Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/687

Rh

Syn. : — Bryonia pilosa, Roxb. 703.

Vern. :— Appakovay kalung (the root) (Tam.) ; Cucumadunda (Tel.).

Habitat : — Guzerat ; Deccan Peninsula ; and Malabar hills.

A fœtid, scaberulous-pubescent, climbing herb ; tendrils simple, stem somewhat stout, pubescent. Leaves 2in. diam., orbicular or ovate, cordate, dentate ; petiole ½-1in. Male racemes small, scarcely lin. Calyx hairy, with subulate teeth. Connective of each anther produced into a long, curved pointed horn. Stigmas 2. Fruit ½in., globose, pubescent, beak nearly ½in., bright red, 2-celled. Seeds 4-6, lin., distinctly margined.

Use : — Ainslie says that the root is prescribed internally in electuary, in cases of piles, and in powder is sometimes ordered as a demulcent in humoral asthma.

Syn. : — Æchmandra epigæa, Arn. ; Bryonia glabra, Roxb. 702.

Vern. : — Akás-gaddah (H. and Dec.) ; Kadwi-nai (Bomb.) ; Gollan-kovaik, akásha-garudan (Tam.) ; Nága donda (Tel.) ; Kollan-kova-kizha-una (Mal.) ; Akásha-garuda-gadde (Kan.).

Habitat : — Punjab, Rawalpindi ; Scinde and Guzerat ; Deccan Peninsula and Belgaum.

A small, herbaceous, annual climber. Root very large, turnip-shaped, often irregular. Throws out foliage in the early part of the rains ; flowers between July and September. Seed mature in the cold weather. Stem roundish, rather succulent, prostrate, glabrous, glaucous (Trimen), seldom as thick as a quill, jointed, often bending at right angles at the joints, or " flexuose" as Wight calls it. Tendrils simple, in the older branches very much-branched, distinctly lateral. Leaves rather small, l-l½in. long, rotundate, very cordate sometimes at base. More or less 3-5 lobed. Lobes obtuse