556 UMBELLIFEE^-C0MP0SITJ5. App. C. 



UMBELLTFKR^. 



Hydbocotyle Asiatica, Linn. 



The Asiatic Pennywort has recently been discovered to be a valuable 

 remedy in leprosy, scrofula, venereal, and other complaints. The native 

 doctors, however, have hitherto considered it serviceable only in bowel 

 complaints and fevers, administering it in the form of an infusion of the 

 toasted leaves in combination with fenugreek. It has a bitter, pungent, 

 disagreeable taste, and when bruised gives off a peculiar offensive odour. 

 The active principle of the plant is said to be due to a thick pale-yellow 

 oil or extract, which has been called Vellarine, from the 1'amul name 

 of the plant, " VuUarei." Its Telinga name is " Babassa ;" its Hindu, 

 " Thulkura ;" and its Cinghalese, " Heen-gotookola." By the latter people 

 it is used as an anthelmintic. Though named Asiatica by botanists, it is 

 by no means confined to that continent, but is spread very generally 

 throughout the tropics. It has creeping stems, and tufts of roundish 

 kidney-shaped leaves. 



CIIINCHONACE^. 

 Hymenodyction excelsum, Wall. (= Cinchona excelsa, Roxb.) 



Roxburgh supposed this tree to belong to the same genus as the Peruvian 

 barks, but no species of true CMnchona has ever been found wild in the 

 Eastern hemisphere. The present tree grows to a large size and yields 

 a thick bark, the inner coatings of wliich possess the bitterness and astrin- 

 gency of the real Peruvian bark, especially when fresh ; but the bitterness, 

 though more durable, is not so quickly communicated to the taste. It 

 is called " Bundaroo" by the Telingas. 



COMPOSITE. 



Verbesina cinerea, Less. (= Conyza cinerea, Linn.). 



A low-growing annual plant, widely spread throughout the tropics of 

 the old world, and considered by the Hindus to possess medicinal virtues, 

 a decoction of the entire herb being administered in febrile affections in 

 order to promote perspiration. It is the " Seera shengalaneer " of the 

 Tamuls, and the " Gherutti Kamma " of the Telingas. 



AUCKLANDIA COSTUS, Folc. 



In an elaborate memoir upon this plant, Dr. Falconer has shown it 

 to be the source of the celebrated " Costus " of the ancients, which was 

 previously referred to the Costus Araiicus, Linn. ( = Costus speciosus, Sm.), 

 a plant belonging to the order Zingiberacece. It is a gregarious herbace- 



