346 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



it with advantage in ardor-urinse, dysuria, strangury and some 

 cases of bilious dyspepsia. It is one of the best and most 

 agreeable vehicles for other medicines, particularly those used 

 in dyspepsia, dysentery, diarrhoea, and dropsical affections. 

 From their combined actions of demulcent, expectorant and 

 laxative, raisins are a frequent ingredient in Mohamedan 

 prescriptions for catarrhal and febrile complaints. They enter into 

 the composition of Tinctura Cardamomi Composita and Tinctura 

 Sennae. They also form an ingredient in one of my own formulae 

 for certain forms of fever. There is little or no difference 

 between the medicinal properties of the common variety of raisins 

 and those of the small ones without stones (Moodeen Sheriff.) 



300. V. indiea, Linn, h.f.b.l, i. 653. 



Vera. : — Amdhauka, Amulka(B.); Jangli angur (H. and 

 Dec.) ; Sambara or shembara-valli (Tel.) Chempara-valli 

 (Malyal.) ; Randraksha, kole-jan (Alar.) ; Palkanda (Konk.) 

 To-wel, Rata-bulatwel (Sinhalese). 



Habitat :— The central tableland of India, the Western 

 Peninsula and Bengal. Ceylon most low country, up to 2,500 ft. 



Stems slender ; permanently woolly-tomentose branches, 

 leaves and peduncles. Leaves 4-10in., coriaceous, at length 

 glabrous and shining above, cordate-obovate, acute, denticulate- 

 serrate, the points of the serratures hard almost to spiny. Ped- 

 uncles stoutish, bearing a long, simple or bifurcated tendril {K. 

 R. K). Flowers greenish-purple, nearly sessile, in short cylin- 

 drical spikes, about 2 in. Petals distinct ; rhomboid-ovate. Style 

 0. Fruit globose, the size of a large currant or pea, 2-4 seeded. 

 Seed \ by^in., elliptic, slightly curved on the back, from end to 

 end, otherwise flattisb, with a spathulate tubercle, the face 

 w r edge-shaped. 



Use : — According to Rheede, the juice of the root, with the 

 kernel of the cocoanut, is employed as a depurative and aperient. 



In the Concan, the country folk use it as an alterative in the 

 form of a decoction, and they consider it to purify the blood and 

 act as a diuretic and render the secretions healthy (Dymock.) 



