Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/98

848 Use : — In Hindu medicine this plant is regarded as laxative, alterative and tonic, and is much praised as a nervine. It is also used in insanity, epilepsy, and nervous debility. The fresh juice of the plant is given in all cases of insanity, in doses of about an ounce (Dutt).

Vern. :— Tita (Pb.)

Habitat :— Common in Kashmir and W. Himalaya.

An erect or straggling herb, 4-lineolate, branched. Stem 2-10in. Leaves oblong or ovate, ½ by ¼in., lowest spa- thulate. Pedicels (many of them) long, terminal, solitary, l-3½in. Calyx-tube hardly any ; lobes 1/5 by 1/10in., elliptic, often unequal. Corolla fimbriate in the throat, tubular, 5-lobed, tube ½ by 1/6-1/5in., lobes ¼in., elliptic, capsule ⅔n., oblong-linear, sessile.

Use: — Aitchison says that in Lahoul a decoction of the leaves and stems of this and other species is given in fevers (Watt).

Vern. : — Karú, kútki (Beng. and Hind.); Nilkant, kamalphul, milakil (Pb.).

Habitat ' — Common in Kashmir and N.-W. Himalaya.

Roolstook. thick. Stems tufted, decumbent, 4-12in. Leaves narrowly oblong. Radical leaves collected into a rosette. 3-5 by ¼-½in. Stem-leaves lin., narrower. Flowers blue, spotted with white, 1¾-2in. long, ¾in. diam., solitary or racemose. Calyx about half as long as the Corolla ; lobes linear. Corolla 5-lobed Capsule oblong (Collett), ¾ by ½in. Stalk ¼-½in. Seeds twice as long as broad, acute at one end, subcordate at the other (C. B. Clarke).

Uses : — The root is medicinally used as a bitter tonic, and as substitute for the true Gentian. On the hills it is viewed as a febrifuge. Used principally as a masala for fattening horses (Calthrop). Acts as an aperient in larger doses (Gray). Said