Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/313

Rh Habitat :— North -West India. Peshawar.

A small, green, spiny, undershrub, with procumbent branches. Internodes short, Lower leaves 3-foIiate, the rest 1-foliate ; young branches sub-tetagonous, sides grooved, spines (modified stipules) exceeding the ovate, rather fleshy leaflets ; young leaflets rather minute. Peduncles solitary from between the spiny stipules. Fruit, a capsule, bearing on its top the remnant of the tapering subulate style.

Part used : — The whole plant,

Use : — The plant is given as a tonic and febrifuge, and in the Peshawar Valley it is given to children as a prophylactic against small-pox (Bellew).

It is useful as an application to tumors, also in chronic fever, dropsy, and delirium, and in any disorder which arises from poisoning. (Punjab Products).

 

Vern :-- Liljahri, N. W. P. Kao-ashud (Kashmir) Roots.— Mam-i-ran (Pushtu).

Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Nepal to Murree.

A perennial hairy herb. Root-stock thick. Stems robust, l-4ft., erect. Leaves orbicular, 2-5in. across, palmate! y-3-5- lobed ; segments wedge-shaped, pointed, acutely and irregularly toothed ; stipules oblong-ovate, ½-1in. Flowers blue- purple, 1½-2in. diam. Sepals abruptly long-pointed. Petals slightly notched, claw hairy (Collett); filaments suddenly dilated at base. Carpels pilose ; seeds smooth.

The very large solitary stipules best distinguish this species (Edgeworth and Hook. Fil).

Use : — Aitchison says the root of this plant was brought to him in Kuram as a valuable medicine known as Mum-i-ran (Kuram Valley Flora, J. L. S. xviii-p-26. ). 