334 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



7. The colon ring matter is a reddish-brown, brittle resin of the formula 

 C 15 H 14 O g , and, up to the present, has resisted all attempts to obtain it in a 

 crystalline condition, It softens at about 100°, and melts at 100-110°. Dilute 

 alkalis dissolve it with a purple-violet coloration, and the corresponding 

 salts are obtained as violet, amorphous precipitates, on adding common salts 

 to these solutions. From its nature and properties, it appears possible that 

 it is allied to alkanin, 1S H 14r 4 , the colouring matter of the roots of the 

 Anchusa tinctoria. Alkanin is also of a resinous nature. It is possible, 

 therefore, that the coloring matter of the Ventilago madraspatana, for which 

 the name of ventilagin is proposed, is represented by alkanin containing two 

 additional hydroxyl groups.— J. Ch. S. T. 1894, p. 924 et seq. 



285. V. calyculata, Tulasne. h.f.b.l, i. 631. 



Syn : : — V. Madraspatana, Roxb., Roxb. 211. 



[King Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, Vol. 65 (1897) 379] con- 

 siders this to be a variety of V. Madraspatana, so also does 

 Duthie (Fl. of the Upper Gang. Plain, p. 162). 



Vern. : — Rai ohani (H.) ; Raktapita (B.) ; Bonga-sarjun, doe- 

 saraj, noduar fKol.) ; Bonga-sarjom (Santal) ; Raktapita kala 

 lag (Kumadn) ; Papri (C. P.); Sakal yel (Mar.); Zerra chiotali 



(Tel.); Karkandi chayeh ; Kanyel ^Bomb.). 



Habitat: —Throughout hotter parts of India, from the 

 Kumaon Himalaya and Nepal to Bhutan. 



Sylhet, Tenassarim. Dun, Saharanpur. Throughout the 

 Western Peninsula. 



A large woody climber, with strong tendrils. Branchlets 

 pubescent. Bark dark grey. Leaves 2-4 by l-2|in., ovate or 

 oblong-elliptic, more or less acute, cuneate or entire, sub- 

 coriaceous, pubescent when young; lateral nerves 6-8 pair, 

 arcuate ; base unequal ; petiole J-§in. pubescent. Flowers 

 numerous, small, greenish, in large terminal panicles. Calyx 

 pubescent; lobes 5, keeled inside. Petals 5, deflexed. Disk 

 5-lobed, filling the Calyx-tube. Ovary 2-celled, sunk in disk. 

 Style short, prolonged and winged on both sides in fruit. 

 Fruit a sub-globose nut, |in, diam., girt about middle by ten 

 rims of the adherent Calyx-tube and prolonged into a wing, 

 which is 1-1J by J-§ in., linear, strongly reaticulate and with 

 a prominent straight midrib. 



