24 _ RANUNCULACEZ. 
described in Mahometan works on Materia Medicaas Zarir. In — 
Bengal and Southern India the drug is unknown, and Ficus — 
heterophylla, Linn. fil, is used as a substitute for it under the — 
names of Balabahula and Valli-teragam. The author of the 4 
-Makhzan-el-Adwiya says :—“ Zarir grows in the Khorjén hills 7 
and is called Asfrak by the people of Shirdéz, and Arjikan by 2 
the Greeks*; the stem is about a span high, flowers yellow, like — 
those of Asfar-i-barri, surrounded by a few soft prickles, a 
leaves yellowish, small, root more than a spanlong. Asfrak q 
is cold and dry with slight heating properties ; also detergent, a 
anodyne and diuretic; it is useful in spleen, jaundice and — 
dropsy ; mixed with barley meal, it forms a poultice, which is — 
of much service in inflammatory swellings ; its ashes are useful 
in itch. Maximum dose 5 dirhemst; it is also used as @ 
yellow dye.” In India and. Persia it is now chiefly used f 
dyeing silk. Edgeworth brought this drug to notice man 
of 3,000 feet. He says that when in flower it gives a wondro 
golden hue to the pastures. (One of the Sanskrit synony 
is Sita or moonlight.) 3 
Description.—The drug consists of the flowers, leav 
flower stalks, and a small proportion of the immature fruit, all 
of a light greenish yellow colour, and having a somewhat 
the inside ; they are marked with prominent longitudinal riba 4 
ia pointed apices, and are supported upon a stout ane 
peduncle; the seeds are numerous, angular, and of a light- 
brown colour. The drug when placed in water immediately 
tinges it a bright yellow, and communicates a bitter taste to it. 
* Arjikan is apparently the Sanskrit word aig. SSS 
t Five dirhems—240 grains in 24 hours in decoction. A reference to the 
chemical composition will show that this dose may possibly prove d 
