132 NYOTAGINEM 



alkaloldal reagents, nothing of interest was detected. No 

 principle reacting with ferric salts was present. 



MIRABILIS JALAPA, Linn. 



Fig. — Bot. Mag., t. 371 ; Bheede, Hort. Mal.x., f. 75. Mar- 

 vel of Peru [Fng.), Belle de nuit [Fr.]. 



Hab. — West Indies. Cultivated in India. The leaves 

 and root. 



VeniacuIar,~G\i\ A'bbas {Pers., Ind.), Krishna- keli (Beiuj.), 

 Anthinarlu, Patharachi (Tarn.), Batharachi (Tel), 



Madhyanhamallige ( Ca«.), Antimalari (ifa^.)^ Cr^l^tas, Gulbas 

 (Mar.). 



History, Uses, &C. — Five varieties of this plant, wth 

 red, white, yellow, red and white, and red and yellow flowers, 

 were introduced from the West Indies in 1596, and must have 



been carried by the Portuguese to the East shortly afterward . 

 as the plant is said to have been introduced into Persia in the 

 reign of Shah Abbas the first, and was established on the 

 Malabar Coast in the time of Yan Eheede. It was at one time 

 supposed to produce the Jalap of commerce. M. J(dapa has 

 been given the Sanskrit name of Sandhvakali, or " evening 

 flower,'' but is best know^n by its Persian name of Gul A'bbas, 

 or " flower of A'bbas " ; it is a favorite flower of the Persians, 

 who cultivate it in ornamental flower pots. The Arabs call it 

 Shab-el-leili, which is evidently a translation of the French 

 " belle de nuit " ; it is the Ffda (juadro/ioras, or " four o'clock 

 flower," of the Portuguese, as its flowers open at that hour 

 in the afternoon. 



In India the leaves boiled in water are applied as amalurant to 

 boils and buboes, and the juice, which is considered to be very 

 cooling, is applied to the body to allay the heat and itching in the 

 ""^ arising from dyspepsia ; the U. fehrilis or U. ah ingestis 



mn physicians, which the Hindus consider to be caused 

 u the blood . The seeds are said to be sometimes used 



urticaria 



to 



root 



