l-iQ Lieut. -Col. Madden on some Plants 



Dr. Royle (J. A. S. B. October 1832) got the root (x\o.49) from 

 Aiiiritsir. Its jn-opi-rties seem to be unknown; lie describes it 

 as havinii; a june bitter taste*. 



The Bishma ol" Dr. Ilaunlton is expressly stated to be a biUer, 

 which precludes the idea of its being Acunitum ferox, of which 

 the taste is sweet ; and Colonel Kirkpatrick, in his * Account of 

 Nepal,' p. 182, note, long since supposed it might be a kind of 

 Gentian. Dr. Royle conjectures that it may be ^iconitum hetcro- 

 phyllum (excellently ligured, ' Ulustr.' t. 13), the root of which, 

 called Atis, Patis, and Mahaushadham, 'the great drug,' is in 

 much estimation for its medicinal qualities. Atis is a vernacular 

 corruption of the Sanscrit Ativisha, ' overcoming poison, — 

 antidote,' (erroneously rendered suininum venenuni by Wallich,) 

 with the synonyms Upuvish, ' reverse of poison,' and Prativisha, 

 'against poison, an autidote'f; the last is the origin of the 

 vernacular Patis. This plant, however, is not quoted as indige- 

 nous to the east of Kumiion ; and we may therefore substitute 

 Gentiana Kurroo, Royle, which is much used in the xS'.W. 

 mountains, or Aconilum multifidum, a very abundant species in 

 the alpine Himalaya, " planta A. Anfhone affinis," Royle ; of this 

 or A. disaec/uin, Colonel Munro states (Hooker and Thomson's 

 Fl. Indica, p. 58) that " the roots are eaten in Kunawar as a 

 pleasant tonic." Dr. Royle's A. nmltijiduni is from that district. 

 A. Lycoctununi {U've, Royle) is as common in the Himalaya as in 

 Alpine Europe ; and its roots, which arc, 1 believe, harndess, 

 may also be so em ployed |. 



* Dr. Rovle distinguishes this Amritsir and Basehar dnig from the 

 common sort : according to him it is fusiform, externally black, somewhat 

 flattened and wrinkled, and in some respects resemblinfj the Bikh itself, 

 with a slifrht degree of bitterness and acrimony (Illustr. p. 4i<). Tiiis would 

 agree well with the roots of Wallich's fig. of Aconitum ferox (A. (lisscctum), 

 and with Colonel Muuro's fact of a Kunawar species being used as a tonic. 

 It appears, on the authority of Linnaus, that in certain cold climates the 

 root oi A. Xapellu.s is eaten with impunity. 



t It is the Jadwar or Zedoary of the Arabs and Persians. " Ideoque 

 dixit Aviccnna nihil esse ea prastantius ad ebibitum Napellum" (Royle, 

 Illustr. 50). In all probability this is purely an imagiiiark virtue. 



X Griffitli f Journals of Travels, ix. 37, 57) says, *' 1 hope before my re- 

 turn to iiave seen Coptis Teeta in flow er, and to have prove<l that the Beese 

 is different from that of Nepal." The Coptis, called Mishimi Tita, or 

 Bitter, from being indigenous to the Mishimi Mountains, a branch of the 

 Himalaya, bounding .Vssam to the east, is, like the best Chiretta, of a 

 yellow colour, " a pure intense bitter of some permanence, but without 

 aroma." He calls it a "valuable drug." It may be one of the rjikhmas. 

 In Hindustani, Bikhraan is explained by Shakespeare, "name of a medi- 

 cine or poison," j)eihaps from the Sanser. riahoma, uneven. Bee or Bih is 

 mcrelvthe Assamese form of Bish: thus we have Koni-bih (Croton liglium), 

 Naga-bih [Gordonia intcgriftjlia). ^Ir. Griffith (J. A. Soc. Berig. 183/, 

 331-3.'i5 1 mentions " the celebrated poi>on, Bee," (if the Ranunculacece (and 



