Apr. C. GENTIANACEiE. 559 



Htrychnos colubkina, Linn. 



The " Naga musadi " of the Tclingas, or " Koocliilaluta " of the Bengalese. 

 The wood of this siiccics is greatly esteemed by tlie natives as a remedy 

 for snake-bites, and is also given in cases of intermittent fever. It is a 

 climbing shrub with thick woody tendrils, elliptic-oblong, blunt-pointed, 

 three-nerved leaves, and small corymbs of yellowish flowers. 



gentianacea:. 



Ophelia Chirata, Griseb. (= Oentiana Chirayta, Koxb., and A<jaihoks 

 Cldrayta, Don.). 



The name " Chirata " or " Chirayta," by which this plant is commonly 

 known in India, is derived from the Sanscrit " Kirataticta." The dried 

 stems of the Chirata have long been famed amongst the natives of India as 

 a tonic and febrifuge ; and they have also gained considerable reputation 

 amongst European practitioners in India, who, however, have found them 

 to be more efficacious in the cure of intermittent fever when employed 

 in combination with the seeds of the Guilandina Bonducella, mentioned 

 above. It is an annual plant, two or three feet high, with smooth round 

 stems and opposite, ovate or somewhat cordate, acuminate leaves, marked 

 with from five to seven nerves, and bears yellow flowers. Chirata is 

 included in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. 



Ophelia angustifolia, Don. (= Sivertia angustifoUa, Ham.). 



The stems of this species are called " Pukaree Chirata " in the Hima- 

 layas, and are substituted for the true Chirata. The species is distinguished 

 by its stems being somewhat four-sided, by its much narrower, sharper- 

 pointed, obscurely three-nerved, short-stalked leaves, and by its white, 

 violet-spotted flowers. Both this and the true Chirata arc natives of the 

 Himalayas. 



Ophelia elegans, Wight. 



It has recently been discovered that the stems of this South Indian species 

 are made up into bundles in the same manner as the Himalayan Chiratas, 

 with which they have hitherto been confounded in the bazaars. The 

 plant, however, has a different native name, being called " Salaras " or 

 " Salajit " by the inhabitants of the Pulney hills ; but it is considered 

 equally efficacious as a febrifuge. It has obsoletely four-sided stems, 

 narrow, ovate-lanceolate, sessile, three-nerved leaves, tapering to a slender 

 point, and beautiful pale-blue flowers. 



