354 INDIAN MEDICINAL ['I. ANT.-. 



truncate at top, winged at the angles, valves papery, veiny, 

 finely pubescent. Seeds |-J in., globular, glabrous, black, the 



aril heart- shaped, white. 



Paris used : — The roots, leaves and seeds. 



Uses : — The Sanskrit writers describe the root as emetic, 

 laxative, stomachic and rubefacient. Combined with other medi- 

 cines, they prescribe it in rheumatism, nervous diseases, piles 

 &c. The fried leaves are said to bring on the secretion of 

 the menses (Dutt). The seeds are officinal ; and the root is 

 considered by the native practitioners diaphoretic, diuretic and 

 aperient. It is mucilaginous, and imparts this property to water, 

 rendering it nauseous, and is thus administered in fevers. 

 Rheede says that on the Malabar Coast the leaves are adminis- 

 tered in pulmonic complaints. According to Ainslie, the leaves 

 mixed with castor oil, are employed internally in rheumatism 

 and lumbago. 



The whole plant rubbed up with water is applied to rheum- 

 atism and stiffness of the limbs. The leaves, mixed with 

 jaggery, and boiled in oil, is a good specific in sore-eyes 

 (Rheede;. 



The whole plant, steeped in milk, is successfully applied to 

 reduce swellings and hardened tumours (Drury). 



In the Punjab, the seed is used as a tonic in fever, and a 

 diaphoretic in rheumatism (Baden Powell). 



The juice of the plant promotes the catamenial flow during 

 the menstrual period. It is also a demulcent in gonorrhoea and 

 in pulmonary affections (Baden Powell). 



The Hindu practitioners in South India, especially those in 

 villages, frequently employ the leaves and root of C. kelieaea- 

 bum in the treatment of several diseases, including rheumatism, 

 gravel and calculi ; but I have only seen the juice of the leaves, 

 in about three-ounce doses, producing a good and satisfactory 

 result in two cases of acute rheumatism. In each of these 

 cases, the drug acted upon the bowels and produced four or 

 five loose motions, but the relief it afforded to the pain and 

 other symptoms of rheumatism was distinctly more than that 



