Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/437

Rh serrate ; lateral nerves 15-22 pair, arcuate ; base acute. Petiolules 1/5-1 in., long. Bud scales about 1½ in. long, membranous, caducous. Flowers white, horizontal, in large thyrsoid, cyme-bearing, terminal panicles. Calyx 1/5-⅓ in. long, tubular, with 5 short, rounded lobes, often split longitudinally in open flowers. Petals 4, the place of the 5 usually vacant, white and yellow, 3/5-4/5 in. long, clawed, unequal in breadth. Stamens 7 filiform, curved upward, longer than the petals ; anthers variable. Disk one-sided. Ovary sessile, 3-celled ; style simple, sessile, slender, Fruit a 1-3-celled. Capsule, 1½ in. long, ovoid, rough outside. Seeds ex-albuminous, about 1¼ in. diam. dark brown, smooth, shining. Hilum about ½ in. diam.

Use : — The fruit is used for horses in colic. It is also applied externally in rheumatism ; for this purpose the oil is generally extracted from the seeds (WATT).

Vern. — Kosum, kusum, gausam, (Hind.) ; Puvatti, (Kaders.) ; Baru, (Santali ; Kol.) ; Kosum, kohan, kosimb, peduman, (Mar); Kosum, kocham, kosumb, gosam, assumar, (Guj.); Komur, pusku, (Gond.) ; Rusam, (Uriya) ; Kussam, kojba, (C. P.) ; Samma, jamoa, gausam, kussumb, (Pb.) ; Pava, pu, pulachi, zolim buriki, pumarum, pularari, puva, (Tam.) ; Pusku, posuku, pusi, may, mayi, rotanga, roatanga, (Tel.) ; Sagdi,' sagade, akota, chakota, (Kan.) ; Chendala, (Coorg) ; Puva, (Mal); Gyo, kyetmouk, kobin, (Burm.) Kon, kong, conghas, (Sing.)

Kusum is the Hindustani name for the Safflower plant, and perhaps refers to the colouring matter of the lac-insect which often feeds upon the tree. The seeds are called paka or pacca in Calcutta.

Habitat. — " Dry, chiefly deciduous forests in the greater part India, Burma, and Ceylon, but apparently absent from Bengal and Assam. It is found from the Sutlej to Nepal in the lower Himalaya, Sub-Himalayan tract and Siwalicks up to 3,000 feet, throughout Central India, the East and West coast regions, the Deccan and Carnatic, in all deciduous forests throughout Burma