Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/763

Rh slender, ½in., inner involucre-bracts linear acute. Achenes 1/6in, glabrous, slender; pappus ⅓in., reddish.

Uses : — The root of this plant is used in veterinary medicine. The dry roots have a weak, aromatic odour, resembling orris and camphor ; their flavor is aromatic and slightly bitter, and their action a mild tonic (Watt).

In Kashmir, it is used to adulterate Saussurea Lappa.

Arabian writers recommend it as an expectorant, and as a resolvent in indurations (Honnigberger).

Useful in atonic dyspepsia (Meadows' Prescriber's Companion).

In America, the drug is still resorted to, in the treatment of amenorrhœa, while it is found to be sometimes beneficial in chronic diseases of the lungs, when complications of general debility or want of tone in the digestive organs exist.

They also possess diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant and emmenagogue properties (Watt).

Vern. : — Búi, gidi, sutei, phatmer (Pb.) ; Burhnâ (H.).

Habitat: — The Punjab and the Upper Gangetic Plain, and eastwards to Behar.

A stout perennial, 1-2ft high, very leafy ; shrubby below ; branches and leaves beneath densely cottony. Leaves ½-1½in. sessile, linear-oblong, or sub-spathulate, margins recurved, toothed, and crisped, lower ½-amplexicaul. Involucre pubescent, bracts very slender, setaceous, or sub-herbaceous, ligules shorter than the bracts. Pappus white, bearded, thickened at the tips, three times as long as the glabrate achenes, outer scales connate with the hairs, and deciduous with. them.

Use : — In the Salt Range, the dried plant is applied as a vulnerary to bruises, &c, of bullocks (Stewart),

Syn. : — X. indicum, D.C. Roxb. 660.

Sans. : — Aristha.