Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/768

688 of the urine in closes of 180 grains mixed with salt (Dr. Peters, in Watt's Dictionary).

Syn. : — Verbesina calendulacea, Linn; Roxb. 606.

Sans. : — Pita-bhringi ; Bhringarâja.

Vern. — Bangra, Kesaraja (B.) ; Bhânra (H) ; Pivala bhângra (Bomb.) ; Pivalâmâkâ (Mar.).

Habitat : — In wet places, Assam, Silhet, and the Eastern and Western Peninsulas.

A scentless, tasteless perennial herb. Stem short, 6-18in., procumbent at base and rooting at the nodes, then ascending, cylindrical, slightly rough, with adpressed hair. Leaves l-3in., variable in breadth, opposite, nearly sessile, oblong, strap-shaped, or oblong-oval, tapering to base, acute, sparingly and shallowly serrate or entire, slightly rough with adpressed, rigid, white hair on both sides. Heads yellow, solitary, few, on very long, erect axillary (apparently terminal) peduncles, about ¾in. diam. Bracts few, 5-8, ⅜in., leafy oblong, obtuse, inner 2 or 3 much smaller. Receptacle flat, with a linear, acute, hyaline, ciliate bractlet to each flower. Ray-flowers 8-12, spreading, about equalling bracts, broad, deeply 2-3ft. toothed ; disk-flowers about 20, short, narrowed acute, recurved. Achene nearly cylindric, pubescent, shorter than bractlet, crowned with a shallow ring of short, scarious, ciliate scales (Trimen).

Uses : — The leaves are used in dyeing grey hair and in promoting the growth of hair. They are considered tonic, alterative and useful in cough, cephalalgia, skin diseases and alopecia. The juice of the leaves is much used as a snuff in cephalalgia. (Dutt). The seeds, flowers, as well as the leaves, are used in decoction, in the quantity of half a teacupful twice daily, as deobstruent (Ainslie).

In decoction, the plant is used in uterine hæmorrhage and menorrhagia (S. Arjun).