Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/775

Rh yellow, 2in. across, solitary, or in corymbs. The Ray-florets are in one series only, strapshaped, yellow or white, and all female ; those of the disk are tubular, with, four or five teeth at the mouth, and bisexual ; the pappus is reduced to a membranous ring or absent altogether. There is called a " double" variety, with the florets all strapshaped, closely overlapping. Bracts, with dry and translucent margins (Page 290, vol. IT, the Favourite Flowers of Garden and Green-house, by Edward Step, F. L. S. Frederick Warne and Co.).

Use : — Dallzell and Gibson state that the flowers are a tolerable substitute for chamomile. The root chewed communicates the same tingling sensation to the tongue as pellitory. According to Dr. Walker ("Bombay Med. and Phys. Trans. 1840, p.. 71) the people of the Deccan administer the plant in conjunction with black pepper in gonorrhœa (Ph. Ind.).

Syn.:--M. Suaveolens, Linn. Roxb. 605.

Vern. : — Babun phul (B- and H.) ; Bâbunah, Suteigul (Pb.).

Habitat : — Upper Gangetic Plain and the Punjab.

An aromatic herb, about 1-ft. high ; much-branched. Leaves 2-pinnatifid, segments very narrow. Heads ½-¾in. diam., corymbose. Ligules reflexed after flowering, or ; receptacle elongating during fruiting. Achenes grey, small ; ribs slender, white, ventral only. Achenes with slender white ribs on the ventral face only. Pappus 0.

Use : — In Persian works, the flowers are described as stimulant, attenuant and discutient. There is a popular opinion among the Persians that the odour of the flowers induces sleep and drives noxious insects ; they also say that Chamomile tea applied to the genitals has a powerfully stimulating effect (Dymock).

Chamomile oil is used externally in rheumatism, in Gujrat (Ibbetson's Gazetteer).