Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/779

Rh says J. D. Hooker, " one of the most minute fruits of any flowering plants "). Further, says Hooker, though usually described as annual, some specimens both from the plains of India and Tibet have woody stocks.

Use : — The branches appear to be officinal in the Punjab. The smoke is considered good for burns, and the infusion is given as a purgative (Stewart).

Vern. : — Kiramâni owa (Bomb.) ; Tarkh (Pushtoo).

Arab, and Vers. : — Sheeh ; Sariqun ; Afsantin-ul-bahr.

Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Kumaon.

Hoary or tomentose, shrubby below. Rootstocks woody, branched, stems erect or ascending, much branched from the bases. 6-18in., strict, woody or wiry. Leaves ovate, 2-pinnatisect ; ½-2in., often quite white, with very many segments; segments small, spreading, linear obtuse ; upper simple linear. Heads 3-8 fid. ovoid or oblong suberect in spicate fascicles, often, reddish, crowded and bracteolate by a small linear or almost setaceous leaf. Bracts linear oblong, outer herbaceous tomentose, inner scarious, acute, glabrous.

Use : — In Bombay, the Hakims prescribe it in doses of 2 to 3 derhems as an anthelmintic, and also deobstruent and stomachic tonic. In the form of a poultice, they use it to relieve the pain caused by the bites of scorpions and other venomous reptiless (Dymock).

" Useful in gleet " (Surg. Masani in Watt's Diet., Vol. 1).

Officinal in both Indian and British Pharmacopoeias ; used as an anthelmintic. According to Dr. Von Schrœder, it is not poisonous to ascarides as was formerly thought, but merely drives them to the large intestine whence they can be removed.

It is indigenous to Southern Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and is much used as an antiperiodic. An infusion (and also decoction, of the fresh plant has been very successfully used