous, dark brown powder, not bitter, insoluble in water, and with difficulty in alcohol.
(B) A bitter principle named Ivain, C$_8$H$_{14}$O or C$_{24}$H$_{42}$ O$_3$. It is yellow in color, amorphous, soft resinous (' Terebinthinate'), bitter, soluble in alcohol, not in water.
(C) An alkaloid, Moschatine, C$_{21}$H$_{27}$N0$_7$ . It is bitter in taste. reddish-brown in color, and amorphous in appearance, melts under water (on water bath). Soluble with difficulty in alcohol, scarcely in water.
Sohnsays : —
Aehillein gives no precipitate with caustic alkalies, lead acetic, tannic acid or ferrous sulphate.
657. Chrysanthemum indicum, Linn, h.f.k.i., iii. 314 ; Roxb.
Vern. :— Gul-daoodi (H.) ; this name applied to all the varieties (Roxburgh). Chamimti (Tel.); Tjettipu (Mal.); Gendi, bâgaur (Pb.) ; Chandra-mallika (B.) ; Kalzang (Ladak).
It would appear that this and C. Coronarium, L. are not distinguished from each other by the natives of India, and the native names apply to both. (Watt.)
Habitat : — Cultivated in Indian gardens.
There are several varieties, with flowers of various colours, such as yellow, golden, orange, purple, lilac ; buds crimson, white, changeable into rose-colour. Spanish brown.
A procumbent diffuse annual. Stems rigid, 4-angular, grooved, glabrous or scabrid. Leaves long petioled, 1-3 in. ​ long, deltoid in outline ; segments oblong or cuneiform, obtusely lobed or cut, with a mucro at the apex of each ultimate division, translucent, succulent : petioles dilated towards their sheating bases, the margins membranous. Heads ¼ in diam., enlarging in fruit. Invol-bracts equalling the achenes, oblong or elliptic, obtuse, strongly nerved and with rather broad membranous margins. Achenes 1/10 in. long, cuneate oblong, obcompresed, grooved, the margins very thick (Duthie).
Flowers in the cold season. Roxburgh names the plant C. Indicum after Willdenow. The purple chrysanthemum plate was published under No. 327 by Curtism in Feb. 1796, as the Chrysanthemun Indicum of Linnæus ; subsequently, in Feb. 1810, Curtis published a plate Chrysanthemum indicum, B, changeable white Indian Chrysanthemum under name of Willdenow. with a huge bunch of rosy flowers in the central part of the flower-bead. The writer in the letter-press has the following observations : — " Willdenow has supposed that the chrysanthemum of Linnaeus is not the same species with our plant, but we see no reason to disbelieve that they are distinct." It must not be forgotten that some colours are liable to be modified from change of soil, situation, climate or season.— K. R. K.
Use : — This plant is considered by the natives heating and aperient, useful in affections of brain and calculus, and to remove depression of spirits (Punjab Products). The natives of the Deccan, administer the plant in conjunction with black pepper, in gonorrhœa (Drury).
658. C. coronarium, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 314.
Syn : — C. Roxburghii, Desf.; Pyretheum indicum, Roxb. 604.
Sans. :~— Shevantikâ.
Vern. : — Gul-chîni (H. and Dec.) ; Gul-dâudi (B.); Shamantippu (Tam.; ; Châmanti (Tel.) ; Seoti (Bomb.)
The garden Daisy.
Habitat :— Cultivated in the Indian gardens.
Annual herb. Stems branched, 3-4ft. high. Leaves alternate, deeply lobed in a bipinnate manner. Flower-heads numerous, ​ yellow, 2in. across, solitary, or in corymbs. The Ray-florets are in one series only, strapshaped, yellow or white, and all female ; those of the disk are tubular, with, four or five teeth at the mouth, and bisexual ; the pappus is reduced to a membranous ring or absent altogether. There is called a " double" variety, with the florets all strapshaped, closely overlapping. Bracts, with dry and translucent margins (Page 290, vol. IT, the Favourite Flowers of Garden and Green-house, by Edward Step, F. L. S. Frederick Warne and Co.).
Use : — Dallzell and Gibson state that the flowers are a tolerable substitute for chamomile. The root chewed communicates the same tingling sensation to the tongue as pellitory. According to Dr. Walker ("Bombay Med. and Phys. Trans. 1840, p.. 71) the people of the Deccan administer the plant in conjunction with black pepper in gonorrhœa (Ph. Ind.).
559. Matricaria Chamomilla, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 315.
Syn.:--M. Suaveolens, Linn. Roxb. 605.
Vern. : — Babun phul (B- and H.) ; Bâbunah, Suteigul (Pb.).
Habitat : — Upper Gangetic Plain and the Punjab.
An aromatic herb, about 1-ft. high ; much-branched. Leaves 2-pinnatifid, segments very narrow. Heads ½-¾in. diam., corymbose. Ligules reflexed after flowering, or ; receptacle elongating during fruiting. Achenes grey, small ; ribs slender, white, ventral only. Achenes with slender white ribs on the ventral face only. Pappus 0.
Use : — In Persian works, the flowers are described as stimulant, attenuant and discutient. There is a popular opinion among the Persians that the odour of the flowers induces sleep and drives noxious insects ; they also say that Chamomile tea applied to the genitals has a powerfully stimulating effect (Dymock).
Chamomile oil is used externally in rheumatism, in Gujrat (Ibbetson's Gazetteer). ​ The dried flower-heads are officinal, and are said to be stimulant, tonic and carminative. The}' are used in constitutional debility, hysteria, dyspepsia and intermittent fevers. The warm and strong infusion of the flowers is emetic, while a weak infusion acts as a tonic and febrifuge. In flatulence and colic, Chamomile oil is the most effectual of all remedies. The Indian Pharmacopœia says, the babuna ka phul forms a perfect substitute for the European Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis).
Analysis by Frederick B. Power and Henry Browning, Jr. of Wellcome Chem. Pes. Labs, published in the Journal Chem. Soc. for 1914.
Tests for alkaloids were almost negative.
It contains a blue essential oil, giving color reaction for furfural, and depositing, on keeping, probably umbelliferone Me ether. It also contains a resin.
660. Cotula anthemoides, Linn, h.f.b.l, iii. 316.
Vern. : — Babunâ (Pb. and H.); Tulobe (Cashmere).
Habitat : — Gangetic Plain, from Rajmahal and Sikkim west-wards to the Punjab.
An annual hairy, or glabrate, erect or diffuse, weak weed. Branches 3-9in., spreading. Leaves 2-pinnatifid or 2 pinnatisect, segments decurrent-lobed, lobes triangular lanceolate, ⅓-¾in. Petiole ½ amplexicaul. Peduncles filiform, naked. Heads ⅛-1/5in. diam., terminal, solitary. Flowers female, many. Involucre bracts, with scarious margins. Receptacle nearly flat, tubercled. Achenes ovate, with thick narrow wings. Achenes of the ray broad, flat.
Use : — It furnishes part of the officinal babuna, which is heated with oil and applied externally in rheumatism, &c. ( Stewart.) The infusion is used as an eye, wash in most diseases of the eye.
{{c\661. Centipeda orbicularis, Lour, h.b.f.i., iii. 317.}}
Syn. : — Myriogyne minuta, Lees., Artemesia sternutatoria, Roxb.
Vern. :— Nakk-chhikni ; Nag-downa ; Pachittie (H B. and ​ Bom.); Mechitta (B.) ; Nâkasinkani, shikani (Mar.); Afkur (Sind). Bedi Achim (Santal).
Habitat : — Throughout the plains of India.
Annual, prostrate, glabrous or sparsely woolly herb. Stems excessively numerous, spreading from the root, 4-8in. long, slender, leafy. Leaves ovate-oblong, spathulate, 1/6-½in. long; teeth sharp, 2 on each side. Heads solitary, globose, axillary 1/10-1/6in. diam., subsessile. Corolla of female flower a very minute cylindric tube, hairs of achenes simple. Achenes minute, tipped with persistent style, bristly on the angles, says Trimen.
Uses : — The minute seeds are used as a sternutatory by the Hindus, also the powdered herb. It is administered in ozœna, head-aches, and colds in the head (Dymock ). Boiled to a paste and applied to the cheeks, it is employed in the cure of tooch-ache (Stewart).
Used for hemicrania (Surg.-Maj. Robb, in Watt's Dictionary II).
The natives of India consider it a hot and dry medicine, useful in paralysis, pains in joints, and special diseases ; also as a vermifuge ('Cyclop of India ').
Called " Sneezeweed" in southern New South Wales.
The following letter from the Rev, Dr. Wools (then of Richmond, N. S. W.), to the Editor of the Sidney Morning Herald, appeared in that journal on Christmas Day, 1886. It is given in full, as if the plant only partially realizes the expectations formed of it. It will be a valuable addition to our indigenons vegetable materia medica.
" Some weeks since the Rev. S. G Fielding, of Wellington, called my attention to a weed (known to botanists Myrioggne minutu of the Compositæ Order, which he said had been used with success in cases of blight. Being anxious to test the efficacy of the remedy, and to ascertain whether any bad effects would arise from its application, I placed some of it in the hands of Dr. Jockel of this town, who had furnished me with the following remarks : — ' I have much pleasure in testifying to the efficacy, in cases of opthalmia, of the plant which you so kindly sent me. A case came under my notice a few days ago of a drover who was suffering from a severe form of purulent opthalmia, contracted up the country. I made an infusion of the plant according to the directions, and the first local application seemed to have almost a magical effect. The man expressed himself as relieved at once of the intense smarting which he had previously suffered. He got on so well that in two days he was ​ able to start back up country again, and could hardly express his gratitude for the very great relief afforded."— Louis C. Jockel.
" I find from a communication of Baron Mueller, that for some time past he has had an idea that Myriogyne might be used for medicinal purposes, and that he had actually submitted it to Dr. Springthorpe, an eminent' physician in Melbourne, for purposes of experiment. The Baron, however, was not aware of its efficiency in simple opthalmic inflammation, and he regarded the discovery as interesting. I mention this as a matter of justice to Dr. Jockel, who, I believe, is the first medical man in Australia who has proved the value of Myriogyne, in a case of ophthalmia. This weed, growing as it does on the banks of rivers and creeks, and in moist places, is common to all the Australian colonies and Tasmania, and it may be regarded as almost co-extensive with the disease which it is intended to relieve. In the document relating to the Inter- Colonial Exhibition of 1886-7, it is noticed as remarkable for its sternutatory properties, and recommended for the manufacture of snuff."
The Rev. Mr. Hartmann says (Brough-Smyth's ' Aborigines of Victoria,' ii., 173) that this plant is used as medicine by the aborigines of Lake Hind-marsh, but he does not say for what complaint
Baron Mueller prepared a snuff from this plant many years ago (J. H. Maiden, F. L. S., &c, Ph. J. Sept. 1, 1888, p. 178-179).
662. Artemesia scoparia, Waldst and Kit. h.f.b.i., iii. 323.
Syn. : — A. elegans, Roxb., 599.
Vern. : — Jhan, lasaj, biur, durumga, donâ, marûa, pila jan, king khak durunga (Pb.). Churi saroj ; Danti (Bâzar name).
Habitat: — Upper Gangetic Plain and westwards to Scind and the Punjab, Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Lahaul.
A faintly scented, very slender-branched, glabrous or pubescent annual or perennial herb, l-2ft, (or 3-6ft. Duthie) high. Stems slender, grooved, usually tinged with purple; branchlet often almost capillary, glabrous below, hoary or villous. Radical leaves l-3in. long, petioled, broadly ovate, 1-3-pinnatisect, segments linear, distant, spreading ; cauline leaves filiform or setaceous. Heads sessile, or on short capillary pedicels, minute, 1/12-1/10in. secund in slender, panicled racemes, involucre-bracts glistening oblong, obtuse scarious, with narrow green disks. Outer female flowers fertile, inner hermaphrodite flowers sterile and with larger corollas. Achenes 1/60in. long ("perhaps," ​ says J. D. Hooker, " one of the most minute fruits of any flowering plants "). Further, says Hooker, though usually described as annual, some specimens both from the plains of India and Tibet have woody stocks.
Use : — The branches appear to be officinal in the Punjab. The smoke is considered good for burns, and the infusion is given as a purgative (Stewart).
663. A. maritima, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 323.
Vern. : — Kiramâni owa (Bomb.) ; Tarkh (Pushtoo).
Arab, and Vers. : — Sheeh ; Sariqun ; Afsantin-ul-bahr.
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Kumaon.
Hoary or tomentose, shrubby below. Rootstocks woody, branched, stems erect or ascending, much branched from the bases. 6-18in., strict, woody or wiry. Leaves ovate, 2-pinnatisect ; ½-2in., often quite white, with very many segments; segments small, spreading, linear obtuse ; upper simple linear. Heads 3-8 fid. ovoid or oblong suberect in spicate fascicles, often, reddish, crowded and bracteolate by a small linear or almost setaceous leaf. Bracts linear oblong, outer herbaceous tomentose, inner scarious, acute, glabrous.
Use : — In Bombay, the Hakims prescribe it in doses of 2 to 3 derhems as an anthelmintic, and also deobstruent and stomachic tonic. In the form of a poultice, they use it to relieve the pain caused by the bites of scorpions and other venomous reptiless (Dymock).
" Useful in gleet " (Surg. Masani in Watt's Diet., Vol. 1).
Officinal in both Indian and British Pharmacopoeias ; used as an anthelmintic. According to Dr. Von Schrœder, it is not poisonous to ascarides as was formerly thought, but merely drives them to the large intestine whence they can be removed.
It is indigenous to Southern Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and is much used as an antiperiodic. An infusion (and also decoction, of the fresh plant has been very successfully used ​ by me in cases of ague, intermittent and remittent fever. It is a very useful febrifuge and deserves trial (B. D. Basu).
Church reported on a bundle of dry leaves received at Few from Duthie. The following is his analysis :—
Percentage composition of Artemisia maritima : —
Percentage composition of Artemisia maritima : — :
| Water | 13.6 |
| Oil, resin, wax, etc. | 04.0 |
| Starch, sugar, gum, etc. (by difference) | 34.2 |
| Albuminoids (true) | 06.0 |
| Fibre | 33.9 |
| Ash (includes 2.7 of sand and mica) | 08.3 |
Church remarks that the plant contains rather less albuminoids, less digestible carbohydrates, and more fibre than the average hay of mixed grasses. It is, however, thrice as rich in albuminoids as the straw of European cereals.
{{{1}}}
Max Jaffe, considers artemisin as y-hydroxysantonin.
664. A. vulgaris, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 325; Roxb. 599.
Syn. :— A. indica, Willd. ; A. paniculata, Roxb. 598.
Sans. : — Nâgdami, granthiparni.
Vern. :-- Nâgdounâ, mâtjari, mastaru, dona (H.) ; Sarmi, Samri (Dehra Dun), Nâgdonâ (B.) ; Tataur, pûnjan, banjiru, chambra, ûbûsha, tarkhâ ; Bui mâdarân, afsuntin (Pb. Bâzar names); Surband (Mar.); Titapat (Nepal)
" In Madras, the native names are applied to two sections : —
(a) A. vulgaris : — Dounâ (H and Duk.) ; Mar-i-Kurondu (Tam.); Davanamu (Sans. Tel. Kan.); Davanâ (Mar.).
(b) A. indica:— Mâspatri (D.) ; Machi-pattri (Tarn. Tel. Mal. and Kan.) ; Granthaparni (San.) — Dr. Moodeen Sheriff. ​ Habitat : — Throughout the mountainous districts of India ; on the west Himâlaya, Khasia Hills, Manipur ; mt. Aboo, in Mârwar, and the Western Ghâts.
A tall aromatic shrub-like herb, 2-8 ft. high, hoary pubescent or tomentose. Stems leafy paniculately branched. Lower leaves petioled, 2-4 in, long, ovate in outline, 1-2 pinnatisect, with stipule-like lobes at the base, more or less pubescent above, ashy-grey or white tomentose beneath ; upper leaves often sessile, linear-lanceolate, entire or 3-fid. Heads sessile or shortly pedicelled, ovoid or subglobose, arranged in sub-secund spike-like suberect or horizontal panicled racemes, brownish-yellow. Invol-bracts woolly or glabrate ; outer small, herbaceous, inner mostly scaricus. Outer fern, flowers very slender ; inner hermaphrodite flowers fertile. Achenes minute. The Dehra Dun plant belongs to the form known as A. indica, which has the lower surface of the leaves of an ashy-grey colour. (Duthie).
Uses: — The Hindus consider it to be a valuable stomachic, deobstruent, and antispasmodic ; they prescribe it in infusion and electuary, in cases of obstructed menses and hysteria. Externally, it is used in fomentations, given in skin diseases and foul ulcers as an alterative (Dutt).
Used as a tonic, anthelmintic, antispasmodic and expectorant, in diseases of children. Expressed juice is applied by native practitioners to the head of young children, for the prevention of convulsions (Watt's Dictionary, Vol. I).
" Used by the natives in asthma and diseases of the brain also" (London Exhibition).
Bellew states that in Afghanistan and throughout India, a strong decoction is given as a vermifuge, and a weak one to children in measles. An infusion is given as a tonic.
" The strong aromatic odor and bitter taste of this plant indicate stomachic and tonic properties. Dr. Wight states that the leaves and tops are administered in nervous and spasmodic affections connected with debility, and also that an infusion of them is used as a fomentation in phagedenic ulceration. Dr. L. ​ Stewart describes an infusion of the tops and leaves as a good, mild stomachic tonic" (Ph. Ind.).
Said to be used in China in the preparation of an .external application (moxa) employed in relieving pain.
665. A. sacrorum, Ledeb. h.f.b.i., iii. 326.
Vern. : — Tatwen, munyû, niurtsi, jan, chûmbar, zbior, burnak (Pb.).
Habitat : — Kunâwur, and the Tibetan region of Kumaon.
An erect, hoary perennial, shrubby below, leaves long petioled, ovate, pinnatisect, segments pectinately pinnatifid, hoary or green, or white pubescent, on both surfaces. Rachis simple or pectinately winged Heads 15-20-fid, broadly hemispheric, nodding subsecund distant in slender panicled racemes. Involucre-bracts hoary, outer, with a green disk and broad scarious margins, linear, green.
Use : — Said to be given medicinally to horses in affections of the head (Stewart).
666. A. persica, Boiss., h.f.b.i., iii. 327.
Vern. : — Shih ; Sariqûn ; Afsantin-ul-Bahar(Arab. and Pers.); Pardesi da wano (Guz.) ; Dawânâ (Mar.).
Habitat : — Afghanistan ; also Western Tibet.
A tall, erect perennial or biennial, hoary, with white tomentum. Stem 3-4ft., grooved or ribbed. Branches long, suberect. Leaves small, ovate, or flabellate decompoundly, very finely pinnatisect, sessile or petioled. Segments minute, linear or lobulate. Heads numerous, 1/6in. diam., yellow, subglobose, rather remote, pedicelled, secund nodding, in short, or long axillary strict, erect racemes. Involucre-bract tomentose, outer linear green, inner orbicular broadly scarious. Receptacle small, convex of hermaphrodite flowers almost cupular, glabrous or pubescent.
Use : — Bellew states that the plant is used as a tonic, febrifuge and vermifuge. ​
667. A. Absinthium, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 328.
Syn. : — Absinthium vulgare, Gœrtn. ; A. officinale, Lam.
Eng. names : — The absinthe ; Wormwood.
Vernacular : — Vilayatî-afsantin (H. and Duk.)
Habitat : — Kashmir.
A perennial, hoary, silky, pubescent, herbaceous plant, very aromatic. Stem erect, angular, ribbed, l-3ft. Leaves ovate or obovate, l-2in., unequally, 2-3 pinnatifidly, cut into spreading linear or lanceolate, obtuse ; segments hoary on both surfaces ; radical and lower cauline narrowed into winged petioles. Heads ⅓-¼in. diam., numerous, but hardly crowded. Flowers yellow, pedicelled, hemispheric in drooping, secund racemes terminating in branches. Ray-corolla dilated below. Outer Involucre-bracts oblong, hoary, narrowly scarious. Receptacle hairs long, straight. Anthers acuminate (not aristate). Achenes elliptic oblong, or somewhat obovoid, 1/24in. long.
Part used: — The whole herb, in the form of decoction, infusion and poultice.
Uses : — The whole herb is an aromatic tonic, and formerly enjoyed a high reputation in debility of the digestive organs. It was also regarded as an anthelmintic. Before the discovery of Cinchona, it was largely used in intermittents. It exercises a powerful influence over the nervous system, and its tendency to produce headache and other nervous disorders is well known by travellers in Kashmir and Ladâk, who suffer severely when marching through the extensive tracts of country covered with this plant (Watt's Dictionary, Vol. 1., p. 324). Pi-escribed in the form of a poultice or fomentation as an antiseptic and discutient.
It yields by distillation a dark green or yellow oil, having a strong odour of the plant and an acrid taste. In large doses it is a violent narcotic poison.
It contains a compound anabsinthin, C$_{18}$H$_{24}$O$_4$ soluble in alcohol, benzene, and chloroform, but only slightly soluble in water ; this forms long, white, prismatic needles, which, when dried at 120°, melt at 258—259° ; from acetone, it separates in large and peculiar crystals. With sulphuric acid, it gives a ​ violet red coloration that changes to blue, and with dilute hydrochloric acid (1 : 5), it gives a brown coloration and shows a slight green fluorescence when water is added. Acetic anhydride converts anabsinthin into a resin, but oxidising and reducing agents, and dilute acids and alkalis, have but little action on it. It does not reduce Fehling's solution, and yields no compound with phenylhydrazine. When distilled, it yields acetic and formic acids and an oil which becomes green and blue when exposed to air. Anabsinthin is quite distinct from the absinthin of Senger and of Bourcet. — (J. Ch. S. 1899 AI 377).
Absinthin is obtained from the leaves. When pure, this glucoside crystallises from dilute alcohol, in prismatic needles, melts at 68°, and has an extremely bitter taste. Senger's formula for absinthin is C 15 H 20 4 .— J Ch. S. 1899 AI 538.
668. A. Sieversiana, Willd. h.f.b.i., iii. 329.
Vern : — Afsantin ; Downâ (Pers. and Arab.).
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Lahaul.
Very similar in many respects to A. Absinthium Linn., but annual (in the Indian specimens), with much larger heads, distant on the long, lax racemes, and the anthers aristate. Hoary, pubescent, stems erect, angled, ribbed, simple or paniculately branched above. Leaves mostly petioled, broadly ovate, 2-pinnatisect, segments obtuse and obscurely lobed, hoary on both surfaces. Heads ¼-½in., diam. broadly hemispheric, pedicelled, secund nodding distant, in lax long racemes, terminating in branches. Outer Involucre-bracts green, hoary, inner Involucre-bracts broadly scarious. Receptacle hairs long, straight.
Uses : — Medicinally, it is esteemed as atonic, deobstruent, febrifuge, and anthelmintic, and it is applied externally as a discutient and antiseptic. The Hakims prescribe it in hypochondriasis, jaundice, dropsy, gout, scurvy, &c. ; also as an emmenagogue, and in hysterical affections (Dymock).
669. Tussilago, Farfara, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 330.
Vern. : — Watpan (Pb.).
Habitat : —Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Kumaon.
A white, woolly, a scapigerons herb, with a perennial root- stock. Leaves long-petioled, all radical, coming after the flowers, orbicular, cordate, toothed, 3-10in. broad, cobwebby above, white ​tomentose beneath. Scapes 1, or more, 4-10in., tomentose; bright yellow, drooping in bud, 1-1J in. Flowers, female, multiseriate, fertile ligule narrow, spreading. Disk-flowers hermaphrodite, sterile, tubular, limb-elongate 5-fid. Involucre campanulate or cylindric; bracts 1-seriate, equal, with a few very small outer ones. Receptacle flat, naked. Anther-bases entire, or subanricled, style-arms of hermaphrodite flowers entire, obtuse. Achenes of female flowers linear, 5-10-ribbed, with soft snow-white pappus.
Uses : — The leaves are sometimes applied to wounds (Stewart). In Europe, they are smoked like tobocco, as a domestic remedy for asthma.
Pliny records its being used for smoking, and recommends it as a remedy for obstinate colds and coughs, and recommends both the roots and leaves.
Dr. Cullen recommends the use of the leaves in scrofula. According to him, the expressed juice of the fresh leaves, taken to some ounces every day, occasioned the healing up of scrofulous sores ; a strong decoction of the dried leaves seems to have answered the same purpose.
670. Doronicum Hookeri, Clarke Mss., h.f.b.i., iii. 332.
Vern. : — Darunaj-akrabi (Pb.).
Habitat : — Sikkim Himalaya ; Lachen and Tungu.
A robust herb, l-2ft. high. Radical leaves 0, or soon withering; cauline 4-6 by l-2in., often unequal-sided. Leaves all narrowed into short, J amplexicaul, petioles oblong or elliptic lanceolate, obtuse or acute, entire or irregularly toothed. Heads 2Jin. diam. Involucre-bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Ligules about half as long. Achenes rife ; not seen, says Hooker. Pappus short, reddish.
Use : — The root is an aromatic tonic, said to be used to prevent giddiness on ascending heights. (Baden-powell). ​
671. Emilia sonchifolia, DC. Var. Sonchifolia proper, h.f.b.i.,iii. 336; Roxb. 597.
Vern. : — Sâdi-modi (B.) ; Muel-schevi (Mai.) ; Sâdhi-mandi (Bomb.).
Habitat : — Common throughout India.
A slender somewhat glaucous herb, 10-18 in. high, glabrous puberulous or scabrid. Stems erect, or diffuse and often rooting at the nodes, more or less branched. Leaves 1½-4 in. long ; lower petioled, lyrate-pinnatifid or obovate, entire or sinuate ; upper smaller, amplexicaul, with acute or obtuse auricles. Heads ½ in. long, solitary or laxly corymbose ; peduncles very slender, nodding when young. Invol-bracts nearly equalling the flowers, linear-oblong, acute, narrowly margined. Corollas pinkish-violet or white. Style-arms ½-cylindric, the tip conic. Achenes ⅛ in. long, with 5 scabrid ribs. (Duthie).
Uses : — In Malabar, a decoction of the plant is said to be a febrifuge. Mixed with sugar given in bowel complaints (Rheede).
In Travancore, pure juice of the leaves is poured drop by drop into the eyes in night-blindness. The natives consider the juice as cooling as rose-water and prescribe it in eye inflammations (Drury).
{{c672. Notonia grandiflora, DC. h.f.b.i., iii. 337.}}
Vern. : — Wânder-roti (Mar.) ; Gaidar (Bomb.)
Habitat : —Hilly districts of the Western Peninsula, from the Concan southwards.
A small shrub, 2-3ft. high, very fleshy. Branches very stout. Leaves 3-5 by l-3in., subsessile or petioled, obovate, or elliptic-lanceolate, quite entire. Flowering peduncles 6-12in. long, stout, erect, naked. Corymb of few or many heads, ¾-1in. long. Achenes ¼in. long, glabrous. Pappus hairs very slender, terete.
Uses:— The plant was brought forward in 1860, by Dr. A. Gibson, as a preventive of hydrophobia. The mode of administration is as follows : — About 4 ounces of the freshly-gathered stems, infused in a pint of cold water for a night, yield in the morning, when subjected to pressure, a quantity of viscid ​ greenish juice, which, being mixed with water, is taken at a draught. In the evenings, a further quantity of the juice, made up into boluses with flour, is taken. These medicines are directed to be repeated for three successive days.
Dr. Waring says that from official documents placed at his disposal, it appears that the remedy has been tried in numerous cases ; but as at the time of the infliction of the wound, caustic was applied locally in the majority of cases, it is difficult to determine how far the Notonia operated, if at all, as a prophylactic (Ph. Ind.).
" An extract of the herb was tried by the late Dr. Haines and myself on dogs, and afterwards at the European Hospital in Bombay (1864). In one drachm doses it had a feebly aperient action ; no other effect was observed " (Dymock).
673. Senecio tenuifolius, Burm. h.f.b.l, iii. 345.
Vern. : — Sanggye, mentog, nimbâr (Pb.).
Habitat :— Western Peninsula ; on the dry hills of the Western Ghats, from the Concan southwards.
Slender annual herbs, glabrous, much branched, or, like most annuals, says J. D. Hooker, reduced to a single weedy stem. Leaves sessile, pinnatifid or sub-2-pinnatifid lobes, very slender, spreading, obtuse. Heads few, long-peduncled, ebracteolate in divaricating corymbs; involucre-bracts 10- 12⅛ in. long, ovate oblong, acute membranous, glabrous ; ligules 6-10, Achenes 1/10in. broader upwards, scabrid, equalling the reddish or yellowish pappus.
Use : — Mr. Honnigberger states that it is officinal in Kashmir. The nimbar of the Lahore drug-sellers may probably be the produce of this plant (Dr. Stewart).
674. S. Jacquemontianus, Bentham, h.f.b.i. iii. 350.
Vern. : — Hater mool (Kashmere).
Habitat ; — Western Himalaya. ​708 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.
Perennial herbs, glabrous, robust. Stem stout, 3-5 ft. Leaves 1ft., broad and under, tip acute or rounded, broadly ovate-cordate or subbastate ; obtuse-toothed, sinus open, petiole of lower stout winged, of cauline sheathing ; 5-10in., wing narrow or broad, gashed or toothed. Racemes 4-8in., elongating in fruit. Heads not secund, numerous, peduncled, on a conical raceme, broadly campanulate ; 1½-2in. across the ligules. Involucre-bracts ⅓in., glabrous, 8-12, oblong acute, bases subconnate. Ligules many, long and broad ; 12-15, ½-¾in. long, 5-9-nerved, tip entire or toothed ; tube of disk-corolla shorter than the limb. Achenes fin. long, deeply grooved, linear, oblong. Pappus very short, coroniform, 1/16in., unequal, united at the base.
Use : — Its roots are officinal in Cashmere ; they somewhat resemble Valerian in appearance and odor, and must prove a good medicine when their properties are once determined (Honnigberger). Said to be used to adulterate Kut (Sanssurea Lappa).
675. S. quinquelobus, Hook f : & T. h.f.b.i., iii. 353.
Vern. :— Morta (Pb.)
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Garhwâl to Bhutan.
A herbaceous, glabrous, or sparsely pubescent plant. Root perennial. Stem slender, simple, long, erect, flexous, grooved 2-3ft., naked below. Leaves 2-4in., sometimes as broad as long or even broader, rather glaucous beneath, petioled, membranous, cordate, or subreniform, bud 3-7-angled or palmetly-lobed, upper not cordate ; angles or lobes coarsely sinnate, toothed ; teeth acute and apiculate. Petiole slender, not auricled. Heads narrow 5-6-fid. Racemes a foot long or less, very slender, sometimes quite simple, with secund bracteate peduncles bearing solitary terminal heads and bulb-like leaf-buds in the axils ; or the peduncle becomes an enlongated branch bearing many bulbils. Involucre-bracts obtuse or acute, green, 5-6, linear, membranous. Ligules absent. Corolla large, tube shorter than the campanulate limb ; anthers exserted, with ​ very short tails. Achenes 1/10in. slender, glabrous, shorter than the scanty white pappus ; tip dilated.
Use : — In Kanâwar, the seeds are given for colic. (Stewart)
676. S. densiflorus, Wall., h.f.b.l, iii. 355.
Vern. : — Chitawala (Pb.).
Habitat : — Central and Western Himalaya, from Nepal to Bhotan, and the Khasia Mountains.
Shrubby plants. Branches, leaves beneath and corymbs clothed with appressed white, rarely grey, cottony wool. Branches stout. Leaves 5-9 by 1-3½in., glabrous or cottony above, narrowly or broadly elliptic, or obovate lanceolate acuminate, toothed(teeth often hooked) ; petiole, large, ¼-1in., with often small, broad-toothed auricles. Heads campanulate, shortly pedunculated. ¼in., long, many-fid, bracteolate in axillary and terminal branched subpanicled corymbs. Involucre-bracts 8-12, linear, acute, white tomentose(opaque). Receptacle pitted and bristly; ligules 8-10, very short. Achenes 1/24in. glabrous; pappus equalling or shorter than the tubular corollas, white.
Use :— The leaves are applied to boils (Stewart).
677. Echinops echinatus, DC. h.f.b.l, iii. 358.
Sans. : — Utâti.
Vern. : — Utkatâra (Indian Bazars).
Habitat : — Upper Gangetic plains, N.-W. Himalaya, and the Punjab, from Benares westward, ascending to 5,000ft. to Sirmore. Behar, Sindh. The Dekkan.
A much-branched, spreading, rigid annual, l-2ft. high, branched from the base. Branches wide-spreading. Leaves 3-5 in. long, sessile, oblong, pinnatifid, spines often 1½in. Balls of head white 1-1½in. diam Outer invol. bracts 6-8 oblanceolate glabrous pungent one often spinescent ; Involucre ⅓in., long, inner hardening around the obconic silky villous achenes. Achenes 1/6in. long.
Use :— The drug is considered to be tonic and diuretic. It is bitter, and appears to us to have the same properties as the ​ Carduus benedictus of Europe. (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II, p. 320).
678. Carduus nutans, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii. 361.
Vern.:— Kanchhari, tiso, bâdâward(Pb.) ; Gul-i-bâdâward (Kashmir).
Habitat:— Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Simla, and Hazârâ in the Punjab.
A tall stout thistle, biennial, cobwebby, stem l-3ft., usually simple grooved, interruptedly winged ; wings sinuous, spinulose. Leaves 6-12in., variable, entire, 1-2-pinnatifid, waved, spinous. Heads ¾-1½in. diam., solitary or fascicled, hemispheric or subcampanulate, inclined or drooping. Involucre- bracts subulate — lanceolate, outer or all terminating in a spreading, erect or, reflexed spine. Flowers crimson. Achenes pale brown, glabrous, granulate.
Use : — In the Punjab, the flowers are considered febrifugal (Stewart).
It is used in Kashmir to purify the blood(Punjab Products).
679. Silybum marianum, Gaertn., h.f.b.i., iii. 364.
Habitat : — Punjab and N.-W. Himalaya, Peshawar, Hazara, and from Kashmir to Jammu.
An annual or biennial shining thistle. Stem l-4ft., grooved, not winged. Leaves larger, with strong spines. Heads l-2in. diam., base intruded. Involucre-bracts coriaceous, with a spine ½-¾in. long, outermost mucronate. Receptacle fleshy ; flowers rose-purple. Achenes £in., transversely wrinkled, black or grey. Pappus white.
Uses :— Mr. George Foy (Medical Press for 1887, p. 492) calls attention to its properties. He states that this plant is now being received with professional favour in France, where the tincture and alcoholic extract are both being prepared. He remarks that the extract is a useful adjunct to aloes, since it possesses cholagogue properties (Ph. J. June 25, 1887, p. 1051). ​ 'Dioscorides affirmed that the seeds being drunk are a remedy for infants that have their sinews drawn together, and for those that be bitten of serpents ; and we find in a record of old Saxon remedies, that this wort, if hung upon a man's neck, it setteth snakes to flight' [Sowerby's Eng. Bot., V., p. 5].
680. Sassurea obvallata, Wall., h.f.b.l, iii. 365.
Vern. : — Bergandu tongur (Kumaon) ; Kanwal, Birm-kanwal (Pb.)
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Sikkim.
A simple pubescent, or glabrate herb. Root very thick, crowned with blackened remanis of petioles. Stem simple, leafy, 6-18in., as thick as a little finger or less, terminated by the curved bladdery veined, translucent leaves, which form a pale head 3-6in. diam. Leaves 4-8in., glabrous, obtuse toothed, lower petioled, elongate-obovate, cauline, sessile, ½-amplexicaul oblong concave, floral cymbiform membranous, enclosing 2-6 sessile or shortly peduncled glabrous heads. Heads ½-¾ in. diam., hemispheric. Corolla ½in.; anther-tails very short, laciniate. Achenes ovoid, flattened, glabrous, ribbed. Pappus brown, ⅓in., outer bristles scabrid or 0.
Use :— The root is used for application to bruises and cuts (Duthie).
681. S. candicans, Clarke, h.f.b.l, iii. 373.
Vern. : — Batula ; Kaliziri (Pb.).
Habitat: — Subtropical and Temperate Western India and the Himalaya, from the Salt Range, Hazârâ, and Kashmir to Bhotan.
Herbs, with 2-5 ft. stem, simple below. Inflorescence cottony. Leaves sometimes 18 by 5in., oblong or ovate-oblong, entire or sinuate-toothed, or lobulate at the base, or lyrate-pinnatifid, glabrous or pubescent above, cottony or white tomentose, rarely glabrous beneath. Heads 1-1½in. diam, long, peduncles in large, open, panicled corymbs. Involucre-bracts, cottony or pubescent, lanceolate, acuminate. Receptacle bristles long. Corolla upward of ½in. long, anther-tails lacerate. Achenes 1/5in., ​ 5- angled, muricate, top cupular, very variable as to rugosity, Pappus hairs very slender, white, equalling the Corolla, outer absent.
Use : —The seeds are collected in the Punjab for the drug- sellers (Stewart). Carminative, used in masâlâs for horses (Calthrop, in Watt's Dictionary).
682. S. hypoleuca, Spreng. h.f.b.i., iii. 374.
Habitat : — All over temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Sikkim.
Herbs, with stem, simple or branched above, leafy, lather slender, 2-5ft., glabrous or puberulous. Leaves lyrate or lyrate-pinnatifid, sinuate toothed, glabrous above, cottony or white beneath ; membranous, terminal lobe large sometimes 5in. diam, deltoid acute, lateral generally one pair triangular, acute ; 3-8in., variable in breadth, petioled or sessile ; petiole auricled at the base or not. Heads 1½-2in. diam., globose, nodding or inclined, very many-fid, base often intruded, long peduncled. Involucre very broad and open, bracts lanceolate, acuminate, ciliate, often recurved. Corolla ⅓in., limb as long as the tube. Anther-tails long, subulate, quite entire, or split near the tip. Achenes short, 4-angled, tubercled, 1/6in. long, almost cubical, with obtuse angles, black ; tip contracted, with a terminal toothed cup. Pappus single, ⅓in., brown.
Use : — It appears probable that part of the costus used medicinally in India is derived from this species (Watt).
683. S. Lappa, Clarke, h.f.b.i., iii. 376.
Syn. : — Aplotaxis Lappa, Dcne ; Aucklandia Costus, Falconer.
Sans. : — Kushtha ; Kashmirja.
Vern.:— Kut; Kust (H.) ; Pachak, Kur(B.); Post-khai (Kashmir); Kusta (Bhote) ; Kut, kot (Pb.) ; Duplate (Bomb.); Upaleta; Kut (Guz.) ; Kostum, putchuck, goshtam (Tam.); Changala, Kustam (Tel.) ; Sepuddy (Malay.)
Habitat : — Kashmir.
Tall, very stout, herbs. Stem 6-7ft., very robust, as thick as the little finger, below- Leaves membranous, scaberulous above. ​ glabrate beneath, irregularly toothed. Radical leaves, with the petioles 2-3ft. long, terminal lobes often a foot in diameter ; cauline leaves 6-1 2in. long, with a short petiole, or sessile, with an auricled ½-amplexicaul base. Heads very hard, subglobose, 1-1½in. diam., sessile axillary, or in a terminal cluster of 2-5. Involucre-bracts numerous, purple, young, pubescent, ovate lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, squarrosely recurved, glabrous. Receptacle bristles very long, ⅔in. Corolla dark-purple, ¾in. long. Anther-tails fimbriate. Achenes upwards of ⅓in., com- pressed, curved with thickened margins and one rib on each face, top contracted and cupped, tip narrowed. Pappus hairs double, all feathery, ⅔in., brown.
Supposed to be the Costus of the Ancients (J. D, Hooker).
Uses : — Kust has been used in Hindu medicine from the earliest ages. It is said to be aphrodisiac and tonic, and useful in diseases arising from deranged air and phlegm, also in asthma and for resolving tumours (Meer Muhammad Husain). It was formerly smoked as a substitute for opium. U. C. Dutt, in his Hindu Materia Medica, states that the " root is described as aromatic, stimulant and useful in cough, asthma, fever, dyspepsia, and skin diseases. Mr. Baden-Powell gives an interesting summary of the uses of kust ; the dried powder is the principal ingredient in a stimulating ointment for ulcers ; it is a useful hair-wash ; it is used as an ingredient in a stimulating mixture for cholera ; the root is a valuable perfume and is a preservative to woollen cloths.
By the native practitioners it is prescribed as a stomachic and tonic, and in the advanced stage of typhus fever. In the Punjab, applied in powder, to ulcers, for worms in wounds, and also in rheumatism ; also considered depurative and aphrodisiac (Murray, 185).
684. Jurinea macrocephala, Benth. h.f.b.i., iii 378.
Vern.: — Dhup, dhúpa, gúgal (Pb.).
Habitat: — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Kumaon.,
Stemless. Root woody, perennial. Leaves spreading, 6-18 by 1½-7in., oblong-lanceolate, pinnate or pinnatifid, denticulate, ​ cobwebby or cottony above thickly white, tomentose beneath ; long or short-petioled lobes or segments contiguous, broad, sometimes crisped, teeth acute or mucronate. Heads 3-30, ⅔-1in. diam., sessile or shortly peduncled. Peduncles stout, tomentose, often cottony at the base. Involucrai bracts ¾-1½in., scabrid or smooth, erect, scarious ; outer involucral bracts ovate lanceolate ; inner elliptic-lanceolate, long, acuminate. Receptacle bristles very rigid, much shorter than the achenes united into laciniate cups. Anther-tails lacerate. Corolla 1-1¼in. Achenes large, cuneate, obovate, unequally 4-5-angled, tubercled, ¼-⅓in., curved, compressed, truncate, ashy grey. Pappus copious, lin., brown hairs cohering at base. " The roots, called Dhup, are collected and used by Hindus as incense (Aitchison).
Use : —The bruised root is applied to eruptions, and a decoction is given in colic. It is also considered cordial and given in puerperal fever (Dr. Stewart).
685. Tricholepis glaberrima, DC. h.f.b.i, iii. 381,
Vern. — Brahmadandi (M.). Motabor (Bom).
Habitat : —Central India, Merwara, the Concan, and the Deccan.
An annual, slender, unarmed herb, quite glabrous, erect, rigid. Branches slender, angled and ribbed, quite smooth. Leaves sessile, 2-3in. long, linear oblong, or lanceolate, acute, entire or serrate, scaberulous and covered with raised points, prominently nerved ; base simple or auricled. Heads small, ovoid ¼-⅓in. diam. Involucre-bracts subulate from a lanceolate base, sub-erect. Receptacle bristles narrowly linear, exceeding the pappus. Achenes oblong, faintly ribbed, twice as long as the pappus.
Use : — Believed to be a nervine tonic and an aphrodisiac, and used in seminal debility. (S Arjun.)
686. T. montana, Dalzell and Gibson, h.f.b.i., iii. 383.
Vern. : -Utakatâra (M.).
Habitat :— The Western Ghauts. ​ A coarser species than the preceding ; leaves obovate-oblong, very coarsely toothed or sometimes pinnatifid.
Use : —It is a bitter tonic and a diuretic, and is used in coughs (S. Arjun).
687 Volutarella divaricata, Benth. h.f.b.i., iii. 383.
Syn.: — Carduus ramosus, Roxb. 595.
Vern.: — Badaward (Bomb.) ; Sakayi (M.).
Habitat: — Central, Western and Southern India, from Behar and the Upper Gangetic plains to Lahore ; and from Sind to Mysore and the Deccan ; ascending to 3,000 ft. in the N.-W. Himalaya.
An annual straggling stiff weed, dichotomously branched ; branches l-2ft. long, angled, smooth or scabrid. Leaves very variable, oblong or obovate, entire, toothed or pinnatifid, 1-2 by ¼-⅔in., rarely 6 by 3in., sessile, base simple, lobes rounded, mucronate, often undulate or crisped. Heads ½-1in. long, ¼-½in. in diam., hard, with spiny involucre-bracts. Involucre-bracts ovate, glabrute reddish, with a long spreading or recurved spinescent awn ; spines ¼-⅓in., smooth ; receptacular bristles short. Corolla ½in., straight, pale-purple. Achenes 1/5in., narrow, acutely 4-5- angled, striate and punctate between the angles, base narrow ; areole small, lateral, deeply excavated, top broad, truncate ; pappus spiny, of many unequal scabrulous hairs, ^in. long, silvery brown, 3 or 4 innermost flattened and long (J. D. Hooker) .
Uses : — The author of the Makhzan says that the plant has tonic, aperient and deobstruent properties. It is said to drive away noxious reptiles when kept in the house (Dymock).
Slightly mucilaginous, and is used in coughs (S. Arjun). It is used as a febrifuge and is often prescribed in fevers and general debility (R. N. Khory.)
688 Carthamus tinctorius, Linn, h.f.b.i., iii, 386 ; Roxb 595.
Sans.: — Kusumbha, kamalottara, kúshumbha.
Vern. : — Kusum, kâsumba, kar (the seed), barre (Hind) ; Kusum, kusam phul, kajîrah, darhua (the oil), kuthi (thorny), murdi or mundo (thornless variety) (Beng.) ; Galâp machû, (Manipur) ; Kûsam, kûrtam, kushumbha, ma, sufir, karar (khar, polian — seed), (Pb.) ; Barre, kar, (United Prov.) ; (Bundi, Raj) ; Kusumba, kurdai, (Bomb.) ; Kusumbo (kabri = the seed), (Guj.) ; Kurdi, kavarhi, kasdi, sadhi (oil plant), kardai, (Mar.) ; Kusumba, (Cutch) ; Powari-jo-bij, kardai, kurtum (seed), khoinbo (the plant), (Sind) ; Khardi, (oil), kasar (thorny), kusum (smooth variety), (C. P.) ; Karad, (Dec.); Sendurgam, kushumba, kushumba-virai, sendurkun, (Tam) ; Agnisikha, kushumba-vittu-lu, (Tel) ; Kusanbe (or kusambi), kusumba, (Kan).
Eng. :—The Safflower.
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India.
Thistle-like herbs, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves entire and unarmed, or spinulose serrate. Outer Involucre-bracts ovate-oblong, constricted above the base green-spinous, or not. Inner Involucre-bracts ovate-oblong, acute. Flowers orange-red. Achenes (often deformed) obovoid, 4-angled, truncate at the top, with 4 bosses ; pappus absent.
Parts used : — The seed, oil and flowers.
Uses : —The Sanskrit writers describe the seeds as purgative, and mention a medicated oil, which is prepared from the plant for external application in rheumatism and paralysis. Mahomedan writers consider the seeds as laxative, having the power to remove phlegmatic and adjust humors from the system. (Dyinock).
" The powdered seeds made into a poultice, are used to allay inflammation of the womb after childbirth. The oil is used as a liniment in rheumatism " (Surg.-Maj. Calthrop).
The oil is used as a dressing for bad ulcers (Ainslie).
In the Punjab seeds considered to be diuretic and tonic (Stewart).
"In large doses, Carthamus is said to be a laxative ; and, administered in warm infusion, diaphoretic. It is used as a substitute for saffron in measles, scarlatina, and other exanthematous diseases to promote the eruption" (U. S. Dispensary). ​ According to Burham, a drachm of the dried flowers taken internally, cures jaundice (Hort- Jamaica, I. 72).
In Bengal (Dumraon) the oil is considered by the ryots as a valuable remedy for itch. A cure is said to be effected after 3 to 6 applications. The young green plant is said to be very efficacious in colds. It is believed to keep the system warm. The charred oil is used for healing sores and for rheumatism. As a veterinary medicine the oil occasionally finds use in healing sores on cattle.
The oil of the seed is used as medicine in the United Provinces. The meal of the cooked seed is called harira and is considered a curative and specific for colic pain.
In the Central Provinces the oil extracted by the dry hot method is employed as a salve for sores on cattle.
In Sind, the seed is employed as a cooling medicine (thadhol) ; it is sometimes boiled and made into gruel. The oil is considered a mild purgative. (Agricultural Ledger 1904 — No. 11).
The seeds and fruits contain about 30 per cent, oil, but owing to the thick husk, only 17 or 18 per cent, of the oil is obtainable by pressing. The kernels constitute about 40 per cent, of the seeds and can only be removed by special machinery. The composition of the seed and the undecorticated and decorticated cake have been shown by Dr. Leather.
Caption text :
| | Seed. | Undecorticated cake. | Drcorticated cake. |
| Moisture | 07.49 | 08.79 | 08.49 |
| Oil | 31.84 | 09.84 | 09.80 |
| Albuminoids | 13.31 | 16.06 | 32.75 |
| Carbohydrates | 18.66 | 27.23 | 21.19 |
| Fibre | 26.31 | 33.83 | 20.17 |
| Ash | 02.39 | 04.25 | 07.60 |
The oil obtained by expression in the cold is pale yellow in colour, and is used for culinary purposes. It has good drying powers and although it cannot replace linseed oil it should certainly form a substitute for it in many instances and find extended use in the manufacture of soft soap.
A dark coloured empyreuraatic oil is prepared from the seeds by a simple process of destructive distillation. This is used for the preservation of leather buckets and ropes exposed to the action of water.
Crossley and Le Sueur in 1898 examined several samples of safflower oil obtained from various districts, and their constants are thus summarised: Specific gravity, 0.9251 to 0.9280; saponification value, 187.2 to 193.3; iodine ​ value, 129.8 to 149.93 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 0-0 ; refraction at 40°, 65.2 ; acid value, 0.76 to 20.02; optical activity in 200 m.m. tube + 4' to + 14' ; fatty acids, per cent. 95.4 ; solidifying point, 16°; neutralisation value, 199.
The saturated fatty acids contained in this oil consist of palmitic and stearic acids. Le Sueur found the liquid fatty acids to be oleic and linolic acids. Tylaikoff confirms the presence of oleic and linolic and linolenic acids. Lewkowitsch determined the amount of unsaponifiable matter in several samples to be 1.5 per cent., and the true acetyl value he found to be 16.1, 12.85 and 12.78. (Agricultural Ledger 1911-12— No. 5).
689 — -Dicoma tomentosa, Cass., h.f.b.i., iii. 387.
Vern.: — Navananji-châ-pâlá (Bel gaum).
Habitat: — North-West India ; Dhoulpoor ; Scind ; Western Peninsula ; from the Concan southwards, in gravelly places.
An erect annual, 10-18in. high, much branched, clothed with white cottony wool ; branches terete. Leaves sessile, linear or linear ovate, obtuse or acute, quite entire, l-3in., glabrate or cottony above, nerves obscure. Heads many, subaxillary, glabrous. Spines of involucre-bracts yellowish, shining. Bracts ½-⅔in. subulate, straight, glabrous. Corolla ¼in., outer pappus elastic, shining, bristles slender, inner ¼in. long, narrowly subulate, lanceolate, pale-brown, strongly ribbed, membranous and hyaline, margins undulate. Achenes broad and short, ⅛in. long, turbinate, densely silky.
Use :— The herb is strongly bitter, and is used in the neighbourhood of Belgaum as a febrifuge, especially in the febrile attacks to which women are subject after childbirth (Peters).
690 — Cichorium Intybus, Linn., h.f.b.i., iii. 391.
Vern.: — Kâsni (H.) ; Kashini-virai (Tam.) ; Kásini-vittulu (Tel.) ; Hand, gul, suchal, kásni (Pb.) ; Kásani (Guz.).
Habitat : — North-West India; Kumaun.
Perennial herbs. Root fleshy, tapering. Stems and leaf nerves beneath hispid. Stem l-3ft, angled and grooved. Branches rigid, spreading. Leaves runcinate, oblong-lanceolate, upper cordate, amplexicaul. Heads 1-1½in. diam. solitary and terminal and axillary, clustered. Peduncle thickened in the middle. ​ Involucre-bracts herbaceous, glandular, hispid, much shorter than the Corolla ligules bright blue, rarely white or pink, truncate, 5- toothed. Achenes angled, pale, molted ; pappus pale, obtuse, very short.
Parts used : — The root, seed and flower.
Uses:— Has tonic, demulcent and cooling properties. The seeds are considered carminative and cordial. A decoction of the seeds is used in obstructed menstruation (S. Arjun).
The root is bitter, and used medicinally in the Punjab. An infusion of the chicory mixed with syrup causes a thickening of the liquid (Balfour).
Flower, made into Sherbet, is given in liver disorders.
A strong infusion of powdered seeds proves highly useful in checking bilious vomiting (Surg. Levinge, in Watt's Dictionary).
Its roots are used as a substitute for coffee. Drs. Letheby and Hassall say : —
" No one who is acquainted with the respective properties of chicory and coffee can for a moment entertain the opinion that the former can be effectively substitute'd for the latter. * * * * Now, it is a well ascertained fact, that of all parts of vegetables the fruits and seeds usually possess the most active properties. This is no doubt due to the circumstance of their being freely exposed to the influence of light and air, agencies which promote chemical changes in plants, and so effect the elaboration of those complex organic substances on which the activity of vegetables depends. On the other hand, it must be manifest that, as the roots are removed from the influence of these powerful agencies, they cannot be so richly endowed with active properties ; and, indeed, there are but few roots which contain either alkaloids or volatile oils— the two clsses of constituents which give to coffee its peculiar virtues."
Chicory is prepared from the older roots which are first cleansed by washing, then cut into slices and dried in a kiln , afterwards they are roasted and powdered.
The medicinal properties of chicory closely resemble those of Taraxacum, regarding which Dr. Pereira writes : —
" Its obvious effects are those of a stomachic and tonic. In large doses, it acts as a mild aperient. Its diuretic action is less obvious and constant. In various chronic diseases its continued use is attended with alterative and resolvent effects ; but where the digestive organs are weak and readily disordered, taraxacum is very apt to occasion dyspepsia, flatulence, pain, and diarrhœa." ​ Drs. Letheby and Hassall undertook to ascertain the effects of roasted chicory on the human system. Three persons partook of a chicory breakfast ; the infusion was dark colored, thick, destitute of the agreeable and refreshing aroma so characteristic of coffee, and was of a bitter taste. Each individual experienced for sometime after drinking the fusion, a sensation of heaviness, drowsiness, a feeling of weight at the stomach, and great indisposition to exertion ; in two headache set in, and in the third diarrhoea came on. Hence the wholesome properties of chicory as an article of diet are questionable. There is hardly any advantage of the admixture of chicory with coffee. Chicory, from its narcotic character, exerts an injurious effect on the nervous system ; according to some oculists, chicory-coffee is considered as among the causes of amaurotic blindness.
691—C. Endivia, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii. 391.
Vern. : — Kásni (H. and Pers.) ; Káshini-virai (Tam.); Koshee (Tel.) ; Saz-e-hand ( Cashmere).
English : — The garden endive.
Habitat : — Northern India.
It resembles the preceding species, but is more glabrous.
Uses : — It is much valued by the Hakims as a resolvent and cooling medicine, and is prescribed in bilious complaints much as Taraxacum is with us (Dymock).
The root is used in dyspepsia and fever as a tonic and demulcent ; fruit, a cooling remedy for fever, headache and jaundice. (T. X. Mukerji.)
The root is considered warm, stimulating and febrifuge ; given in "Munjus," the diluent taken preparatory to purging; the seed is used in sherbets (Irvine).
692 — Taraxacum officinale, Wigg., h.f.b.i., iii. 401.
Vern. :— Dúdal ; Baran ; Kanphúl ; Dudlî ; Shamooke (Pb.); Buthur (Sind.) ; Pathree (Dec).
Habitat: — Throughout the Himalaya and Western Tibet, and the Mishmi Mountains.
A scapigorous, milky herb, perennial. Root vertical. Leaves all radical, glabrous, or crown and scape woolly ; leaves, sessile, oblanceolate or linear, entire, toothed, pinnatifld or runcinate ; ​ lobes acute, more or less denticulate. Heads solitary. Involucre campanulate. Inner Involucre-bracts erect, often thickened or clawed at the tip ; outer ovate or linear, appressed, more or less recurved. Achenes narrowly obovoid, ribbed. Ribs muricate or echinate, above the middle, contracted into a very slender beak, equalling or exceeding the body. According to Hooker, it is one of the most variable of the order.
Uses : — The root is officinal, being alterative, tonic and cholagogue. It is useful in dyspepsia, chronic hepatic affections, especially in torpor and congestion of the liver, and in jaundice and chronic cutaneous diseases (Pharm. Ind.) It is tonic, aperient and diuretic, and is said to have an almost specific action on the liver, by modifying and increasing its secretion. The dried root, when powdered, is frequently used, mixed with coffee. When roasted and powdered, it has been used as a substitute for coffee (Bentley and Trimen).
A decoction of the roots and leaves is employed in chronic disorders of the liver.
"In Holland, the extract of Dandelion is a common remedy for the intermittent fevers and agues, so prevalent in that marshy country. The roots are taken up about Midsummer, and those only of some year's growth are esteemed valuable, as the active principle they contain increases with age ; this principle is called Taraxacin. In Germany, the roots are cut into pieces, roasted, and used as a substitute for coffee. In this country, Dandelion coffee is sometimes used for medicinal purposes, * *
" Dr. Withering tells us that the diuretic properties of this plant are very certain, and well known to all country people. When a swarm of locusts had destroyed the harvest in the island of Minorca, many of the inhabitants subsisted on this plant. The expressed juice has been given to the quantity of four ounces, three or four times a day ; and Boer have had a great opinion of its utility in visceral obstructions. The roots contain gum and sugar, and a large quantity of inulin, a substance analogous to starch. A kind of beer is obtained by the fermentation of the plant in Canada."— Sowerby's English Botany, Vol. V. p. 145.
693. — Lactuca Heyneana, DC, h.f.b.i., iii. 403.
Syn. — Prenauthes racemosa, Roxb. 594.
The common garden Lettuce, cultivated throughout India.
Vern. : — Undirá-chá-kán (Mar). ​ Habitat. — North- Western India ; Band a ; Western Peninsula ; common in fields.
Annual or biennial herbs, l-4ft. high, with radical leaves, tall, glabrous. Stem hollow below, often very stout and much branched. Radical leaves 6-12in., very irregularly pinnatifid, teeth cartilaginous ; these leaves are narrowed at the base. The upper leaves are runcinate pinnatifid, finely spinulose or ciliate-toothed, membranous. The cauline leaves few, narrower, ½-amplexicaul, auricled. Flowering stems slender, branches erect. Heads ½in. long, solitary or fascicled ; fascicles distant, spiked or subracemose ; rarely peduncled, bracteate. Inner involucre-bracts, with thickened ribs in fruit. Achenes 1/10in., oblanceolate, then suddenly contracted, shortly beaked, muricate, black, half the length of the flexuous silver persistent pappus.
Use. — It is used as a substitute for Taraxacum, and is called by the Portugese Taraxaco (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II., p. 319).
694 — L. remotiflora, DC. h.f.b.l, iii. 403.
Vern. :— Undira-cha-kan (Mar.).
Habitat : — Banda and Sind.
A smaller and more delicate plant than the preceding, with smaller obovate and nearly entire rarely pinnatifid radical leaves. Flowering stems less branched. Heads usually solitary on the naked branches, distinctly peduncled. Achenes J1/6-in., nearly as long as the soft silvery persistent pappus.
Use : — The whole plant is used as a substitute for Taraxacum at Goa, and is called by the Portuguese, Taraxaco ( Dymock).
695 — L. Scariola, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii. 404.
Syn. : — L. Sativa. Roxb. 593.
Eng. : — The garden lettuce, cultivated throughout India.
Vern. :— Kâhoo, Salád, Khas (H.); Sálád, Káhu (B.) ;
Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Murree to Kunawar., ​ An annual or biennial, glabrous or nearly so, tall, erect, very leafy. Stems erect, 2-5ft., branched, usually prickly towards the base. Leaves sessile, 5-7in., pinnatifid, segments toothed, pointing downwards ; lower surfaces usually prickly on the midrib and nerves ; stem-leaves lobed at the base. Heads ½in. long, erect ; flowers yellow. Achenes brown ; beak very slender, about as long as the body (Collett).
" Inflorescence," says J. D. Hooker, "variable, sometimes 12in. diam. ; with incurved, ascending corymbose branches, at others laxly paniculate. Branches and peduncles. White, with many appressed, green, cordate bracts. Involucre-bracts ovate, inner linear ; ligules yellow or dull-reddish outside. Achenes ¼in., including the very slender beak, ribbed, pale ; pappus 1/5in.
Use : — In the wild state the seeds produce to a certain extent narcotic and sedative effects, but these appear to be almost entirely removed by cultivation (Dymock).
From the sap may be prepared a resinous dry juice, known commercially as Lactucarium. The common Lettuce yields only about 18 grains for each plant, but the scented and wild English Lettuce, Lactuca virosa, Linn., yields 56 grains. This juice is prepared just as the plant begins to flower. Dr. Duncan, nearly a century ago, showed that the juice might be used as a substitute for opium, having most of the properties of that drug without its binding effects. Smith, in his Dictionary of Economic Plants, mentions an instance, in July 1879, where a man died from the effects of the narcotic, through eating lettuce. Thus, it would seem that the strength of the narcotic varies considerably, and that the drug is not certain. Its action is not so reliable as opium, but it may be used as a mild hypnotic. Dose 2 to 10 grains of the dry juice. The officinal preparation is the Extract prepared from the fresh plant ; a mild sedative, anodyne, purgative, diuretic, diaphoretic, and antispasmodic, said to be useful in the treatment of the coughs in phhisis, bronchitis, asthma and pertussis. It has also been recommended for rheumatism and insanity with doubtful results. In native medical practice, a decoction of the seeds is used as a demulcent. Dose 3ii to 3ss. (Watt). ​ The seeds are given boiled or made into a confection, in cases of bronchitis, especially chronic ones. (Calthrop in Watt's Dictionary).
Lettuce poultice acts as a soothing application to painful and irritable ulcers (Shircore, in Watt's Dictionary).
The juice from the incised flower-stalk of Lactuca virosa and other species, collected and dried, is known as Lactucarium. Syrup and tincture of this are used as a sedaftiva in irritable cough.
696 — Sonchus oleraceus, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii. 414, Roxb. 593.
Vern. :— Titaliya (Patna) ; Dodak fPb.) ; Ratrinta (Tel.); Mhátára (Bomb.)
Habitat : — Throughout India, in fields and cultivated places (J. D. H). Common in Simla fields (Collett). Trimen observes that the plant is found as a weed in cultivated ground in Ceylon.
Annual erect, milky glabrous or sparsely glandular hispid herbs, subumbellately branched above. Stems 2-3ft. Leaves thin, lanceolate entire or pinnatifid, 3-6in., ½-amplexicaul, with acute auricles, terminal lobes large, leteral lobes pointing downwards ; sometimes only one pair ; teeth small ; basal lobes acute entire or pinnatifid. Heads ¾-1in. diam., arranged in umbellate cymes. Achenes compressed ; faces 3-ribbed and muricate between the ribs.
Uses : — According to Dr. Landry, the brownish gum formed by evaporation of the common sow thistle, when taken internally in a close of 2-4 grains, behaves as an " intensely powerful hydragogue cathartic" and acts powerfully upon the liver, duodenum and colon. In its general effects, it is said to most resemble elaterium, producing large and watery discharges, so that it has proved a valuable therapeutic agent in ascites and hydrothorax. It requires, however, great care in its administration, since it has the disadvantage of griping like senna, and producing tenesmus like aloes. To counteract this, and to " correct its fierce attacks on the mucous membrane of the intestinal tract," Dr. Landry recommends that the gum should be administered ​ in combination with manna, aniseed and carbonate of magnesia, or with stimulants and aromatics, (Ph. J. for Sept. 1., 1888, p. 162).
The root and leaves are used by the natives of Bengal in infusion, as a tonic and febrifuge, (Irvine.)
" Its hollow thick stems are full of a milky juice, which renders it a very acceptable food to most animals— pigs, sheep, and rabbits are particularly fond of it. It has also been used as an article of diet by men from a very early date. It is recorded by Pliny that Hecate regaled Theseus, before his encounter with the bull of Marathon, upon a dish of Sow-thistles. The ancients considered them very wholesome and strengthening, and administered the juice medicinally for many disorders, **. In Germany, the leaves are put into salads, ** " [Sowerby's English Botany, Vol. V., p. 153].
697. S. arvensis, Linn., h.f.b.l, iii. 414.
Syn. : — S. orixensis, Roxb. 593.
Vern. : — Sahadevi bari (H.) ; Bhangra, kala bhangra (Pb.) ; Ban-pálang (B.) ; Nallá-tapata (Tel.) ; Birbarangou (Santal).
Habitat : — Throughout India ; wild in cultivated places, scarce in the plains, common in the Khasia and Himalaya.
Annual milky herb, glabrous towards the base, glandular hairy upwards. Root-stock creeping. Stem 3-4ft., glabrous, tall, hollow, angular, umbellately branched above. Leaves nearly radical pinnatifid, 4-6in., lobes pointing downward, teeth small, basal lobes rounded, appressed to the stem. " Leaves," says J. D. Hooker, " runcinate pinnatifid, spinous toothed, cauline ½-amplexicaul, with appressed rounded auricles, uppermost linear. Heads l-2in. diam (Simla) *. " Heads and peduncles, " says J. D. Hooker, " glandular hispid." Achenes narrow, subcompressed, with thick regular ribs on each face.
Use : — Cattle are fond of every part of the plant. On being wounded, there is much milky juice discharged, which thickens into a substance like fresh soft opium (Roxburgh).
Similar to Lactuca scariola, Linn., in medicinal properties (Watt).
Among the Santals the root is given in jaundice, (Revd. A. Campbell). ​
698. Launea asplenifolia, DC. h.f.b.l, iii. 415 ; Roxb. 594.
Vern. : — Tik-chanâ (B.) ; Birrualla (Santali).
Habitat : — Plains of India, from the Punjab to Assam, and southwards to the Sunderbuns, Circars, Andamans, &c.
Biennial or perennial, glabrous herb, with juice yellow, Leaves 3-6in., sessile or shortly petioled, narrowly obovate, lobes minutely toothed. Radical leaves sinuate-lobed or pinnatifid, cauline few. Flowering stems many from the root, ascending almost naked, 6-18in., long ; branches dichotomous, divaricating. Heads ½in. terminal paniculate, peduncles bracteate. Bracts one or two, subulate. Involucre-bracts quite glabrous, small ; inner linear, margins membranous. Achenes not winged, minute 1/12in., pale, very narrow. Pappus white soft, ⅓-in., diciduous, hairs about equal length, with no stronger inner ones (J. D. Hooker).
Use :— The root of this plant, along with that of uttri dudhi, pounded and boiled in mustard oil, is given as a lactagogue by the Santals (Revd. A. Campbell).
699. L. nudicaulis, Lees, h.f.b.l, iii. 416 ; Roxb. 593,
Vern. : — Batthal, dûdhlak, tariza, spûdukei (Pb.).
Habitat :-— Throughout the plains of India.
A glabrous, perennial herb, with yellow juice. Stems tufted, usually decumbent, numerously branching, 6-24in. Roots with yellow juice ; the stems are naked, or with a few small leaves below the flower-clusters. Leaves 2-10 by l-3in., usually sessile, sinuate lobed, pinnatifid or runcinate (J. D. Hooker); lobes irregularly lobulate and sharply toothed, teeth often white and cartilaginous. Flowering stems usually very numerous, 6-24in. long, spreading on all sides, stout or slender, simple or branched. Heads ½-⅔in. long, clusters of 2-5 or about 10, rarely solitary, forming much interrupted racemes, or crowded together at the end of branches. Involucre-bracts overtopping the pappus. Achenes much shorter than the pappus (Collett), 1/12in., very ​ pale, polymorphous, inner sometimes as if compressed, of 4 thick ribs, outer slightly curved and flattened, with a thick ventral and several thick dorsal ribs, all smooth and obscurely uneven. Pappus ⅓-½in., very diciduous, hairs very straight, soft and of nearly equal length.
Use:— In the Southern Punjab, the plant is used medicinally in sharbat (Stewart).
700, L. pinnatifida Cass, h.f.b.i., iii. 416.
Vern. : — Pâthri (Bomb.); Ban-kahu (Sind.) ; Almirao (Goa).
The juice known as khee khowa (Sind).
Habitat : — Sandy coasts of India, from Bengal to Ceylon, Madras and Malabar.
Perennial glabrous herb, juice yellow. Leaves runcinate pinnitifid or sinuate, toothed or lobed, l-3in., rarely more, teeth rarely white and cartilaginous. Flowering stems procumbent, long, flagelliform, rooting and leafing at the nodes, l-3ft. long, arching from node to node. Heads at the nodes solitary or clustered, ½in. long, usually with bracteate peduncles. Involucre-bracts almost 3-seriate, with white membranous margins, outer short, immediate longer, inner linear ; midrib at the base hardening in fruit. Achenes columnar, very thickly ribbed, much shorter than the soft white straight deciduous pappus, 1/12in. pale, set with a few very thick rounded ribs, usually obtusely 4-gonous, pappus ¼in.
Uses : — Used at Goa as a substitute for Taraxacum. In Bombay, it is given to buffaloes to promote the secretion of milk (Dymock).
The juice is used as a soporific for children, in doses of half a massa, and is externally applied in rheumatic affections, combined with the oil of Pongamia glabra or the juice of the leaves of Vitex leucoxylon. (Murray.)
N. 0. GOODENOVIAÆ.
701. Scœvola Kœnigic, Vahl h.f.b.i., iii. 421 Roxb. 177 (under S. Taccada).
Vern. : — Bhadrák (Bomb.).
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