40 PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. AscUpklS. 



The Hindoos make two species of this plant on ac- 

 count of the variety of the leaves ; and I long thought 

 they were so, till searching more narrowly, and taking up 

 many of the roots. I then frequently found every varie- 

 ty of the leaves on dillerent branches, issuing from the 

 same root ; which confirmed me in their being one plant. 

 This is probably what Retz calls name P. Emetica but I 

 am pretty clear Dr. Kbnig did not give it that name. To 

 the best of my remembrance, he always conceived the 

 broad leaved to be P. Indica, and the narrow to be Cero- 

 pegia tenuifolia. The plant sometimes employed as a 

 substitute for Ipecacuana, is what Konig described un- 

 der the name Asclepias vomitoria; a drawing and des- 

 cription of it will be found in my collections, viz. N. 608. 

 Asclepias asthmatica. The roots, whether dried or fresh, 

 have a pleasant, peculiar fragrance, which I cannot des- 

 cribe. They are known on the Coromandel coast by the 

 name of country Sarsaparilla ; an4 as such were often 

 employed by our Medical Gentlemen. The natives em- 

 ploy them in medicine more than we do, particularly for 

 the thrush in children. For this disorder the dried bark is 

 reduced to a fine powder, and fried in butter ; the propor- 

 tion uncertain, as is often the case with Hindoo prescrip- 

 tions, the quantities being in general guessed ; about a 

 dram of this is given, night and morning. They are also 

 employed, with some other roots in the cure of venereal 

 complaints. 



13. A. roseay R. 



Leaves linear, smooth ; Racemes longer than the leaves. 

 Corals fringed with hairs. Follicles inflated. 



Periploca esculenta, Will. 1. 1250. R. Corom. pi. 1. N. 11. 



Periploca esculenta of Konig. See Suppl. plant. 168. 



Dooghdika, (or milk plant ;) is its Sanscrit name. See 

 Asiatic Researches, 4. 268. 



Beng. Kirai, Doodhee, Doodh-htta. 



