Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/92

842 acuminate, 3-nerved from the base, or more often the lateral nerves springing much higher. Petiole very short, 1/10in. Cymes axillary, lin. diam., nearly glabrous, nearly sessile. Flowers white, fragrant. Corolla ⅛-¼in., campanulate, 2-4 times the length of lobes ; tufts of white hair at the mouth, between stamens. Anther-cells oblong, glabrous. Style long, cylindric from a conical base, glabrous. Stigma small, distinctly 2-lobed. Berry black when ripe, ⅔in. diam. Seeds 1 or 2, hemispheric, subpeltate, hardly discoid, ¼-½in. diam.

Uses: — " The use of the seeds, for the purpose of clearing muddy water, is as old as Susruta, who mentions it in his chapter on water. Medicinally, they are chiefly used as a local application in eye diseases. The seeds are rubbed with honey and a little camphor, and the mixture applied to the eyes in lachrymation or copious watering from them. Rubbed with water and rock salt, they are applied to chetnosis in the conjunctiva " (Hindu Mat Med.) " The seeds of this tree are devoid of poisonous properties, and are used in native practice as an emetic (Ainslie), as a remedy in diabetes (Kirkpatrick), gonorrhœa (Taleef Shereef), &c. Their chief use, however, is as a means of clearing muddy water, hence their Anglo-Indian name, Clearing Nut. Looked at in this point of view, they may be regarded as a valuable aid to medical officers and others during the marches of troops in India in the rainy season, when little but muddy water can be obtained. Dr. Pareira suggests that this property depends upon the albumen and casein which they contain. If the seeds be sliced and digested in water, they yield a thick mucilaginous liquid, which, when boiled, yields a coagulum ( albumen), and, by subsequent addition of acetic acid, it furnishes a further coagulum (casein)" (Pharm. Ind.). Mahomedan writers describe them as cold and dry, that when applied externally to the abdomen they relieve colic ; they also notice their use to strengthen the sight and as a remedy in snakebite (Dymock).

The seeds used by the natives of Madras in diabetes and gonorrhœa (Drury).

Dr. Bidie doubts emetic properties of S. potatorum.