Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/788

 708 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.

Perennial herbs, glabrous, robust. Stem stout, 3-5 ft. Leaves 1ft., broad and under, tip acute or rounded, broadly ovate-cordate or subbastate ; obtuse-toothed, sinus open, petiole of lower stout winged, of cauline sheathing ; 5-10in., wing narrow or broad, gashed or toothed. Racemes 4-8in., elongating in fruit. Heads not secund, numerous, peduncled, on a conical raceme, broadly campanulate ; 1½-2in. across the ligules. Involucre-bracts ⅓in., glabrous, 8-12, oblong acute, bases subconnate. Ligules many, long and broad ; 12-15, ½-¾in. long, 5-9-nerved, tip entire or toothed ; tube of disk-corolla shorter than the limb. Achenes fin. long, deeply grooved, linear, oblong. Pappus very short, coroniform, 1/16in., unequal, united at the base.

Use : — Its roots are officinal in Cashmere ; they somewhat resemble Valerian in appearance and odor, and must prove a good medicine when their properties are once determined (Honnigberger). Said to be used to adulterate Kut (Sanssurea Lappa).

Vern. :— Morta (Pb.)

Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Garhwâl to Bhutan.

A herbaceous, glabrous, or sparsely pubescent plant. Root perennial. Stem slender, simple, long, erect, flexous, grooved 2-3ft., naked below. Leaves 2-4in., sometimes as broad as long or even broader, rather glaucous beneath, petioled, membranous, cordate, or subreniform, bud 3-7-angled or palmetly-lobed, upper not cordate ; angles or lobes coarsely sinnate, toothed ; teeth acute and apiculate. Petiole slender, not auricled. Heads narrow 5-6-fid. Racemes a foot long or less, very slender, sometimes quite simple, with secund bracteate peduncles bearing solitary terminal heads and bulb-like leaf-buds in the axils ; or the peduncle becomes an enlongated branch bearing many bulbils. Involucre-bracts obtuse or acute, green, 5-6, linear, membranous. Ligules absent. Corolla large, tube shorter than the campanulate limb ; anthers exserted, with