546 CONVOLVULACEAE. 
eonsidered to. be exhilarating, and-to purify the blood and give 
tone to the system. It is prescribed in decoction as a tonic, 
and is believed to possess. a and antibilious pro- 
perties. 
C. cretica is found in Greece, and is supposed to be the first 
kind . of dv@vAXis mentioned by Dioscorides (iii., 144); it is 
described as growing in sandy ground, and having a salt taste, 
and was used asa diuretic and to disperse swelling and phleg- 
matic humors. Paulus Algineta and Pliny also mention it. 
Mahometan physicians copy whatthe Greeks have said about: the 
two kinds of anthyllis, but give no Arabic or Persian name for 
the drug, and those who have written in India do not identify 
it with the Rudantika of the Hindus. It appears to retain its 
place in their Materia Medica solely because of its repute among 
te Greeks. 
- Description. —A very small, shrubby, diffuse plant ; 
leaves ovate, sessile, very small, acute, numerous, ashy or 
hoary-pubescent; flowers small, white or pink, sub-sessile, in 
the superior axils, forming a many-flowered head. It is very 
common in rice fields about Bombay in the cold weather, and is 
much used by gardeners for making bouquets. The plant has 
a bitter and saline taste. According to Retz and Roxburgh 
the Indian plant differs from the common form of C. cretica in 
having 4 seeds. 
Chemical composition.—The plant con erases alkaloid soluble 
which fails to afford any special colour.reactions ; its 
1 is not precipitated by chromates. It is not Biter 
ig else in the plant of special interest. 
_AFTIMUN. ms 
Se ta 
