VEBBENAGE^. 69 



^arai water in asthma, and it enters into tlie composition of 

 several compound decoctions for diseases of the lungs. A 

 confection called Bhargi-guda is prepared with a decoction 

 of the root, and the ten drugs called Dasamuhy chebulic 

 myrobalans, treacle, and aromatics. An oil prepared with the 

 root is recommended for external application in the marasmus 

 of children. {Chakradatta.) 



The properties of P. herbacea agree much more nearly with 

 those attributed to Bhdrangi in the Nighantas, than do those 

 of Olerodendron serratu?n, although the latter plant is at the 

 present time in use as Bhurangi throughout the greater part of 

 India. Dutt attributes the drug to C. Siphon ant hits, but the 

 samples Ave obtained from Bengal consisted €>i the stems of 

 0. serratum. Bombay was formerly supplied from the Circars 

 with P. herbacea, but now uses Q. serratum. Although the root 

 of P. herbacea has been known from ancient times, it is only 

 within the last few years that its botanical origin has been 

 identified. It was exhibited at the Madras Exhibition of 1855, 

 under the name of Gantu Bharangi, among several chemical 

 and pharmaceutical products. It is mentioned in Sir Walter 

 Elliot's Flora Andhricay published in 1859, and referred to an 

 unknown species of Cleroden<Jron, which, he says, might be 

 called acatdis ; the plant is there said to grow about Lammasingi 

 to the west of Vizagapatam^ whence it is exported to Madras 

 and Bombay to the amount of several thousand rupees yearly. 



W. Ferguson in 1861 identified the Gantu Bharangi of South- 



ern India with P. herbacea^ and in a pamphlet published at 

 Colombo in 1887 gave a figure of the plant and its root. 



Description. — A small undershrub; flowering branches 

 1 — 4 inches, springing up after the jungle fires. Leaves 4 by 

 2 — 3 inches, obtuse, mature microscopically dotted above, 

 minutely deciduously pubescent beneath, nerves 5 pair. 

 Corymbs 1| inch in diameter, pubescent, somewhat dense; 

 peduncle 0—1^ inch. Calyx -^-^ inch, closely pubescent; lobes 

 ovate, obtuse. Corolla ^ inch, greenish- white, hairy in the 

 throat, 4f-lobed, obscurely 2-lipped. Drupe 5 inch in diameter. 



