548 A no IDE jE. 



CRYPTOCORYNE SPIRALIS, Fkch. 



Fig,~-Wig/d Icon., f. 773. 



Hab. — Marshy banks and standing water. Soutltcru 

 India. The rhizome. 



Vernacular. — I^attu-ati-vadayam ( Tarn.), Natti-ati-vasa 

 [TeL). 



History, Uses, &C- — Th« Ati-Tadayam of the Tamils 

 is the Atis of Northern India, and is the tuber of Aeon it mn 

 heteropJiyllmn. The country Atis of the Madras Presidency 

 has for along time been undetermined, until in 1888 Mr. M. A. 

 Lawson was able to refer it to Oryptocoryne spiralis and a 

 species of Lagenandra. Moodeen Sheriff says the root bears a 

 strong resemblance externally to Ipecacnanha, and he has used 

 it as a tonic and anti-periodic with children. It attracted 

 attention a few years ago through several packages of it 

 appearing in the London market as " False Ipecacuanha." It 

 is a well-known drug in Ceylon, where it is employed by the 

 native doctors in decoctions in combination with other drugs 

 as a remedy for infantile vomiting and cough, and in the case 

 of adults for abdominal complaints and fever. The Singhalese 



obtain the drug from India and value it at 4 annas per pound 

 retail . 



Description. — Leaves petioled, linear-lanceolate; spatho 

 sessile, much shorter than leaves, twisted ; ovary 5-celled. The 

 rhizome is about the thickness of a small quill. The drug 

 appears in broken pieces from i to 1^ inch long, annulated, of 

 grey or dark grey colour externally and white internally, 

 inodorous and acrid in taste. 



In the Oryptocoryne the annulations are not so frequent, and 

 the drug is more slender than in the Lagenandra. 



Chemical comjiosition.—The drug contains starch and numer- 

 ous bundles of raphides, but no alkaloidal active principle has 

 been separated. 



Lagenandra toxicaria, Bah., Bheede, Sort. Mai. xi., 



t. .>;5, is a marsh plant, three feet high, with a thick, creepiug. 



