Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/794

714 cobwebby or cottony above thickly white, tomentose beneath ; long or short-petioled lobes or segments contiguous, broad, sometimes crisped, teeth acute or mucronate. Heads 3-30, ⅔-1in. diam., sessile or shortly peduncled. Peduncles stout, tomentose, often cottony at the base. Involucrai bracts ¾-1½in., scabrid or smooth, erect, scarious ; outer involucral bracts ovate lanceolate ; inner elliptic-lanceolate, long, acuminate. Receptacle bristles very rigid, much shorter than the achenes united into laciniate cups. Anther-tails lacerate. Corolla 1-1¼in. Achenes large, cuneate, obovate, unequally 4-5-angled, tubercled, ¼-⅓in., curved, compressed, truncate, ashy grey. Pappus copious, lin., brown hairs cohering at base. " The roots, called Dhup, are collected and used by Hindus as incense (Aitchison).

Use : —The bruised root is applied to eruptions, and a decoction is given in colic. It is also considered cordial and given in puerperal fever (Dr. Stewart).

Vern. — Brahmadandi (M.). Motabor (Bom).

Habitat : —Central India, Merwara, the Concan, and the Deccan.

An annual, slender, unarmed herb, quite glabrous, erect, rigid. Branches slender, angled and ribbed, quite smooth. Leaves sessile, 2-3in. long, linear oblong, or lanceolate, acute, entire or serrate, scaberulous and covered with raised points, prominently nerved ; base simple or auricled. Heads small, ovoid ¼-⅓in. diam. Involucre-bracts subulate from a lanceolate base, sub-erect. Receptacle bristles narrowly linear, exceeding the pappus. Achenes oblong, faintly ribbed, twice as long as the pappus.

Use : — Believed to be a nervine tonic and an aphrodisiac, and used in seminal debility. (S Arjun.)

Vern. : -Utakatâra (M.).

Habitat :— The Western Ghauts.