50 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



cordate, glabrous, thin, acute or acuminate. Petiole l-J-3 in., 

 slender, thickened and curved at base. Flowers greenish-yellow, 

 or yellow, large for the order, f in. diam. Males in clusters 

 of 1-6 on slender branches of a drooping panicle exceeding the 

 leaves. Females in shorter racemes, solitary. Male-flower: — 

 stamens, free, but wrapped in the petals. Female flower : — 

 Stigma dilated, laciniate, Ovaries 3. Drupe of 1-3, ripe carpels 

 size of pea, somewhat ovoid, apicnlate, smooth, red, succulent-. 

 Endocarp smooth. Seed generally curved round the intruded 

 endocarp. 



Uses : — The following pharmaceutical preparations can be 

 made of the plant : — 



1. Tincture of Gulwel. — Take 4 ounces of the stem, not 

 very young and thin, nor very old and thick, but of medium age 

 and size, together with the aerial roots (Kanjilal) ; cut into 

 thin slices, and steep them in a pint of proof-spirit for seven 

 days and press out of a Tincture-press. Dose 1-2 drachms. 



2. Gold Infusion. — Take one ounce of the stem, as directed 

 above, cut into thin slices, steep them in ten ounces of cold 

 water for four hours, and strain. Dose 1-3 ounces. 



3. Extract of Gulwel. — Tbe well-grown stem is sliced 

 finely and bruised in cold water, well steeped in it for four hours 

 and then kept on a slow fire, until it thickens into a semi-solid or 

 almost pliable mass. Dose 5-15 grains. 



4. Gulwel " Satwa" which means the separation of the 

 solid parts, principally the Starch. Slices of a well-formed stem 

 are finely pounded into a pulp with water and strained. The 

 water so strained is allowed to remain in a pan, undisturbed. 

 Much white powdery matter will, after a time, deposit at the 

 bottom of the pan. The supernatant water is removed and the 

 deposit allowed to dry in the air or in the sun, but never heated 

 on fire. Pandit Jay a Krishna Indraji says that, as soon as the 

 •deposit settles, the sooner it is dried the better, The quantity 

 thus obtained is small, but clear white. If the mashed product, 

 together with the water, be left over-night, the deposit, after 

 settling down, turns blackish, although a larger quantity of the 

 starch and other solids is obtained from the sediment. Dose 



