Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/509

Rh Habitat : — From the Himalayas throughout India.

A slender under-shrub. Stem 2-3ft high, suberect, woody, slightly angular, clothed with short grey down upwards. Leaves imparipinnate ; petiole ¾-1 1/5in. Leaflets oblong, ovate to narrow- lanceolate, membranous, 3-6in. long, acuminate glabrous above, more or less pubescent beneath. Secondary nerves 8-10 pair. Racemes slender 6-12in. long, axillary, mostly terminal, pedicels ascending. Flowers white, 1/10in. long, jointed ; ½-⅔ by 1/16 in. Calyx under 1/12 in., finely downy, teeth lanceolate. Corolla ⅛-1/6in. Pod falcate, 6-8-jointed, ½-¾ by 1/10in., glabrescent or clothed with miuute hooked hairs.

Use : — By Hindu writers it is regarded as a febrifuge and anti-catarrhal. It forms an ingredient of the Dasamula Kwâtha or decoction of ten herbals ; this decoction is used in remittent fever, puerperal fever, inflammatory affections within the chest, affections of the brain, and many other diseases supposed to be caused by the derangement of all the humors (Dutt).

Syn. : — Hedysarum purpureum, Roxb., 578.

Vern. : — Bæphol (Santal.).

Habitat: — Himalayas, and everywhere in the plains.

An erect or sub-erect undershrub, with woody, slightly angular, slender branches, clothed upwards, with short adpressed grey hairs. Petiole ½-1in. Leaves imparipinnate. Leaflets sub-coriaceous, green, glabrous above, thinly clothed, with adpressed grey hairs beneath ; end one obovate-oblong, obtuse, l-3in. long; side ones smaller. Racemes terminal and lateral, close, short-peduncled, l-3in. long, the end one sometimes branched; bracts ⅛-1/6in. ; pedicels ⅛-1/6in. ; glabrous. Calyx 1in. ; teeth acuminate, exceeding tube. Corolla under ¼in. Pod ½-¾in long, ⅛ in broad, glabrescent or minutely downy, 5-8-jointed (J. G. BAKER).

Use : — The Santals use a preparation of this plant in fainting and convulsions (Revd. A. Campbell).

Syn. :— Hedysarum triflorum, Linn., Roxb. 577.