N. 0. BERBERIDE^. 65 



with honey. A decoction of the root-bark is used as a wash for 

 unhealthy ulcers, and is said to improve their appearance and 

 promote cicatrization. * * Rasot, mixed with honey, is said to 

 be an useful application to aphthous sores." (Dutt's Materia 

 Medica of the Hindus). 



50. B. Lycium, Boyle, h.f.b.i., i. 10. 



Vera. : — The same as those for B. aristata. 



Habitat : — Western Himalaj^a, in dry, hot places, from G-arh- 

 wal to Hazara, Jaunsar, Tehri and Garhwal, outer Himalayas 

 3-7,000 ft. Simla, 9,000 ft. 



An erect rigid shrub. Bark white or pale grey. Branches 

 angular. Leaves sessile or subsessile, tough, coriaceous, narrowly- 

 lanceolate, obovate, oblong, sub-persistent, not lacunose, 1J-2J 

 by i~i in., inner ovate, very spinulose, or the teeth few and 

 small or entire iCollett.) ; upper surface bright green, lower 

 paler ; venation lax. Racemes shortly stalked, simple or com- 

 pound, longer than the leaves, often corymbose, drooping, 

 barely longer than the leaves. Flowers pale yellow, stalks 

 slender, \ in., style short, but distinct. Berry ovoid, violet, 

 covered with bloom. 



Part used : — The extract, known as Rasout. 



Rasot or Rasavanti, used as an antidote against opium- 

 habit, by Bhagwanlal Indraji (Pandit J. Indraji.) 



Dr. Royle says : — " I have myself occasionally prescribed 

 it, and the native mode of application makes it peculiarly eligi- 

 ble in cases succeeding acute inflammation, when the eye 

 remains much swollen. The extract is, by native practitioners, 

 in such cases rubbed into a proper consistence with a little 

 water, sometimes with the addition of opium and alum, and 

 applied in a thick layer over the swollen eyelids ; the addition 

 of a little oil I have found preferable, as preventing the too 

 rapid desiccation. Patients generally express themselves as 

 experiencing considerable relief from the application." 



It is mentioned by the author of the Periplus, who lived 

 about the first century, as an export from the Indies, and that 

 9 



