242 INDTAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



to cure diabetes but is not much thought of at present. In 

 Japan I. corunta is said to make the hair grow." (Watt.) 



Throughout the Tropical and subtropical India and 

 Ceylon. Trimen says that variety I. corunta, Linn, is considered 

 to be the original garden Balsam. The common garden Balsam 

 is a very variable plant. 



N. 0. RUTACE^]. 



219 Ritta graveolens, Linn. Var. angustifolia, 

 H.F.B.I., i. 485. 



Syn : — R. angustifolia, Pers. 



Vem : — Sudab, pismarum ; satari ; (H) ; Sadaf (Dec) ; 

 Arvada (Tarn) ; sadapa (Tel) ; Nagadab — sappu (Kan) ; Sadap 

 (Guz) ; satap (Bom). Ispund ; Erunel (B). 



Habitat : — Cultivated in India. 



" The species of the Genus Ruta are herbs or under shrubs 

 natives of the temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere. 

 The leaves are beset with small glands, containing a powerfully 

 smelling oil : they are pinnate or much divided. The flowers 

 are yellowish or greenish, and arranged in terminal corymbs 

 or racemes. The Calyx has four persistent sepals ; the petals 

 are four ; style one ; fruit capsular, 4-celled with 6-8 seeds in 

 each cell." 



The Common Rue (R. gravcolens, Linn.) a native of the 

 South of Europe is commonly cultivated in England. It is a 

 somewhat shrubby plant, 2-3ft. high, Avith pinnately divided 

 bluish green leaves and yellowish corymbose flowers. The 

 first that opens has usually ten stamens, the others have 

 eight stamens only. These stamens are of unequal length ; each 

 is bent inwards to touch the pistil, and after the pollen has 

 been shed it bends back again. The powerful fetid odour 

 and acrid taste of this plant depends on the presence of a 

 volatile oil (M. T. Masters). 



Parts used : - The leaves, herb and oil. 



