Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/146

896 Habitat; — Generally cultivated in India.

A prickly, herbaceous annual, 2-8ft. ; sometimes nearly unarmed. Leaves 3-6 by 2-4in., ovate, sinuate or lobed, stellately woolly beneath, prickly. Petiole lin., peduncles mostly extra-axillary, often paired, one becoming a perfect flower, the other a short raceme of male flowers ; or the raceme may be considered sessile with the lowest flower only perfect. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, in flower ¼-½in, elliptic or oblong-linear. Corolla blue, l-l¼in. diam., shortly lobed, hairy on the plaits without. Style stellately pubescent, or glabrous. Berry l-9in., glabrous, exceeding the Calyx-lobes in cultivation, ellipsoid or elongate white, yellow, dark-purple, crimson or white, with tooth crimson, vertical stripes. Calyx-lobes fleshy and enlarged, in fruit often prickly. Fruit luscious, edible.

Many distinct forms or races are recognized according to the shape or colour of the fruit. The plant is more or less prickly according to the nature of the soil. In rich garden soil the prickles almost or entirely disappear. When cultivated as a field crop it becomes rather prickly, and very much so as an escape, under which conditions the peduncles bear 3-4 small and usually roundish fruits. Prain mentions two varieties ; 1. Esculenta (S. longum, Roxb.), a stout prickly herb with the fruit always cylindrical, and, according to Roxburgh, a distinct species ; and 2. Insana (S] insanum, Roxb.) which is a very prickly herb found in a semi-wild state near villages. Its fruit is quite round, and the fruiting peduncles usually bear more than one (Duthie.)

Parts used : — The leaves and seeds.

Use : — The seeds are used as a stimulant and the leaves as a narcotic (Atkinson.) The seeds are apt to lead to dyspepsia and constipation (Stewart).

Syn:---S. Jacquini, Willd. Roxb. 191.

Sans : — Kanta-kâri, nidigdhika.

Vern. : — Katîlâ, katai (Hind.); Kantakâri (Beng.) ; Warûmba, mahorî (Pb.) ; Chuudun-ghatrie, kandan-kattiri (Tam.) ; Van-Nellagulla (Kan.) kuda (Tel.); Bhûringni (Bom.); Kandui (Chipat) (Pb.) ; Rât-kât-Janum (Chutia Nagpur).

Habitat :— Common throughout India ; from the Punjab and Assam to Ceylon and Malacca.