Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/433

Rh and Chittagong. Pegu and Andaman Islands. Forests near Karwar.

A shrubby evergreen, with coarse, scabrous branches and petioles. Leaves hairy ; leaflets 4.-12 by 2-4 in., lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, harsh and scabrous above, hairy beneath, veins arched. Cymes very short and compact, 2-5 in., densely hirsute. Bracts inconspicuous. Flowers large, anthers connate. Fruit the size of a pea, black when ripe.

Use : — It is used medicinally. The tubers and stems are probably astringent and mucilaginous.

 

Eng, :-— Balloon-Vine, Heart Pea or Winter Cherry.

Sans. : — Jyotishmati, Kâravî.

Vern. :— Latâphatkarî, nayâphatki, noaphutki, sibjhûl (B.) ; Hab-ul-kal-kal (seed) (Pb.) ; Karolio (Guz.) ; Kânphutî, bodhâ, khibjal, Naphat (Bom.); Mûda-cottan (Tam.); Walla gûlisienda, kanakaia, bûdha-kakara (Tel.); Penel-wel (Sinhalese) ; Kâgdolio (Porebunder).

Habitat : — Throughout India, chiefly in Bengal and the North- Western Provinces, Ceylon, Malacca.

A sub-scandent annual. Stem slender, strongly furrowed, slightly branched, glabrous, young parts puberulous. Leaves biternate. Petiole long, 2-3 in., spreading or deflexed, furrowed. Leaflets sessile or shortly stalked, ovate, tapering at base, acute, deeply incised-serrate, glabous, thin, flaccid. Flowers very small, 1/6 in., on slender pedicels 3-7 in., a very small cyme, terminating to stiff, slender, horizontal, axillary peduncle 4 in., long, and provided beneath the cyme with 2 opposite reflexed, circinate or hooked tendrils. Sepals rounded, the outer pair very small. Petals rounded, scarcely clawed ; scales of upper ones emarginate. Style very short. Capsule on a short, slender stalk, bladder-like, ½-¾ in. wide, depressed-pyriform, trigonous, 