Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/192

112 peduncle longer than leaf, slightly hairy; bracts setaceous. Sepals lanceolate, very acute. Petals oblong spreading; spur not inflated (Trimen); saccate, say Hooker f, and Th. Stigma oblique. Capsule ¼ in. long, globose or subglobose, pubescent, valve dehiscing irregularly. Seeds few. Use: — This species also yields Banafsha of the Bazaars, and is considered to have medicinal properties similar to those of V. odorata. In the Punjab, a medicinal oil is prepared from it, called raughan-i-banafsha.

Vern. : — Banafsha(H.; Dec; Bom.; Guz.); Banosa (Beng.); Vayilethe (Tam.)

Habitat : — Kashmir. A glabrate or pubescent herb. Root-stock stout. Stem very short or 0. Stolons slender. Leaves tufted, in the Kashmir plant, ½-l in. diam., broadly ovate-cordate, obtuse, crenate, tip rounded, nearly glabrous. Stipules entire or toothed, subulate, lanceolate. Sepals rounded at tip, very obtuse, spur nearly straight, short, cylindric, style inflated above; stigma decurved. Parts used: — The flowers used dry. Uses : — By the Mahomedan hakims, it is generally considered cold and moist, and is especially valued as a diuretic and expectorant, and as a purgative in bilious affections. O'Shaughnessy experimented with the dry plant as a substitute for Ipecacuanha, but without success.

Moodeen Sheriff considers it antipyretic and diaphoretic, and very useful in relieving febrile symptoms and excitement in all forms of fever, particularly in combination with other drugs of the same class. A certain amount of interest is attached to the leaves of the violet on account of an apparent improvement following the employment of the fresh infusion of the leaves in a case (L. '05, i. 713) in which it was alleged that a patient might have been suffering from malignant disease. A handful of the leaves was