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 Concan 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, elli|)tic-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. 



XCII. GENTIANE^. 



1. OPIiELIA-, Don. 



1. O Minor, Griseb. in DC. Prorl. 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. MuLTiFLORA, 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. 

 PI. 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, 



