COMPOSITZ. 283 
is more woody, and its name probably refers not so much to 
the amount of sugar it contains as to the small quantity of 
acrid and pungent principle. 
SPILANTHES ACMELLA, Linn. 
_ Fig.— Wight Ic., #. 1109. Para Cress (Eng.), Cresson de 
Para (f’r.). 
Hab.—Throughout India. The flower heads. 
Vernacular.—Pipulka (Mar.), Vana mugali(Can.). It bears 
2 same names as Pyrethri Radix in the vernaculars. 
noticed in the Flora of British India,—S. proper, 8. calva, 8. 
oleracea, and 8. paniculata. Of these S. oleracea, Jacq. Hort. 
Vind ti,, t. 135, is a cultivated form common in Indian gardens, 
and S. paniculata is also, in the opinion of Sir J. D. Hooker, a 
in S. oleracea for larger and more highly-coloured flower heads : 
the latter plant is the true Cresson de Para, and is supposed to 
have been introduced into India from Brazil by the Portuguese. 
: part, ‘and are chewed by the natives to relieve toothache, which 
Dr. W. Farquhar has used and recommended a tincture of the 
flower heads for toothache in place of tincture of pyrethrum. 
He says it is a specific for inflammation of the periosteum of 
the jaws. A bit of lint dipped in the tincture and laid on the 
gums repeated 3 or 4 times a day has a speedy oes in 
3 as a pot-herb, and the same fact was observed by Dr. Mason 
in Burma. §S. Acmella proper has been sent to us from the 
they"do by producing redness of the gums and salivation. ° 
‘History, Uses, &c.—Four forms of this plant are - 
Vestern wages under the Marathi name of Ponie ee 
