﻿OK THE i* L ANTF F INDIA. 349 



By way of example, I annex the descriptions of five 

 Indian plants ; but am unable,at this season, to re-exa- 

 mine them, and wholly despair of leisure to exhibit 

 others, of which 1 have collected the names, and most 

 of which I have seen in blossom. 



I. MUCHUCUNDA. 

 Twenty, fron One Base. 



Cal. Five-parted, thicl ; leafleats oblong. 



Cor. Five petals, oblong. 



St am. From twelve to fifteen, rather long, fertile; 

 five shorter, sterile. Income flowers, the wiprolifis 

 stamens longer. 



Pist. Style cylindric. 



Perk. A capsule, wth five cells, many-seeded. 



Seeds. ^Roundish, compressed, winged. 



Leaves. Of many dfferent shapes. 



Uses. The quality efrigerant. 



One flower, steeped i whole night in a glass of wa- 

 ter, forms a cooling mucilage, of use in virulent go- 

 norrhoeas, The Muohucunda, called also Pichuca, is 

 exquisitely fragrant • its calyx is covered with an 

 odoriferous dust ; and the dried flowers in fine pow- 

 der, taken as snuff, are said, in a Sanscrit book, al- 

 most instantaneously to remove a nervous head-ach. 



Note. This plaat differs a little from the Penta- 

 fetes of Linnteus. 



II. BILVA, or MALURA. 

 Many on the Receptacle, md One. 



Cal. Four or five cleft beneath. 



