Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/214

964 ovate, acuminate or lanceolate nervose. Corolla 1½in., purple-blue or white ; tube funnel-shaped in the upper half, lobes ½in., ovate. Capsule ⅔in., 4-seeded. Seeds orbicular, compressed, silky.

Uses : — The seeds are supposed to be an antidote for snake-bite, and the roots and leaves are used to reduce swelling, and an infusion is given in coughs (Watt).

Syn. : — B. cœrulea, Roxb. 471.

Vern. : — Dasee (B.) ; Wáhiti, Kála Koráuta (Bomb.).

Habitat : — Sub-Himalayan tracts eastwards, Bengal, Assam and Sikkim ; also in the Bombay Presidency, and S. India.

An unarmed shrub, 3-4ft. high. Stems more or less strigose with fulvous hairs. Leaves 4½-6 in. long, ovate or elliptic, acute or acuminate, the base long-decurrent on the petiole, lineolate and sparingly fulvous strigose on the upper surface, densely strigose on the nerves and veins beneath and with bulbous-based hairs intermixed, margins ciliate, main lateral nerves 6-8 pairs. Flowers in dense fulvous-hairy unilater-al spikes, often crowded at the tops of the branches ; bracteoles about ½in. long, lanceolate, hairy on the back and with ciliate margins. Calyx densely strigose ; outer segments sub-equal, ½-lin. long, elliptic-lanceolate, sub-acute, margins denticulate and ciliate ; inner smaller, linear, acute, densely clothed, with white appressed silky hairs. Corolla l½-2in. long, blue ; tube pale-blue, upper part funnel-shaped ; lobes obovate-oblong, obtuse. Capsule ¾ in long, acute at the top, 4-seeded, glabrous. Seeds silky-hairy (Duthie).

Use : —The root is used by the Santals as a remedy for coughs.

Vern. :— Ghosvel (M.).

Habitat : — Concan ; common in Bombay island.

A stout, unbranched, rough shrub. Stem 1-2 ft. Leaves