208 MALVACE:. 
History, Uses, &c.—There are several varieties of this - 
plant, the most remarkable being a tomentose, hoary variety, 
which produces the Ralbij of the shops, and another with 
purple stems called Kali kanghi in Hindustani and Koran-tutti 
in Tamil. The leaves, bark and seeds would seem to have 
been long in use among the Hindus on account of their - 
mucilaginous and diuretic properties. Under the names of @ 
Masht-el-ghonl and Deishar, short notices of the plant may be 
found in Arabic and Persian books. Ainslie’s Sida Mauri- — 
tiana is evidently identical with:it. The bark is valued as 4 
diuretic, and the seeds on account of their demulcent and 
mucilaginous properties. A. indicum is very common 02 4 
waste ground, and appears to flourish in poor soil, and 
requires but little water. Ibn Sina mentions a drug called 
: 
me ee Ta Pe eT OP 
Abatilin w»kb5:! which was applied to wounds, but as he 
likens it toa Pumpkin it must have been quite different from 
the plants now known as Abutilon, unless his meaning is that 
the fruit resembles a miniature pumpkin in shape; in which 
case Abutilon Avicenne, Gartn., may have been the plant. a 
Description.—The bark occursin long, thin, tough, 
fibrous strips, which are very strong ; externally it is striated 
and covered by a cinnamon-coloured epidermis, internally it 18 
white and striated ; the striz: are produced by small interspaces 
_ between the fibrous bundles of which the bark is chiefly 
composed. The taste is feebly astringent and bitter. The seeds 
of the tomentose variety are reniform, about 1-10th of an inch 
long, and nearly as broad at the larger end, three in each carpel ; 
testa very hard, dull brown, covered with simple hairs, rising 
from a conical base, which is attached to the testa by radiat!DS 
processes like roots. The following is a description of the 
plant obtained by sowing the Balbij of the shops:—Shrubby, 
_ hoary, covered all over with a dense silky tomentum of simple — 
hairs ; leaves cordate, unequally and sharply serrated ; calyx 
5 cleft ; pedicels axillary, jointed near the flowers, which are © 
an orange colour, and open in the evening ; capsules truncated, 
longer than the calyx ; carpels about twenty, not awned, hairy 
Mag eo 
pees 
onthe dorsum. ( A. muticum, G. Don.) 
