Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/157

Rh obtuse, ovate-lanceolate or oblanceolate, attenuate at base ; petiole indistinct, or ¼-⅓in. long. Flowers polygamo, diœcious. Flowering Calyx 1/5in. ; in fruit ⅔in., stellate, nearly leathery, closely surrounding the berry. Corolla ½in., lurid yellow, stellately mealy without. Male flower ; filaments linear, anthers subexsert. Ovary ellipsoid, style 0. Hermaphrodite flowers ;— - anthers sub-sessile, perfect near the base of the Corolla tube. Ovary globose ; style linear, stigma level with mouth of the tube. Berry and seeds nearly as in W. somnifera. This plant has been found in the act of passing from dimorphism to diœcism (C. B. Clarke)

Uses : — The ripe fruits are used as an emetic. The dried fruits, sold as Punir-ja-fota in Sind, are employed in dyspepsia and flatulent colic, and other intestinal affections. They are prescribed in infusion, either alone or conjoined with the leaves and twigs of Rhazya striata, D., an excellent bitter tonic. The dried fruit is used for coagulating milk in the process of cheese manufacture (Ph. Ind}

The ripe fruits are supposed to possess anodyne or sedative properties. Honnigberger says that the bitter leaves are given as a febrifuge by the Luhanees (Stewart).

It is alterative, diuretic and believed to be useful in chronic liver complaints (Dymock).

In Bombay it is usually confounded with the fruit of Physalis Alkekengi, Wild., imported from Persia, the Hab-el- kákuaj or Káknaj of the Arabians, which is described by Ibn Sina as an alterative similar to Dulcamara, and especially useful in skin diseases. The berries of both plants have a reputation as blood purifiers. Recently, from experiments made by Sir J. D. Hooker at Kew, it has been ascertained that 1 oz. of the fruit of Withania coagulans and 1 quart of boiling water make a decoction, one tablespoonful of which will coagulate a gallon of warm milk in about half an hour. Experiments of a similar nature have been made on the Kilkerran Estate, the property of Sir James Fergusson, late Governor of Bombay ; four ounces of the fruit were allowed to simmer for 12 hours in 1½ pint of water, and half the liquid