]8S OPHELIA CHIRATA 



the short style which terminates in two slender recurved stigmas, 

 ovules numerous, inserted on two double (sutural) parietal 

 placentas. Fruit a small one-celled capsule, pericarp transpa- 

 rent, yellowish, dehiscing from above septicidally into two valves. 

 Seeds very numerous, minute, many-sided, angular, testa pitted, 

 embryo very small in fleshy endosperm. 



Habitat. This species is found in the mountainous parts of 

 North India, Sikkim, Kumaon, Khasia, and especially Nepal, at 

 an altitude of 5000 9000 feet. It may be readily distinguished 

 from the other species, many of which have a strong superficial 

 resemblance, by its minute seeds, tetramerous flowers, and double 

 nectaries. The size of the corolla varies, and is sometimes 

 scarcely longer than the calyx ; it also presents some difference in 

 colour, being described as yellow, greenish, or purplish, or as 

 combining these colours, by different authors. Wallich's figure 

 above quoted is probably this species, but the characteristic 

 nectaries are entirely omitted. The plant is not yet in cultivation 

 in this country. 



Roxb., PI. Indica, ii, p. 71; Grisebach, in DC. Prod., ix, p. 127; 

 0. B. Clarke, in Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond., xiv, p. 447 ; LindL, 

 PI. Medica, p. 519. 



Official Part and Names. CHIRATA; the entire plant (B. P.). 

 The entire plant (Chirata, Chiretta), collected when the fruit begins 

 to form (I. P.). CHIRETTA; the herb and root of Agathotes 

 Chirayta, Don, (U. S. P.). 



Collectionj General Characters, and Composition. The entire plant 

 is collected about the time the flowers begin to decay, or rather when 

 the fruit begins to form ; it is then commonly tied up with a slip 

 of bamboo into flattish bundles, each of which is about 3 feet long, 

 and from 1| to 2 Ibs. in weight. The stems have an orange-brown 

 or purplish colour, and an average thickness of that of a goose- 

 quill ; the roots are usually simple and tapering, and from 2 to 4 

 inches long, and frequently half an inch thick. The stems are 

 rounded below and throughout nearly their whole length, and very 

 faintly quadrangular above, and are branched in a decussate 



