ACANTHACE^. 55 



Commerce. — The tliied flowering branches 

 shops. Value, Rs. 3| per maund of 37i lbs. 



RHINACANTHUS COMMUNIS, ISTees. 



+ 



Fig.—Bot. Mag., t. 325; Rheede, Eort. Mai. ix., t. 69. 

 Hab. — Deccan Peninsula, Ceylon. Cultivated throughout 



India. The leaves and root. 



Vernacular. 



ni 



malli [Tarn.), Nagamalle {Tel), Puzhuk-koUi, 



N 



History, Uses, &C. — Indian works on Materia Medica 



uice 



and the root bark of this plant as a remedy for the afPection 

 of the skin known to Europeans in India as Dhobie's itch, 

 Malabar itch, &c. {Tinea circinata tropica.) Whichever part 



m 



with 



several suc- 



cessive days to the affected place. Native testimon^ 



its efficacy is very strong. (Confer. Makhzan-el-Adwiija, article 

 "Palak-JuM.") Ainslie, speaking of the Justicia nasuta, Linn., 

 says:— "This root fresh, when bruised and mixed with Hme' 

 juice, is considered as a sovereign application for ringworms 

 and other cutaneous affections ; the leaves are also employed 

 for the same pui-poses. The plant is the Pukolli, also Feolcolli 

 of the Hart. Mai. (IX., p. 135, t. 69). I have taken the liberty 

 of giving it the EngUsh name of Nagamullie, by which it is 

 universaUy known in Lower India." {Mat. Ind II p 216 ) 

 Roxburgh in his Flora Indica (I., p. 121) states" that be- 

 sides Its use as a remedy for ringworm, milk boiled on the 



roots 18 reckoned 

 roots, he also says 



Naga 



of poisonous snakes, 



the Cobra-di-capello. E. communis is yery common in gardens 

 and grows wild upon the Western Ghauts. Roxburgh gives 

 Yfithikaparni as the Sanskrit name, bnt ihU «or«„ ;„ „f^i.- ^^ x._ 



