226 The Flowering Plants of Western India. 



the habit and fruit are different. The species here given wonld 

 naturally be taken to belong to Scrophularinece. 



1. PEDALIUM. Calyx small, 5 divided, capsule hard, spinous, 

 indehiscent, 2 or 3-celled, with one or two seeds in each cell. 



2. SESAMUM. Calyx as in the last, capsule without spines, 

 2 to 4-valved, seeds many in each cell, obliquely oblong. 



1. PEDALIUM. 



P. murex. A low, thick-stemmed, succulent herb, nearly 

 smooth, leaves oval, obtuse, waved, or slightly lobed, flowers 

 small, solitary, yellow, with 2 black glands at the base of the 

 pedicel, fruit ovoid, with four conical spurs from the base. 

 Karontia, yoksurak. 



Sandy shores of Gnzerat, Katywar, and N. Konkan. Fruit called 

 goTcru (D.). The root is deep orange-coloured, and the whole plant 

 has an odour of musk (Don.). 



" The plant has the peculiar property of thickening milk or 

 water. If bits of the stem, leaves, and roots be mixed for a few- 

 seconds in milk or water, the liquid turns thick and mucilaginous, so 

 that it can be raised several feet; out of the basin by the hand, and 

 this, without acquiring colour, taste, or smell. The Singhalese in 

 this way thicken the milk sent round for sale to Europeans." 

 Tennent. 



2. SESAMUM. 



S. Indicum. Erect, slightly hairy, leaves ovate, oblong, 

 lower ones often lobed, flowers axillary, solitary, large and 

 handsome, with an offensive smell, capsule oblong, erect, some- 

 what 4-sided. Til, tilli, the oiljingali. 



Commonly cultivated for the oil produced from the seeds : native 

 country doubtful (-H".)- The flower is very like that of foxglove, but 

 smaller, and varies in colour from purple to rose and white. "The 

 lamp-black, which is the chief ingredient of Indian ink, is said to 

 be made in China, by collecting the smoke of the oil of sesame" 

 (Chambers). 



The seeds are celebrated in literature. " Open sesame," Arabian 

 Nights. "That old enchanted Arabian grain, the sesame, which 

 opens doors, not of robbers, but of king's treasures," Ruskin, who 

 gave to his lectures on " the treasures hidden in books," the fantastic 

 name of " Sesame and the lilies." 



To this order also belongs Martynia diandra, an American weed, 

 common in gardens and waste places, called tiger's claw, devil's claw, 

 and locally, Vinchu dkara. The name-child of the devil, a tiger and 

 a scorpion, ought to bear evil in its looks, but this is, in fact, a harm- 

 less-looking plant, with large, cordate, glutinous leaves, and hand- 

 some flowers, much like those of Sesamum. The capsule, to which the 

 names refer, is very hard, beetle- shaped, with two sharp hooks. 

 Another species seems to be called the unicorn plant. 



