156 



greenish-white ; berry globose, of the same size and colour as an 

 orange ; seeds several, light-grey, silky, furnishes the powerful 

 poisonous principle Strychnine, so valuable in paralysis of the lower 

 extremities ; used also as a tonic in bowel-complaints. Native name 

 " Kajra." Extremely common throughout the Warree Country 

 and Corican southward. The wood is exceedingly bitter, particu- 

 larly that of the root, and is used in the cure of intermittent fevers. 

 3. POTATORUM, Linn. Fil. Suppl. 148. A tree; leaves very 

 shortly-petioled, elliptic-acute, glabrous, membranaceous ; corymbs 

 axillary, opposite, shorter than the leaf ; berry I -seeded; flowers 

 white, odorous ; berries black, half inch in diameter. Arawud 

 jungles, Dr. Gibson ; Southern Maratha Country, Law. The seeds 

 are used for clearing muddy-water, hence called Clearing-nuts. 



XCIL GENTIANE.E. 



1. OPHELIA, Don. 



1. O MINOR, Griseb. in DC. Proff. 9, p 126. A small, erect, 

 herbaceous plant ; stem subterete, filiform, sparingly branched ; 

 branches erect, 1 to 3-flowered ; leaves short, cordate-ovate, or 

 ovate-glabrous, obscurely 3-nerved, cauline ones sessile, terminal 

 cyme lax, 3 to 5-flowered ; flowers of a beautiful blue, with a pale 

 spot at the base of each of the four segments. In springy, wet 

 ground on the highest Ghauts opposite Bombay ; flowers in July. 



2. MULTIFLQRA, Dalz. in Hook. Jour. Bot. ii, p 135. Stem 

 quadrangular, 4-winged, ascending, densely-leafy ; leaves round- 

 ovate, stem-clasping, 5-nerved, mucronulate, glabrous, decussate ; 

 cymes many-flowered ; calyx divisions lanceolate-acuminate; corolla 

 white, 4-divided ; segments ovate-elliptic, their rounded pits sur- 

 rounded by long fringes; filaments united at the very base. Ma- 

 hableshwur. Syn. Swertia decussata, Nimmo in Grah. Cat. Bomb. 

 PL p 249. Forms an excellent substitute for Gentian. Sold in 

 the bazar at Marh as a bitter. 



3. PAUCIFLORA, Dalz. loc. cit. iii, p 21 1 . Stem erect, 4-winged, 

 glabrous, branched towards the top ; leaves sessile, lanceolate-acu- 

 minate, 3 nerved ; cymes few-flowered ; calyx segments subulate, as 

 long as the corolla; corolla white, 4-divided, the segments obovate- 

 elliptic, their pits large, round, covered with a fringed scale, and 

 surrounded by a short fringe. The Ghauts ; flowers in September. 



2. EXACUM, Linn. 



1. BICOLOR, Roxb. Fl Ind. i, 397. Herbaceous, erect, two 

 feet high; stem quadrangular; leaves sessile, ovate lanceolate 

 acute, 5-nerved ; cyme terminal, contracted ; flowers large, white, 



