Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/187

Rh diam., in axillary racemes 3-6in. long. Bracts shorter than the flower stalks. Pedicels spreading, (usually longer than the Calyx . Sepals 1/16-¼in. long subacute. Corrola 1/6-⅓. diam. Capsule notched, ⅛-1/6in diam., somewhat compressed laterally, turgid, orbicular, rarely broadly ovate in some Tibetan specimens (J. D. Hooker). Seeds ovoid or oblong, biconvex.

Use :— Used for the same purposes as V. Beccabunga.

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Vern :— Tezak (PbA

Eng. : — Brooklime.

Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir and Rawal Pindee to Kanawar

A glabrous or puberulous, decumbent, succulent herb, stem hollow, branches 6-18in., spreading. Leaves l-2in., rarely obovate, sessile or shortly petioled, elliptic or oblong obtuse, crenate-serrate, base rounded. Racemes axillary, few or many-flowered, 2-4in.; pedicels spreading, bracts usually shorter than the pedicels Sepals ovate-oblong, subacute. Corolla ⅓in. diam., blue or pink. Capsule and seed as in Veronica Anagallis, Linn.

Uses: — The plant is used medicinally in Kashmir (Honig-berger.)

The leaves and young stems were once in favor as an antiscorbutic, and even now the young shoots are sometimes eaten as watercresses, the two plants being generally found growing together. They are perfectly wholesome, and might be more frequently employed but for prejudice. In oldentimes the leaves were applied to wounds, and are now sometimes bruised and put on burns. (Sowerby's English Bot. Vol. V., p. 170).

Syn. : — Gerardia delphinifolia, Linn. Roxb. 491.

Vern. :— Dudhali (Bomb.).

Habitat : — Banda, Behar, on Parasnath, Deccan Peninsula, from the Concan southwards.