136 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



equalling the sepals, very delicate or soon falling off or 0« 

 Stamens 8-12. Style 3-8-iid. Capsule dehiscent transversely, 

 inclosed in sepals, the free portions of which also separate by 

 transverse division and come away with the lid. Seeds 

 numerous, muricate, dark brown. The flowers are yellow and 

 open only for a few hours in the morning. Flowers all the year 

 round. 



Parts used :— The plant, leaves, and seeds, 



Uses : — The plant has long been used as a domestic 

 remedy by the Hindus, and was early noticed by European 

 writers. Ainslie writes thus of P. quadrifida which posesses 

 the same properties: — "The bruised fresh leaves of this acid 

 and pleasant-tasted purslane are prescribed by the Tamool 

 practitioners as an external application in akki, erysipelas ; an 

 infusion of them is also ordered as a diuretic in dysuria, to the 

 extent of half-a-tea-cupful twice daily." He further mentions 

 that in Jamaica, P. oleracea is employed as a cooling and 

 moistening herb in " burning fevers." Bruised, it is applied 

 to the temples to allay " excessive heat " and pain, and that 

 the juice is " of use in spitting of blood." Dymock says that 

 both species are supposed by Arabian and Persian writers 

 to be cold and moist, and to have detergent and astringent 

 properties. The plant and seeds are recommended by them 

 in a great many diseases of the kidneys, bladder, and lungs, 

 which are supposed to be caused by hot or bilious humours. 

 They are also praised as an external application in burns, 

 scalds, and various forms of skin disease (Mat. Med., W. Ind.). 

 Moodeen Sheriff describes the seeds as demulcent, slightly 

 astringent, and diuretic ; the leaves as refrigerant, astringent, 

 diuretic, and emollient. He believes, both to be " very useful" 

 in some cases of strangury, dysuria, irritation of the bladder, 

 hgematuria, hsematemesis, haemoptysis, and gonorrhoea. " In 

 addition to this," he writes, " the seeds seem to have some 

 beneficial influences over the mucous membrane of the intestinal 

 canal, and therefore relieve tormina, tenesmus, and other dis- 

 tressing symptoms in many cases of dysentery and mucous 

 diarrhoea. This is particularly the case when they are combined 



