446 ASCLEPIADEZ. 
was obtained. With sulphuric acid the dried scales dissolved 
with a brown colour, passing through cherry-red to purple, and 
finally separated as a black powder. With nitric acid no colour 
was manifested in the cold. Boiling with diluted acid destroy- 
ed the bitterness of the principle, with the formation of an 
insoluble brown substance, such as would attend the decom- 
position of a glucoside. We consider this glucoside to be the 
active principle of the fruits, and propose to name it Dregein. 
HEMIDESMUS INDICUS, Br. 
Fig.— Wight Ic., t. 594; Rheede Hort. Mal. w., t.343; Bentl. 
and Trim., t. 174, Indian Sarsaparilla (Hng.), Salsepareille de 
VInde (Fr.). 
Hab.—Northern, Western, and Southern India. The 
roots. : : 
Vernacular.—Anantamul (Hind., Beng.), Uperséra, Dudha 
sali (Mar.), Nannéri (Tam.), Sugandhi-péla (Tel.), Sogadé, 
Karibanta (Can.), Upalsari (Guz.). 
History, Uses, &c.—Dutt. (Hind. Mat. Med., p. 195) 
states that in Hindu medicine HA. indicus and Ichnocarpus 
frutescens (see Apocynacez) are both called Sériva, and are de- 
scribed under the name of Sérivadvaya, or the two Sérivas. 
They are often used together, and are considered to have simi- 
lar properties. When however Sériva is used in the singular 
number, it is the usual practise to interpret it as meaning I. 
LS _frutescens. Other Sanskrit names for these plants are Naga- 
-jihva, “ snake’s tongue,” and Gopa-kanga, “cowherd’s daugh- 
used in Southern India, but in the northern part of the Bombay 
Presidency, though a common plant, it is seldom obtainable in 
. ' 83 ing offered when inquiries - as 
Cone 
