ACANTHACEM 49 



green or purple bark ; from the joints, wliich are somewhat 

 tumid, spring secondary shoots. The leaves are opposite, short- 

 petioled, lanceolar, obtuse, frequently a little scolloped, smooth; 

 nerve and veins purple, or green ,^ according to the variety, from 

 3 to 6 inches long, and i to 1 inch broad; spikes terminal^ erect; 

 flowery dirty white, spotted with purple. The odour of the 



■ B 



plant when crushed is ferny, the taste peculiar, and not dis- 

 agreeable. ' ■ 



Justicia procumbens, Linn, Wight. /<?., t 1539, a 



v^e of the South Deccan and Ceylon. [ Veni. — Ghati-pitpapra 



{Mi 



)] is a small plant, very abundant 



in the rainy season. The whole herb is gathered when in flower 



and dried. 



disagreeabl 



as a substitute for Fumaria, the true Pit-p5pra. According to 

 Ainslie the juice of the leaves is squeezed into the eye in cases of 

 ophthalmia (II. 246). 



Description. — Stem procumbent, diffuse; leaves lanceo- 

 late-elliptic or rounded, glabrous or sparingly hairy; spikes 

 compressed, slender ; calycine segments lanceolate, membranous 

 on the margin, minutely ciliated ; bracts of the same shape and 

 shorter than the calyx ; flowers small, pale purple ; root slender, 

 long, woody, straight, with numerous slender stems spreading 



from the crown. The bitterness of \he plant is due to an 

 alkaloid. 



Justicia picta, Rozb. Bheede, Ilort: Mai. ru, t. 60; Bot. 

 Mag,, t. 1870, a well-known garden shrub, is used medicinally 

 in the same manner as Adhatoda Vasica. The variegated variety 

 is called 'White Adulsa,' and the dark-leaved kind 'Black 

 Adulsa'; the first is, according to Rumphius (vi., 35), used 

 pounded with the milk of the cocoanut to reduce swelHngs 

 Loureiro states that the leaves are emollient and resolvent, and 



inflamed 



mil 



Justicia Ecbolium, now Ecbolium Linneanum 



Kurz, Wall. PI As. Rar. in,, 1. 108; EotMag., t 1 847, is a small 



III.— 7 



