Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/231

Rh broadly bordered, with white scarious margins. Bractlets linear-lanceolate, acute. Capsule 1/6in., oblong-ovoid, pubescent. Seeds with concentric furrows. Anther-cells superposed, lower white tailed. Corolla white, with rose or purple spots (C. B. Clarke). Ovary glabrous ; style thinly hairy at base.

Flowers, says Trimen from Ceylon, " violet, with red dots, thin clots in the throat."

Uses : — The leaves resemble, both in smell and taste, those of thyme ; while fresh, they are bruised, mixed with castor oil, and applied to the scalp in cases of tinea capitis (Ainslie).

The whole plant, dried and pulverised, is given in doses of from 4 to 12 drams in fevers and coughs, and is also considered a vermifuge (Drury).

Syn : — Justicia pectinata, Linn. Roxb. 44.

Sans. : — Pindi.

Vern. : — Tavashu miirunghie ; punakapundii (Tarn.); Pindi kunda (Tel.) ; Bir lopong arak (San tab). Habitat : —Throughout India.

Annual ; erect stems, slender, with opposite lines of pubescent, divaricately branched ; upper leaves 2½-4in., linear, much tapering to base, obtuse, slightly undulate, glabrous, lanceolate, petiole obscure, lower leaves oval or rotundate, distinctly petioled. Spikes very short, about ¼in. flat, ranks of empty bracts in one plane, ¼in., linear oblong, mucronate, with a very narrow margin, glabrous, slightly ciliate, floral bracts about ⅛in., oval, obtuse, slightly mucronate, with the scarious margin wider, glabrous, ciliate ; bractlets narrower than the bracts. Sepals linear lanceolate. Corolla ¼in., small (Trimen). Flowers white, with blue lines on lower lip. " Capsule 1/5in., seeds small, minutely verrucose ; spikes nearly all terminal, markedly one-sided " (C. B. Clarke).

Uses : — The juice of the small and somewhat fleshy leaves is considered cooling and aperient and is prescribed for children suffering from small-pox in dose of a tablespoonful or two twice daily. The bruised leaves are applied to contusions to relieve pain and diminish swelling (Ainslie).