Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/663

Rh occasionally in place of the earlier is found a female. Calyx- tube lin. Fruit l-3in. ovoid conical. Seeds ⅜-½in., corrugate, half-ellipsoid, compressed, in red pulp. (C. B. Clarke).

Uses : — Mahomedan writers describe the plant as cardiacal, tonic, alterative and antifebrile, and say that it is an useful medicine for boils and intestinal worms. The author of the Makhzan remarks that the Hindoos in obstinate cases of fever, infuse 180 grains of the plant with an equal quantity of the coriander, for a night, and in the morning add honey to it and strain the liquor. This quantity makes 2 doses, one of which is taken in the morning and one at night. In Bombay, the plant has a reputation as a febrifuge ; it is given in decoction with ginger, chiretta and honey. In the Concan, the leaf juice is rubbed over the liver or even the whole body in remittent fevers (Dymock).

The seeds are reputed good in disorder of the stomach on the Malabar Coast. The unripe fruit is very bitter ; the tender shoots and dried capsules are bitter and aperient ; they are given in infusion. In decoction with sugar, they are given to assist digestion. The seeds are antifebrile and anthelmintic. The juice of the leaves expressed is emetic and that of the root, drunk in the quantity of 2oz. for a dose, is very purgative. The stalk in decoction is expectorant (Drury).

Sans. : — Chichinda.

Vern. : — Cháchendá (H.) ; Chichingá (B.) ; Parula, Padavala (Bomb.) ; Linga potla, Potla, Potla káya (Tel.); Padavala káyí (Kan.); Gâlartori ; Pandol ; Chichinda (Pb.).

Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India.

An annual climber, much cultivated for its fruit, which is used as a wholesome vegetable. Leaves cordate-sub-reniform, more or less 5-(3-7-)lobed, 5-angular lobes, not acuminate, pubescent or puberulous on both surfaces. Tendrils 3-fid. Male flowers in a large peduncled raceme, with a small entire bract at the base of pedicel ; female solitary, on a short peduncle, from the same axils with the male. Fruit elongate cylindric,