Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/188

108 ½-3/10 in.; petiole about 2/5 in. long, stout. Flowers large, 3 in, across, solitary or in terminal bracteate, short racemes; bracts linear, red-tomentose, pedicels 1½ in. long. Petals pale blue or white, the lower two each with a yellow spot at the base. Filaments as long as the petals. Gynophore 1-1½ in. long; ovary tomentose. Fruit ovoid, beaked, size of a large olive.

Uses: — The leaves are used for rheumatic pains in the joints, and its flowers as a laxative drink. (Voigt. 74.)

Sans. : — -Karira.

Vern. : — Karil, Karer Kurrel, lete, Karu (H.); Kari (Behar, Bom.); Kirra Kerin, Karil, Karia, Karis, teuti, delha pinju (Pb.), Kiral, Kirrur, dora Kiram, Kiram, Kirad (Sind.); Ker (Guz.); Kera, Karil (Mar.); Karyal (Deck).

Habitat:— In the arid desert tracts of the Punjab, Rajputana, Guzerat, the Deccan and S. Carnatic.

Shrubs dense, much-branched, glabrous, with thorns in pairs, straight; leaves (only on young shoots) glabrous, linear, pungent, buds pubescent. Branches slender, glabrous. Flowers 1 in. diam., red-brown, in many-flowered corymbs, on short shoots. Outer sepals subvalvate, ciliate, inner saccate. Stamens 18-20. Fruit ½,2/3 in., glabrous, long beaked.

Parts used : — The shoots, fruit and bark.

Uses : — The bark is described by the Hindoo writers as bitter and laxative, and is said to be useful in inflammatory swellings (U. C. Dutt.) The fruit is eaten pickled in Bombay by Hindus, Bhatias especially.

In the Punjab, the top shoots and young leaves are made into a powder and used as a blister (Stewart); it is also used in boils, eruptions and swellings, and as an antidote to poison; also in affections of the joints (B. Powell).

According to Surg.-Major Calthrop, the fruit when eaten causes obstinate constipation. It is used largely in the Harriana and Karnal Districts as an astringent.

The top shoots and young leaves are very efficacious in relieving toothache when chewed. (Murray, Plants and Drugs