Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/104

854 ovate, acute, about as long as the Corolla. Seeds 1/40in. polyhedral ; testa close, minutely reticulated, so that the seeds appear often glistening (C. B. Clarke).

Uses : — According to Dr. Cleghorn (Indian Annals of Med. Sci, vol. iii., p. 271), 0. elegans, Wight, which inhabits the mountains of the Madras Peninsula, possesses powerful and persistent bitterness. He states that frequent trials with it confirm the belief that it exercises a tonic influence on the digestive organs, thereby improving the general health ; it appears also to possess some power as an antiperiodic. It is best given in the form of infusions in the proportion of two drachms to a pint of cold water. It appears equal, if not superior, to the officinal Chiretta (Ph. Ind.).

Vern:— Silájit (Dec.) ; Kadú, (meaning "bitter" Mahablesh-war).

Habitat: — Common in the Western Deecan Peninsula, from the Concan to Travancore.

Herbs, with steins l-3ft, terete or 4- winged. Leaves sessile, ovate-obtuse, 1¼ by ¾in., numerous, approximate, decussate, 3-5-nerved. Corymbs very dense. Pedicels 0-½in., mostly short. Sepals ¼-½in., narrowly lanceolate. Corolla-lobes white, with blue nerves, with a round, depression at the base of each, ⅓ by 1/6in., broadly oblong, shortly acute ; covering scale shortly hairy, not very long.

Uses : — It forms an excellent substitute for Chiretta, and is so used in Bombay (Dalzell and Gibson, Bombay Flora p. 156). Particular attention has been called to it by Dr. Broughton ''Bombay Med. Phys. Trans'', vol. vi., N. S., App., p. 58). The dried root, he states, occurs in pieces about two inches in length, of a diameter of a quill, giving off two or three rootlets, covered with a whitish brown epidermis, wrinkled longitudinally, white internally ; brittle. He considers that its medicinal action and uses are similar to those of Gentian and Chiretta, for which it may be advantageously