Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/124

874 a narrow point, acute glabrous, entire, 2-4in. Peduncles 1- 5-fid, somewhat shorter than the petioles. Flowers large, pale-purple, in small stalked clusters, sometimes solitary. Sepals glabrous, broad, abruptly pointed. Flowering sepals elliptic-lanceolate ; in fruit nearly as of I. bona-nox. Corolla funnel-shaped, tube 1-2 by ½in., narrowly cylindric, much longer than the Calyx, hairy within, stamens about as long as the Corolla-tube. Peduncle usually greatly thickened after fruit. Ovary 2-celled. Capsule ½-⅔ in. diam. globose, apiculate. Seeds ⅜in. long, polished, black, glabrous.

Use : — The seeds are used chiefly as a substitute for those of I hederacea. The medicinal properties seem to be the same as those of Kâlâdana, but accurate observations are required. The juice of the plant is used to destroy bugs (Dymock).

Sans. :— Kamalata ; Turoolata.

Vern. : — Taru latâ, Lâl or swêta Kàmlatâ lâl or swet taru latâ (B.) ; Vishnukrant (Mar.) ; Kâmlatâ (H.) ; Tsjuriacranti (Mal.) ; Ganesh-vel, Sita che kesh (Bomb.).

Habitat :-~ Native of tropical America, common throughout India, in gardens and as a denizen.

A slender, glabrous twiner. Leaves pinnate, segments distant, linear, 3-5 by 2-3in. Peduncles few-flowered. Sepals elliptic. Corolla crimson or white, middle-sized ; tube narrow, lin. long, mouth ¼in. diam. Anthers exsert. Ovary 4-cel led, ¼in., ovoid, smooth ; dissepiments thin, membranous, persistent. Seeds nearly glabrous, testa black.

Uses : — The Hindus consider it to have cooling properties. The pounded leaves are applied to bleeding piles, while a preparation of the juice with hot ghi is administered internally. In Bombay, the leaves are used as a lep for carbuncles (Dymock.)

Syn. :—I Cœrulea, Kœn, Roxb. 168. Convolvulus Nil, Linn.; Pharbitis Nil, Chois.