app. c. acanthacevE— labiate. 561 



Herpestis Monnieria, Ilumh. (= Gratiola Monnieria, Linn.) 



The Ciughalese consider this plant to possess febrifuge virtues : they 

 call it " Loonoo Weela." In India its expressed juice is mixed with 

 petroleum, and used as a topical application in rheumatism. It is a little 

 creeping plant, common in moist places throughout the tropics of both 

 hemispheres, and has obovate-cuneate leaves, bearing solitary long-stalked 

 pale-blue flowers in their axils. The Bengalese call it " Adha bimi," and 

 the Telingas " Sambrani-chittoo." 



- ACANTHACE^. 



■ Andbogkaphis FA'siCTTLA.TA, Nees ab Esse7i. {:= Justicia paiiiculata, 



■ Bunu.). 



' This is the celebrated Creyat, the principal ingredient in the famous 

 bitter tincture called drogue amere, so highly esteemed in India for its 

 tonic and stomachic properties, and also as a febrifuge. The entire plant 

 is employed, the intensely bitter principle being foimd in all parts of it. It 

 is an annual, with stifi' quadrangular stems from one to two feet high, 

 bearing smooth lanceolate leaves, attenuated at the base. In the Telinga 

 language it is called " JSTella vemoo ;" in Bengalese, " Kala-megh ;" in 

 Hindustanee, " Calapuath ;" and in Tamul, " Kiriat," hence the common 

 Indian name of the plant, Great or Creyat. 



JusTiciA Adhatoda, Linn. (= Adhatoda Vasica, Nees ab Essen.) 



The flowers, leaves, and roots have a bitterish and somewhat aromatic 

 taste, and are supposed to possess antispasmodic iiroperties. An infusion 

 of them, especially of the flowers, is given to prevent the return of rigour 

 in intermittent fever. In Ceylon it is i;sed as an expectorant for childicn. 

 The Bengalese call the plant " Bakus ;" the Tamuls, " Adhatotley ;" the 

 Cinghalese, " Paawetta ;" the Telingas, " Adasara ;" and in Sanscrit it is 

 called "Vasica" or "Uroos." It forms a tree fifteen or twenty feet high, 

 with elliptic oblong leaves, attenuated to both cuds, and pale-coloured 

 flowers with purple stripes and rusty spots. 



LABIATE. 



OciMUM SANCTUM, Linn. 



The Tamul physicians prescribe a decoction of the root of this common 

 Indian sj^cics of Basil in fever cases, and the juice of the leaves in catarrhal 

 aflections. The Brahmins consider the plant sacred to Vishnu, and cultivate 

 it in the vicinity of temples, while the ^lalays strew it upon the graves 

 of their departed friends. The whole plant generally has a purphsh tinge, 

 and grows about a foot high : it has long-stalked, downy, oval leaves, 



2 o 



