Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/97

Rh Vern. :— Kyout pan (Burm).

Habitat :- -Throughout India.

A slender, much branched annual, 2 ft. or more in height. Stems obtusely 4-angled. Leaves membranous, 3-nerved, 1 in. long, the lower lanceolate or elliptic and often petioled ; upper sessile, broadly ovate, acute or apiculate, rounded at the base, uppermost leaves much smaller. Flowers pink, in lax diffuse panicles, pedicels filiform, the ultimate bracts very minute. Calyx ¼in. long, not winged ; teeth lanceolate, acute. Corolla in, long; tube ¼in., green ; lobes unequal, obtuse. Stamens 4, one of which is fertile and larger than the others and inserted higher up. Capsule narrowly oblong, nearly as long as the calyx, membranous. (Duthie).

Use. : — Used as a substitute for C. decussatta.

Syn. : — Pladera decussata, Roxb. 135.

Sans. : — Sankhapushphi ; Dandotpala.

Vern. : — Sankháhuli (H.) ; Dán kuni (B,) ; Shankhapushappi (Cutch).

It seems probable that the Sanskrit names are applied in different parts of the country to more than one species of Canscora. Rheede (Hort. Mai. X., t. 52) figures C. perfoliate, with the Malayalim name of the Cansjan-cora, from which the botanical name of the genus has been derived. (Dymock).

Habitat : — Valleys of Simla, Himalaya, abundant in Bengal plains. Throughout India, Burma, Ceylon.

Stems erect, 6-18in. 4-winged, branched above. Leaves, rather numerous, sessile, lowest one about lin., upper ones smaller, all ovate or oblong-lanceolate, rounded at base, acute, 3-nerved. Peduncles long, quadrangular, strongly winged. Calyx nearly ½in., 4-winged ; segments very short, lanceolate, very acute. Corolla-lobes rounded, 2 lower ones much narrower. Flowers white or pale yellow. Stamens 4, one perfect, anthers small and imperfect (Collett). Filaments short. Ovary 1-celled, style abort, stigma 2-lobed, capsule oblong. Seeds large dark brown, reticulate.

The different species of Canscora are bitterish annual plants which grow on moist situations during, or immediately after the rainy season.