416 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



cent, or finely downy, slightly recurved, 6-10-seeded. Style sub- 

 glabrouSj penicillate at the tip. 



Parts used : — The root, root-bark and seeds. 



Uses : — Native works on Materia Medica describe this plant 

 as deobstruent and diuretic, useful in cough and tightness of 

 the chest, bilious febrile attacks, obstructions of the liver, spleen 

 and kidneys. They recommend it as a purifier of the blood and 

 for boils, pimples, &c. The author of the Makhzan mentions its 

 use in combination with Cannabis Indica leaves (two parts of 

 the former to one of the latter) as a remedy for bleeding piles, 

 and with black pepper as a diuretic, especially useful in gonor- 

 rhoea (Dymock). 



The root is bitter and given by Native practitioners in 

 dyspepsia and chronic diarrhoea (O'Shaughnessy). 



The plant is used internally as a purifier of the blood, and 

 is considered a cordial. An infusion of the seeds is given as a 

 cooling medicine (Dr. Stewart). 



The plant appears to act as a tonic and laxative 

 (Dymock). 



In Ceylon, it is employed as an anthelmintic for children 

 (Thwaites). 



In the Punjab, an infusion of the seeds is believed to be 

 cooling (Stewart.) 



Fresh root-bark, ground and made into a pill, with a little 

 black pepper, is frequently given in cases of obstinate colic, 

 with marked success (Surgeon-Major Levinge of Madras, in 

 Watt's Dictionary.) 



362. T. villosa, Pers., h.f.b.l, ii. 113, Roxb. 587. 



Vern. : — Vaykkavalai (Tarn.) 



Habitat: — From the Himalayas to Ceylon. 



Habit of T. purpurea, but stems lanceolate, firmer and more 

 woody, clothed with short, adpressed white hairs. Leaves nearly 

 sessile, 2 3in. long, stipules linear, ascending or reflexed. 

 Leaflets 13-19, grey green, glabrescent above, persistently 

 silky below, narrow, oblanceolate, often emarginate. Raceme 

 half a foot or more long. Lower flowers indistinct, fascicled. 



