Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/289

Rh obovate. Stamens 20, connate at the base, 15 fertile in groups of 5 each, alternating with 5 staminodes, which are nearly as long as the petals. Anthers 2-cellecl, extrorse ; style entire, twisted ; Stigmas 5. Capsule subglobose, bristly, half the length of the persistent Calyx, 5-valved, dividing longitudinally. Seeds 8-12, 2-serrate in each cell ; not winged. Cotyledons plaited, 2-partite.

Parts used : — The fruit and root.

Uses : — The fruit is officinal on account of its mucilaginous properties. The root is employed as a medicine by the Santals (Revd. A. Campbell).

Vern : — Bhâwât (Chutia Nagpur).

Habitat : — Behar ; Western Peninsula, chiefly on the west side, from Bombay southwards ; Chutia Nagpur ; Nilghiri Mts. Belgaum Ghâts (S. Mahratta country), Coimbatore.

A tree, herbaceous portions stellate hairy. Leaves roundish, toothed, apex acute, shortly acuminate, base cordate, 2½-3 in., each way, palmately-7-nerved, thinly stellately hairy or glabrascent above, whitish and softly pubescent beneath. Petioles 2in. Bracteoles a little distant from the flower, minute, caducous, entire or lobed. Cymes at end of branches ; peduncles longer than the leaves ; stellate-hairy. Pedicels shorter than the flower, jointed above the middle. Flower-buds ovate, oblong. Sepals fin. Petals equalling sepals ; claw broad, pubescent. Column as long as the petals. Stigma revolute, 5-10-lobed. Style hairy. Capsule l¼in., oblong, pointed, 5-10-valved ; valves not tubercled, usually villous at the angles. Seeds numerous. Flowers in July and August.

Use : -Poultice of root heals wounds (J. J. Wood's Plants of Chutia Nagpur, p. 85).