CARYOPH YLLEM. : 155 
"says that the root is brought from Shensi and Honan, and is - 
used in cynanche, cough, and carbuncle, and the leaves in 
4 ‘spermatorrhwa. In India, P. crotalarioides, Ham. (Royle Ill. 
4.19. C.),a plant of the temperate Himalaya from Chamba 
4 to Sikkim, and of the Khasia mountains, has.a reputation as 
q an expectorant. 
P. telephioides, Walld., growing in the Western Penin-_ 
ula, has a similar reputation. 
P. chinensis, Linn., is'common in pasture lands 
throughout India in the rainy season. It is called Merédié in - 
Hindi and Négli in Marathi; and is not used medicinally, A 
pecies of Polifgatn 3 is the Forfar of the Persians and Lubénat 
the Arabians. 
Like ‘Senega all these eee owe their medicinal ptbperhiok 
to the presence of a substance elosely related to, if not 
ntical with, saponin. 
‘CARYOPHYLLE. | 
SAPONARIA VACCARIA, Linn. 
Fig. ——Mor.-U8. Db; 21. 27, Syn. —Gypsophila yet 
foliate Soapwort (Hng.). 
Hab.—Wheat fields tivongbted fads -and Central is 
urope. The root. 
Vernacular —Siabini (Hind., Beng.). 
History, Uses, &c.—The root. of a plant iamed 
fiov was used by the Greeks for basen wool on account ee 
‘The Romans asd the sanie root. under the names 
athium and Radicula. Pliny (19, 18 and 24, 5 Be 
it is war cnoee laxative, and bir ae 6 nd was 
