N. 0. AMPELID^. 345 



Arab. Of the small variety of raisins without stones — Sultana 

 Raisins, Eng. Kishmish, Bedanah, Hind., Duh. and Pers. 



Habitat. — Wild in the N. W. Himalaya ; cultivated exten- 

 sively in N. W. India and rarely in the Peninsula as Poona and 

 Nasik. 



A large, woody climber ; tendrils long, bifid. Leaves 

 simple, glabrous above, clothed beneath with grey floccose 

 deciduous tomentum, from a cordate base nearly orbicular, 

 more or less deeply 5-lobed, edge cut into large unequal, acute 

 teeth ; basal nerves 5, the midrib with 4-5 pair of prominent 

 secondary nerves, petioles generally shorter than leaf, longer than 

 half its length. Flowers green, fragrant, petals cohering at the 

 top. Inflorescence usually on the tendrils. Cymes arranged in 

 panicles. Fruit 3-5-seeded. 



Use. — The dried fruits, called raisins, are used in medicine. 

 They are described as demulcent, laxative, sweet, cooling, 

 agreeable and useful in thirst, heat of body, cough, hoarseness 

 and consumption (Dutt). 



Mahomedan writers consider grapes and raisins to be 

 attenuant, suppurative, pectoral and the most digestible of fruit, 

 purifying the blood and increasing its quantity and quality. 

 The ashes of the wood are recommended as a preventive of 

 stone in the bladder, cold swellings of the testes and piles. 

 The juice of the unripe grapes is used as an astringent. The 

 modern Italians use the juice in affections of the throat 

 (Dymock). 



The leaves, on account of their astrigency, are sometimes 

 used in diarrhoea. 



In modern native practice, the raisins are considered cool 

 and aperient, and given in coughs, catarrh and jaundice 

 (Mookerji). 



Grapes are refrigerant, diuretic and antipyretic. In large 

 doses, raisins act as a demulcent, expectorant and laxative, 

 and in smaller ones as an astringent. 



The sherbet or syrup of grapes is a very pleasant and cool- 

 ing drink, and proves very useful in relieving thirst and other 

 pyrexial symptoms in many forms of fever. I have also used 

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