140 AMARANTACEJE. 



History, Uses, &C, — This common annual plant is con- 

 sideredby some to be tbe Vitunna of Sanskrit writers ; when 

 young and tender it is eaten as a vegetable, but is considered to 

 be very heating. The seeds are considered an efficacious 

 remedy in diarrhoea. Indian Mahometan writers on Materia 

 Medica have adopted Sarvvali as a substitute for the ^p^rawiKi] of 

 Dioscoi-ides, and the Herba Britannica of Pliny, which has been 

 identified by Prol Muntingius of Groningen as Enmex Hydro- 

 lapaf/mm^ Huds., our AYater Dock, the Patience aquatique of 

 the French, and Wasserampfer of the Germans. The author 

 of the Mufandat-i'Nadri states that 180 grains of the seeds, 

 with an equal quantity of sugar-candy, taken daily in a cup of 

 milk, is a most powerful aphrodisiac. 



Dr.Watt(Z)zcf. 'Econ.Trod.Ind.,i\,2^0) states,onthe authority 

 ^ of the Rev. A. Campbellj that the Santals extract a medicinal oi 

 from the seeds. 



1 



Description, — Stem 1 to 3 feet, stout or slender, simple or 

 branched; leaves 1 to 6 inches^ narrow ; spikes solitary, few or 

 many, 1 to 8 by | to 1 inch ; peduncle slender; flowers white, 

 tipped with pink, glistening ; bracts much shorter than the acute 

 sejals. Seeds lenticular, brown, "polished, -^-^ of an inch in 

 diameter. . 



Chenikal compoHition^—The following is an analysis of the 

 finely powdered seeds : 



Oil 



6T6 



Kesin, soluble in ether ^^^ -^l 



Alcoholic extract 1'94 



Water extract 24'70 



Starch, &c 37*96 



^^^^^ ,.. 11-23 



Ash 



Moisture 



5-80 

 1080 



100-00 



