Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/752

672 oil is of a light yellow colour and very viscid ; it deposits " stearin " on standing.

Physical and chemical characteristics.— Fat : Specific gravity at 100°, 0.9168 ; acid value, 58.2 ; saponification value, 202.88 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 7.88 ; iodine value, 71.0 ; unsaponifiable, 1-79 ; butyro-refractometer' at 25°, 75°. Fatty acids : per cent. 91.6 ; melting point, 35.6°; iodine value, 73.4; neutrali- sation value, 195.1 ; mean molecular weight, 287.4. (A. K. Menon.)

Sans. — Gojivhâ.

Vern.— Gobhi (H.) ; Kalia gangawan (Chanda, C.P.) ; Gojialatâ, Samdlullum (B.) ; Hastipata, Mháka, Pâthri (Bomb.); Anashovadi (Tam.); Tâl Mûli ; Mûrgi Chûndi (Jaspur).

Habitat. — Throughout India, from the Punjab.

A rigid, perennial herb, dichotomously branched, l-2ft.,high, strigose, scabrid and villous. Leaves alternate. Radical leaves ovate, oblong, crenate. Cauline leaves few, sessile. Head clusters of 1in, diam., surrounded by cordate, leafy bracts. Involucre-bracts pungent, dry, stiff, alternately flat and con-duplicate ; receptacle naked. Flowers violet or purple, all equally 4-lobed and cleft on one side and with lobes spreading somewhat palmately. Anthers bases obtuse. Style arms subulate. Achenes truncate, hairy, 10-ribbed, pappus of 4-5 rigid bristles, shining, slender, and dilated at the base, or chaff-like. The most noteworthy point with reference to this plant is that the embryo not unfrequently germinates in the head.

Uses. — A decoction of the root and leaves is given, on the Malabar Coast, in cases of dysuria (Rheede).

In Travancore, the natives are reported to boil the bruised leaves with rice, and give them internally for swellings or pains in the stomach (Watt).

In Chutia Nagpur, a preparation from the root is given for fever (Revd. A. Campbell).

{{c|{{larger|629. Ageratum conyzoides, Linn,}} {{sc| h.f.b.l, iii.}} 243 ]]

Syn. — A. cordifolium, Roxb. 597.

Vern. — Dochunti (B.) ; Osâdi, Sahadvi, Gomera (Bomb.)

Habitat. — Throughout India.