Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/195

Rh A small herb. Stem short, glabrous 1-6 in., slightly powdery; diffuse-branched. Leaves elliptic-ovate or lanceolate, acute, obscurely crenate, ¼-½ in., apiculate; petioles as long; spitules leafy fimbriate, Peduncles slender, bracts subulate. Flowers small, axillary, ¼ in. diam. Sepals lanceolate, aristate. Spur very short, secreting honey within it. Style clavate, compressed; stigma lateral of two oblong parallel discs. Fruit 1/5-¼ in., elliptic, acute.

Use : — This plant is used medicinally in Sind, in the same way as V. odorata.

Syn. : — Viola suffruticosa and V. enneasperma, Roxb. 218.

Sans. :-~ Charati (Ainslie).

Vern. :— Ratanpuras (H. and Bomb.); Noonbora (B.); Suryakaiti; nilakobari; Pooroosharatanum (Tel.); Orilaihamaray, (Tam.); Oorelatamara (Malayal.); Tandi, Sol; bir Surajmukhi (Santal.).

Habitat : — From Bundelkhund and Agra to Bengal and Ceylon. A glabrous or pubescent, very variable perennial herb, 6-12 in., branches diffuse, woody. Leaves linear or lanceolate, serrate-toothed, sub-sessile, ½-2 by 1/12-⅓ in., lower leaves broader. Stipules subulate, gland-tipped. Flowers solitary axillary, red. Pedicels shorter than the leaves. Sepals 5, subequal, not produced at the base. Petals variable, 4, oblong, acute or mucronate, the 5th with a claw and large oval or orbicular limb. Filaments distinct, bearing the anthers low down. Anthers free, 2 or 4 of them gibbous or spurred at the back, the two interior ones usually having a nectarial gland at the base. Ovary ovoid. Style clavate, incurved. Stigma oblique. Capsule 3-valved, sub-globose, few-seeded, valves, not elastic. Seeds globose, striate, testa crustaceous. Parts used : — The leaves, stalks and root.