Ai'P. C. ' EBENACE^— APOCYNACE^. 657 



oils plant with a perennial root sending up annual erect stems six or seven 

 feet high, bearing large, somewhat lyrate pinuatifid leaves. Costiis-root 

 is collected in large quantities in Cashmere, but the only use made of 

 it there is for perfuming bales of shawls, and thus protecting them from 

 insects, the great bulk of it being exported to China and Persia, in both of 

 which countries it is highly esteemed as a medicine, the Persian doctors 

 regarding it as an efficacious remedy in nearly all the ills human nature is 

 heir to. Ainslie says that the native practitioners in India prescribe an 

 infusion of it as a stomachic and tonic, and also in the advanced stages 

 of typhus fever. In Cashmere it is called " Koot," which agrees with 

 the Arabic " Koost :" in Bengal it is known by the name of " Putchuk." 



Emilia son'chifolia, D. G. (= Caccdiu sonchifolia, Linn.). 



" Shudimudi " of the Bengalese, or " Kadoo-para " of the Cinghalese. 

 An annual, with erect or spreading, branching stems, and variously shaped 

 leaves, the lower ones being usually lyrate, and the upper more or less 

 amplexicaul, with blunt or sharp auricles. On the Malabar coast the 

 native practitioners, according to Piheede, consider a decoction of this plant 

 to possess antifebrile qualities. 



EBENACE^. 



DiosPYROS Emcryopteris, Pers. (= Einbryopteris (jluUnifcra, Roxb.). 



An American species of Diosj^iyros (D. Virginiuna, Linn.) is employed 

 as a febrifuge by rustic practitioners in the United States, and O'Shaugh- 

 nessy states that the bark of the present tree has been given in India, but 

 with doubtful results, in the treatment of intermittent fevers. It is well 

 known as the Gaub-tree, and the viscid, excessively astringent juice of its 

 fruit is used for tarming, and for paying the seams of boats. It is a 

 middle-sized tree, with long elliptic-lanceolate, smooth, coriaceous leaves, 

 and whitish flowers. 



APOCYNACE.E. 



Opkioxylon serpentinum, Willd. 



" Chivau amelpodi " in Tamul ; " Chota Chand " in Hindostanee ; 

 " Chandra " in Bengalee ; " Patalganni " in Telinga; and " Aikawaireya " 

 in Cinghalese. The root of the Chandra is very bitter, and is administered 

 by the Telinga and also by the Javanese doctors in the form of a decoction, 

 as a remedy in fever cases. It is one of the numbei'less supposed remedies 

 for the bites of venomous snakes, but, as in many other similar instances, 

 its virtues are fanciful, and its gi'eat reputation is probably ascribable to the 

 old doctrine of signatures, the plant being a climber and ha\'ing a twining 

 stem. 



