Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/429

Rh The whole plant covered with decidous down, except on the under-surface of the leaves where it is persistent. Stems flattened, slender for climbing. Leaves membranous, 4-6 in. petiole 1-2 in. ; terminal leaflet elliptic, lateral semi-elliptic, shortly stalked, serrate, at length glabrous above, felted beneath. Flowers dark brown or red, in small compact umbellate cymes, on long woolly peduncles, which bear a forked tendril about an inch from the top. Style very short. Fruit globose, of the size of a cnrrant, black, 3-4-seeded. Seeds ⅓ by 1/6 in., elliptic, with a round depression on the back, puckered round the margins.

Use:— -The vine is often given to horses when it first springs up ; it is said to be very beneficial once a year. The tuberous, starchy, astringent roots, sliced and dried, are sold by the Goncan herbalists, under the name of Chamar-musli (DYMOCK).

Sans. : — Godhâpadi (foot of the Iguana, from the shape of the leaf).

Vern. :— Goali-latâ (B.); Tungrûtrikup (Lepcha.); Edakula, mandula, kaunem, pulimâdâ, kâniâpatige, kâdepatige (Tel.) ; Ghorpad-vel (Mar.) ; Mediya-wel (Sinhalese).

Habitat : — Bengal, Sylhet, Assam, Khasia Hills and the Western Peninsula, from the Concan to Ceylon.

A large climber. Stems weak, cylindric, striate, usually covered with short pubescence, mixed with longer, brown, spreading hairs; tendrils long, forked, very slender, young parts tomentose. Leaves large, 3-foliate (Trimen), usually 7-foliate (M.A. Lawson) ; the lateral leaflets usually pedately-compound. Petiole 2-3in,, pubescent and hairy, like the stem, central leaflet long-stalked, lateral leaflets shortly stalked, rarely simple, usually divided into 2-3 or 4 leaflets which are unequal, nearly sessile or shortly stalked, all leaflets acute and often oblique at base, shortly acuminate, acute, coarsely and shallowly