Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/143

 glaucous beneath, finely serrate, with equal spinulose teeth, crowded on arrested branchlets in the axils of the 3-fid, rarely 5-fid, or rarely simple spines. Petiole slender, 1/10-l in. long, Racemes pedunculate. Flowers pale-yellow, stigmas broad, sessile. Berry ovoid, or cylindric, as long as, or shorter than the pedicel, usually red when ripe; edible.

Hooker and Thomson observe that this is an extremely variable plant. Ho less than five varieties are known.

Use:—In the Punjab, the drug is used as diuretic, and for relief of heat, thirst and nausea. It is astringent, refrigerant and antibilious. In small doses it is tonic, in larger cathartic. In the form of decoction, it is useful in scarlet fever and brain affections. (Watt).

50. B. aristata, D.C. 110.

Sansk.:—Darvi, Daru haridra, Pitadaru (yellow wood, Kata (The hip), Kateri (Having the bile), of bile, Suvarnavarna (Gold-coloured Katankati (Growing on the hips).

Vern.:—Chitra; Chotra (Kumaon); dar-hald ; rasvat; Kashmal (H.); Sumlu; Simlu; Kasmal; Chitra (Pb.); Chitra (Nepal); Tsema (Bhutia). 'Rasout' in India is the root-extract—Trimen.

Habitat:—Temperate Himalaya, from Bhotan to Kunawer, Nilghiri Mts, Ceylon, Jaunsar and Tehri-Garhwal, Simla. 6,000-9,000 ft.

Parts used:—The stem, root-bark, and fruit.

An erect spinous shrub, evergreen, 10-12 ft. high. Bark soft, light-brown, corky. Annual rings distinctly marked by a narrow belt of numerous pores. Pores small, in short, narrow wavy tails of light-coloured tissue. Branches shining, reddish-brown, slightly drooping. Leaves sessile, broadly lanceolate, more or less persistent, 2-3 in. long, obovate or oblanceolate, rather coriaceous, entire or with a few remote teeth, in the axil of 5-fid, trifid or a simple spine. The spine is here but a reduced leaf. Flowers bright, golden-yellow, in cymosely-branched racemes, drooping, much longer than the leaves. Peduncle 1-1½ in., long, red. Style short, but distinct. Stigma small, sub-globose.