LEGUMINOS 2. 497 — 
3 alterative, tonic, and anti-catarrhal properties. The Sanskrit 
% name, Prisniparni, signifies ‘‘ spotted leaf.”? In Vedic times 
the plant was invoked asa goddess. According to Susruta it 
_ Was given to women in the seventh month of their pregnancy 
_ with milk to prevent abortion. The Atharva-veda informs us 
that Prisniparni kills the monster Kanva, who wants to eat the 
germ. Another Sanskrit name is Atiguha, which signifies 
© great mystery. ” 
4 Description.—Stems densely coespitose, woody, slender, — 
_ pubescent; petiole 4 to 1 inch; leaflets many, of both kinds, 
_ obtuse, broadly rounded at the base, 1 to 2 inches long, gla- 
_ brous above, finely downy below; heads always simple, very 
= dense, 1 to 2, rarely 3 inches long, under 1 inch thick, bracts 
% subpersistent, distinctly ciliated ; pedicels densely crinite, not 
onger than calyx ; calyx 1-6th to 1-5th of an inch, lower teeth 
setaceous, densely plumose, corolla scarcely exserted ; joints 
1 to 2, brown, polished, finely pubescent, (Z'lora of fib 
India.) 
The medicinal properties sbiesbatiad to this plant appear to 
be entirely fanciful. 
Uraria picta, Desv., Jacq. Ic, t. 567, Vern.—Da&bra 
(Hind.), Sankar- -jata (Beng.), Prisniparni (Mar.), Pilavan 
(Guz.) is supposed by the Hindus to be an antidote to the 
poison of the Phiirsa snake (Hchis carinata) ; it'grows along the 
Shady banks of water- -courses, and blossoms towards the end of 
the rains, The stem is erect, shrubby and branched, 8 to — 
‘Afeet; leaves alternate, petioled, from simple to pinnate ; leaflets, 
the wer or single, are generally oblong-ovate, two to three 
inches long, and one and a half broad, the leaflets of the com- 
‘Pound leaves are linear lanceolate, all are obtuse, entire, and 
beantifully clouded on the upper surface, below a little reticu- : 
ted and downy; racemes terminal, erect, rigid, cylindric, = 
hairy, bracts of the peduncles chaffy, permanent; those of the 
owers lanceolate, two flowered, falling; flowers ctw 
mall, red ; pedicels incurved after the Sones time; ~— 
of the divisions incurved and spe * | 
