LABIATJEJ. 315 



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and numerous minute flowers, forming knotted clusters upon a 

 slender spike ; eaclx flower is furnished witli a small bract^ and 

 when magnified tlie bracts and calices are seen to be densely 

 covered witb jointed bairs. The calyx is unequally 4-cleft, tbe 

 corolla labiate, and of a red colour, the calyx and flower after 

 being soaked in water for 24 hours only measured ^ inch in 

 length. The leaves when magnified present a mossy surface, 

 which is thickly pitted^ each pit containing a granule of red^ 

 resinified essential oil. 



Chemieal comj)ositmi. — The leaves contain an aromatic essen- 

 tial oil having a minty odour, a red^ tasteless, acid resin, and 

 some tannic acid giving a green precipitate with ferric chloride. - 

 The bitterness is not due to an alkaloid. The leaves containing 

 10 per cent, of moisture yielded 13 per cent* of ash. 





ZIZIPHORA TENUIOR, Linn, 



Hab. — Persia, Beluchistan. The herb. 

 Vernacular. — Mishk-i-taramashia (Ind. Bazars), 



History, Uses, &C. — The Mahometans of the East 

 identify this plant with the C^y^s- or '^ wild thyme " of the Greeks. 

 It is the t^-^ ]j)aiLx^ of Ibn Sina, who describes it as very hot 

 and dry. Haji Zein in the IWdiarld states that it is called 

 Rang in Shiraz, and that the milk of goats feeding upon it 

 becomes bloody. He describes it as a valuable exj)ectorant and 

 lithontriptic in doses of one mithkal, but says that it sometimes 

 causes hacniaturia. He also mentions its use by Galen as a 

 suppository in painful affections of the uterus, and by Ishak as a 

 carminative addition to purgative medicines. The drug is also 

 said to be a powerful aphrodisiac. Aitchison states that the 

 peasants in the Harirud Valley and Khorasan call the plant 

 Kakuti, 



Description. — A very small plant, 2 to 3 inches high; 

 root as long as the plant, single, woody, with a few small fibres. 

 The stems, which are 2 to 5 in number, are also woody, and 

 branch from the ground ; they are thickly set with leaves and 



