NYOTAGINJS^, 131 



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Ainslie mentions the use of the root In powder, in the 

 quantity of a teaspoonful twice daily, as a laxative* In the 

 Pkarmacopma of India its successful use as an expectorant in 

 asthma is noticed, and it is said to act as an emetic when given 

 in large doses. This has been confirmed by the experience of the 

 French in the Antilles, where the plant is called Fatagon or 

 Patagonelle" Valeriane, In Western India the herb is used as a 

 diuretic in gonorrhoea, and as an external application the 

 pounded leaves are applied to dropsical swellings* In the rainy 

 season, when luxuriant, it is eaten as a potherb, after having 



3 its medicinal properties. The use of 

 the root In gonorrhoea appears to have been introduced by the 



remov 



Portuguese ; In the West Indies the plant Is known as Bejuco 

 de purgacion^ and is the popular remedy for that disease. A 

 decoction (1 oz, to a pint of water) is used in doses of a 

 wineglassful every hour. 



Description. — A common creeping weed on waste ground 



and roadsides ; stalks numerous^ about two feet long, slender, 

 procumbent; leaves cordate-ovate, unequal, opposite, edges 

 waved, tinged with red ; flowers small, sessile on the apex of the 

 pedicels, peduncles from the axils and ends of the branches ; fruit 

 oblongs dull green, or brownish, viscid, about the size of a 

 caraway, longitudinally 5-grooved, studded all over with glan- 

 dular hairs ; root twisted, often as thick as the finger when 

 fresh, whitish J fleshy, 2 to 3 -branched, a foot long or more ; 

 taste bitterish, nauseousv A microscopic section shows that 

 the parenchyme is loaded with needle-shaped crystals, other- 

 wise there is nothing peculiar. 



There are two varieties of the plant, one with white and 

 the other with red flowers; in Bengal the former is called 

 Svetapurna and the latter Gudha-purna, 



Chemical composition. — The whole plant was used for the 

 examination^ and, with the exception of minute traces of a 

 principle eolublo in ether, and atfording reactione with 



