Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/95

Rh Habitat :— Throughout India, from Oudh and Bengal to Ceylon.

A small, slender herb. Stem slender, erect, much-branched, quadrangular, 3-12in. Leaves 1¾-½in., subsessile, elliptic or lanceolate, 3-nerved. Flowers, small, 4-merous. Cymes terminal many-fid, Peduncles ⅛-½in., suberect, rigid. Calyx-lobes 1/6-1/5in. ovate, acuminate ; wing distinct, lanceolate. Corolla-lobes blue, ¼-⅓in. elliptic. Anthers ⅛in.., scarcely attenuate upwards, dehiscing finally half-way to the base. Capsule 1/6in. Sub-globose.

Uses : — The plant is less bitter than chiretta and more than gentian, for which it may be substituted. Dr. Bidie directs the plant to be gathered when the flowers begin to fade and to be carefully dried in the shade. For administration, it may be given in infusion and tincture of the same strength as those of chiretta (Ph. Ind.)-

Habitat:— Throughout India, from the Punjab and Gangetic plain to Ceylon ; more frequent near the sea, not known in Bengal.

Vern — Chota kiráyata (H.) ; Mamijwa (Bomb.); Manucha (Sind) ; Kadavinayi (Mar.) ; Vellurugu(Tam. } ; Nela-guli ; Nela-gulamidi (Tel.) ; Naichápiala (Bomb.).

A perennial herb. Stems several, from a woody base, erect or procumbent, 6-18in., sub-quadrangular or terete, glabrous, internodes short. Leaves opposite 1-l¾in., oblong-oval to oblong-linear, sessile, tapering to base, obtuse, rather thick, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves marginal and faint, pale glaucous green. Flowers numerous, crowded, white. Calyx glabrous, segments lanceolate, sub-acute. Corolla much longer than the Calyx ; tube wide, ⅛in., lobes much shorter than the tube, 1/10in., oval acute, elliptic, says C. B. Clarke. Stamens, included. Capsule about ¼in., says Trimen ; ⅛-1/6in., says Clarke. Seeds small. The root creeping, filiform. The whole plant is very bitter.

Uses : — It possesses marked bitterness, and, according to Dr. Cleghorn, it is much used by the natives of Madras as a