Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/795

Rh A coarser species than the preceding ; leaves obovate-oblong, very coarsely toothed or sometimes pinnatifid.

Use : —It is a bitter tonic and a diuretic, and is used in coughs (S. Arjun).

Syn.: — Carduus ramosus, Roxb. 595.

Vern.: — Badaward (Bomb.) ; Sakayi (M.).

Habitat: — Central, Western and Southern India, from Behar and the Upper Gangetic plains to Lahore ; and from Sind to Mysore and the Deccan ; ascending to 3,000 ft. in the N.-W. Himalaya.

An annual straggling stiff weed, dichotomously branched ; branches l-2ft. long, angled, smooth or scabrid. Leaves very variable, oblong or obovate, entire, toothed or pinnatifid, 1-2 by ¼-⅔in., rarely 6 by 3in., sessile, base simple, lobes rounded, mucronate, often undulate or crisped. Heads ½-1in. long, ¼-½in. in diam., hard, with spiny involucre-bracts. Involucre-bracts ovate, glabrute reddish, with a long spreading or recurved spinescent awn ; spines ¼-⅓in., smooth ; receptacular bristles short. Corolla ½in., straight, pale-purple. Achenes 1/5in., narrow, acutely 4-5- angled, striate and punctate between the angles, base narrow ; areole small, lateral, deeply excavated, top broad, truncate ; pappus spiny, of many unequal scabrulous hairs, ^in. long, silvery brown, 3 or 4 innermost flattened and long (J. D. Hooker).

Uses : — The author of the Makhzan says that the plant has tonic, aperient and deobstruent properties. It is said to drive away noxious reptiles when kept in the house (Dymock).

Slightly mucilaginous, and is used in coughs (S. Arjun). It is used as a febrifuge and is often prescribed in fevers and general debility (R. N. Khory.)