Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/551

Rh bracts thin, ovate acuminate, caducous, pedicels spreading, ½-¾in. Sepals obtuse, glabrous, ¼-⅓in. Petals fin., yellow, with reddish veins. Pod 4-5 by ⅓in., rather recurved, glabrous sub-compressed, distinctly torulose. Seeds 15-30.

Parts used : — The leaves, seeds and roots.

Uses : — Sanskrit authors regard it as possessing much the same medicinal properties as C. Sophera. Mahomedan writers describe it as alexipharmic useful in the expulsion of corrupt humors and to relieve cough (Dymock).

In the Concan, 2 to 6 gunjas of the seeds are pounded and heated with a tola of woman's or cow's milk, which is strained and given once a day as a cure for the convulsions of children, or 6 mâsha doses may be given to the mother or wet-nurse. In France and in the West Indies, the seeds are employed as a febrifuge. An infusion of the root is considered by the American Indians to be an antidote against various poisons (Dymock). The seeds and leaves are used externally in cutaneous diseases (T. N. Mukerji).

In the West Indies, the root is considered diuretic and the leaves taken internally and applied externally are given in cases of itch and other cutaneous diseases. The root is said by Martius to be beneficial in obstructions of the stomach and in incipient dropsy (Lindley). Among the country people of Porto Rico, a decoction of the leaves, roots and flowers is highly prized in hysteria. I have tried its effects in some cases and found it relieve the spasm. It is useful for expelling wind accumulated in the intestines of dyspeptic, nervous women. It is also used as a tonic and febrifuge (Dr. Amader in Ph. J., 28-4-88).

The whole plant is purgative. Dose of leaves about 90 grains.

Professor Clonet has analysed the seeds. The following abstract of his views and results taken from the Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1876, p. 179, will be found instructive : —

"Fatty matters (olein and margarin), 4.9; tannic acid, 0.9; sugar, 2.1 ; gum, 28.8 ; starch, 2.0 ; cellulose, 34.0 ; water, 7.0 ; calcium sulphate and phosphate, crysophanic acid, 0.9 ; malic acid, sodium chloride, magnesium sulphate, iron, silica, together, 5.4 ; and achrosine, 13.58 parts in 100. The latter substance