Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/341

Rh Habitat : — Dry hills in various parts of India, N.W. Himalaya ; in Simla and Kumaon ascending 4,000 ft. Monghyr hills in Behar ; Assam ; Western Peninsula, from the Bombay Ghats and Coromandel, southward. Yunan, J. Anderson.

A spinous, glabrous shrub or small tree, with rigid flexuous, woody branches, spines ½-1in. Leaves pinnate, 1-4in. long ; leaflets petiole and rachis jointed, the former narrowly, the latter broadly winged. Leaflets 2-4 pair, sessile, opposite, obtuse, crenulate, l-2in., trapezoid-ovate, obtuse and notched at the tip, base cuneate, margins crenulate, nerves slender, reticulate. Racemes subumbellate, lin. long, pubescent, often leafy ; pedicels slender. Flowers tetramerous, ^in. diam., white, fragrant. Sepals small. Petals elliptic or oblong. Disk annular or columnar. Ovary 4-celied, cells 1-ovuled. Ovule pendulous in each cell. Berry globose, ⅓in. diam., 1-4-seeded, very acid.

Parts used : — The leaves, root and fruit.

Uses : — The leaves are supposed to be a remedy for epilepsy ; the root is purgative, sudorific, and employed for the cure of colic and cardialgia. The dried fruit is tonic, diminishes intestinal fermentation, has the power of resisting the contagion of small-pox, malignant and pestilent fevers, and is also considered an excellent antidote to various poisons, on which account it is much sought for, and forms an article of commerce with Arab and other merchants." (RHEEDE).

Lisboa states that the berry is much used as a tonic in Malabar, and that its red-coloured mucilage is considered to be an antidote against snake-bite and the poisons of other venomous animals.

Sansk. ; — Lavanga-lata.

Habitat : — Eastern Bengal, Assam, the Khasia Mountains.

A strong, climbing, annual, glabrous shrub, with woody flexuous branches and strong axillary recurved spines. Leaves very variable, 3-foliate, thickly coriaceous ; petioles 2-5in., stout