Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/117

Rh Vern.:—Ud-sálap (H.); Bhuma-madiya, yet ghás (Bhut.); Mamekh (Pb.); Chandra, (the plant); Sujumiya (the young edible shoot) N-W. P.

Habitat:—West Temperate Himalaya, from Kumaon to Hazara. 5,000 to 10,000. In the upper Tons valley.

A glabrous perennial herb. Stems 1-2 ft., leafy, erect. Leaves alternate, 6-12 in. long; leaflets 3, usually 3-parted, segments lanceolate, pointed, entire. Flowers few, showy 3-4 in. across, long-stalked, usually solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. Buds globose. Sepals 5, orbicular, concave, green, persistent the outer ones ending in a leaf-like point. Petals 5-10, broadly ovate, concave, red or white. Stamens many. Ovaries 1-3, densely hairy, many-ovuled, seated on a fleshy disk; style short, broad, recurved. Follicles ovoid, 1 in. Seeds few, large, (Collett).

Dr. Dymock observes:—"The tubers are of the female Pæony of Dioscorides. It seems therefore that the male plant is distinct, and is called P. Corallina; the female is called P. Officinalis. (Vide Pharmaco. Ind. Vol. I., P. 17). The flowers are often pinkish.