N. 0. RANUNCULACE.E. 35 



concave, soon falling r.ff. Petals 4, shorter than the sepals, 

 clawed. Stamens numerous, longer than the sepals, anthers 

 small. Ovary solitary, many-ovuled, stigma sessile, flat. Fruit 

 a black ovoid, glabrous berry containing numerous small seeds. 

 (Collett). The Baneberry of Britain. Hooker, f. and Thomson 

 say that the berry is black in the European and Himalayan 

 forms, white and red in the American. 



U*es: — Stewart remarks regarding this plant: — "1 have 

 found no trace of its being used or dreaded " by the hill people 

 on the Panjab Himalaya. It would be interesting to know 

 whether this is correct ; for it is curious that so useful a plant 

 should have escaped the notice of the natives of India. 

 Canadian doctors administer the root in snake-bite; and it is 

 said to be attended with much success in the treatment of 

 nervous diseases, rheumatic fever, chorea and lumbago. The 

 berries were formerly used internally for asthma and scrofula, 

 and externally for skin complaints. Baneberry Root is largely 

 exported into Europe and used to adulterate the root of 

 Helleborus niger. Mr. Frederick Stearns describes the root 

 as violently purgative. (Watt). 



27. Cimicifuga foetida, Linn, h.f.bk.i., i. 30. 



From Latin cimex, a bug ; fugare to drive away. 



Vera: — Jiunti (Pb.). 



Habitat: — Temperate Himalaya, from Bhotan to Gores and 

 Kashmir ; altitude 7-12, 00U ft. Patarnala forest, Simla. 



A perennial, more or less pubescent herb. Stems 3-6 ft., erect, 

 leafy, branched. Leaves 6-18 in., pinnately compound ; leaflets 

 1-3 in., rarely more, ovate or lanceolate, deeply and sharply 

 toothed, terminal leaflet 3-lobed. Flowers nearly regular, 

 hardly J in. diam., white, crowded in short or long racemes, 

 solitary in the axils of the upper leaves, and combined in a 

 terminal, sometimes large and spreading panicle. Sepals and 

 petals 5-7 (no clear distinction between them), imbricate, ovate, 

 concave; one or two of the inner ones deeply 2-lobed, the tips 

 white, broad, notched. Stamens numerous, ultimately longer 



