546 ABOIDEM 



AMORPHOPHALLUS CAMPANULATUS, 



Blume. 



Fig.—Roxb. Cor. PL in., t 272 ; Bot. Mag., t 2812 ; Wight 

 /c, 785. 



Hab. — India. Mucli cultivated. TLe tubers. 



L 



Vernacular, — Jimi-kand {Hind.), 01 {Beng.), Surana {Mar., 

 G^us.), Suranu (Can.), Kafunai-kizliangu (Trtw.), Kanda-godda 

 ( TeL ) , Karuna-kiziLanna ( Mai. ) . 



History, Uses, &C- — This arum occurs as a wild plant 

 on tke banks of streams and also in several cultivated forms. 

 It is tbe Surana and OUa of Sanskrit writers, and among other 

 synonyms bears tbat of Arsogbna or "destroyer of piles/' For 

 medicinal use, Sarangadhara directs the tuber to be covered with 

 a layer of earth, roasted in hot ashes, and administered with the 

 addition of oil and salt. Several confections are also used, such 



r 



as the Laghuoiirana modaJca, Vrihat surana modakay 8fc, ; these 

 are made of the tubers of the plant with the addition of treacle, 

 aromatics (ginger and pepper) and Plumbago root, and are 

 given in doses of about 200 grains once a day in piles and dys- 

 pepsia. The dried tubers of the wild plant, peeled and cut into 

 segments, are sold in the shops under the name of Madan-mad. 

 The segments are usually threaded upon a string, and are about 

 as large as those of an orange, of a reddish-brown colour, 

 shrunken and wrinkled, brittle and hard in dry weather ; the 

 surface is mammillated. When soaked in water they swell up and 

 become very soft and friable, developing a sickly smell. A 

 microscopic examination shows that the root is almost entirely 

 composed of starch. Madan-mast has a mucilaginous taste, and 

 is faintly bitter and acrid ; it* is supposed to have restorative 

 powers, and is in much request ; it is fried in ghl with spices and 

 sugar. It is interesting to note that the tubers of the greater 

 Dracontia [Diosc, ii., 155) were preserved by the Greeks in 

 the same manner for medicinal use. The cultivated plant is 

 largely used as a vegetable ; under cultivation it loses much of 

 its acridity and grows to an enormous size. 



