422 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Habitat: — Plains of the IT. Provinces, upper Ganges 

 and the Concan. 



Sans. : — Durlabha, girikarnika, yavasa. 

 Arab. : — Alhaju, haj, aaqul, shoukuljaimal. 

 Pers. : — Shutarkhor, khareshutar. 



Vern: — Jawasa (H. and Bomb.); Dulalabha. (B.) ; 

 Girikarmika (Tel.) ; Oosturkbar, kas-khandero (Sind). 



The Manna, Taranjabin. 



A low shrub, armed with copious sub-patent, hard pungent 

 spines f-lin. long. Leaves simple, drooping from the base of 

 the spines or branches, oblong, obtuse, rigidly coriaceous glab- 

 rous. Flowers 1-6 from a spine, on short pedicels. Calyx 

 glabrous iVs 111 - Corolla reddish, 3 times the Calyx. Pod one 

 in. long or less, falcate or straight. 



Duthie writes {Flora of the Upper Gangetie Plain, Vol. L, p. 

 280) that " the true A. maurorum of Tournefort, with silky 



pods, does not occur in India." 



Uses: — The plant is described by Sanskrit writers as 

 laxative, diuretic and expectorant, the thorny flower, stalks and 

 branches being the parts used. No reference is made by them 

 to the manna. 



In Mahomed an works it is considered to be aperient, attenuant 

 and alexipharmic. A poultice or fumigation with it is 

 recommended to cure piles. The expressed juice is applied to 

 opacities of the cornea, and is directed to be snuffed up the 

 nose as a remedy for megrim. An oil is prepared with the 

 leaves as an external application in rheumatism ; the flowers are 

 applied to remove piles (Dymock). 



The manna is not produced by the Indian plant, but is 

 imported from Persia and Bokhara. It is described by the 

 author of the Mahlizan as aperient and cholagogue, more 

 digestible than ash manna, expectorant, a good purifier of the 

 blood from corrupt and adust humors when given in diet 

 drinks, such as barley water, &c ; diuretic, and, with milk, 

 fattening and aphrodisiac. (Dymock). 



