524: INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Flowering stems with few leaves, and 1-6 flowers. Flowers 

 f-ljin. diam. Calyx-tobes deltoid-ovate, acute, silky, spreading 

 in fruit. Petals orbicular, yellow, much exceeding the Calyx. 

 Carpels sessile on the base of the Calyx, clothed with long, silky 

 hairs. Achenes elliposoid, acute at both ends, hairy. Style 

 |in., slender, straight in fruit. 



Use : — The root of this plant, officinal in Kashmere, is one 

 of the most valuable of remedies (Honnigberger). Its uses 

 are similar to those of G. urbanum. 



470. Potenttlla nepalensis, Hook, h.f.b.i., ii. 355. 



Vern.:— Rattanjot (Pb.) 



Habitat : — Western temperate Himalaya, from Murree to 

 Kumaon. 



Herbs, with perennial woody root-stock. Leaves long petioled, 

 digitately 5-foliate, or upper 3-foliate. Stems erect, leafy- 

 branched, 3-flowered, stout or slender, from densely villous 

 to glabrate. Radical leaves 12 by 3in. ; leaflets sessile ; 1-3 by 

 i-ljin., membranous, rarely acute, teeth obtuse or acute, base 

 entire, cuneate ; obovate or elliptic obovate, green. Petiole 

 slender, cauline stipules f-lin., ovate or oblong, lower entire, 

 upperlobed. Flowers pedicelled in dichotomous panicles, 

 f-lin. diam., petals obcordate, purple. Fruiting pedicels 

 sometimes 3in., divaricate. Calyx-lobes acute ; bracteoles 

 obtuse. Achenes very numerous, minute, wrinkled on a globose, 

 hairy receptacle. 



Use : — The roots are officinal, being considered depurative. 

 They are used externally in the Yunani system, the ashes being 

 applied with oil to burns (Dr. Stewart). 



471. P. supina, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 359. 



Syn.: — Comarum flavum, Roxb. 409. 



Habitat : — Throughout the warmer parts of India, from 

 Kashmir to Malacca and the Nilghiri Hills. 



Root annual. Stems very numerous from the root. 6-1 8in., 

 hairy, spreading, leafy dichotomously branched, prostrate or 

 suberect, stout or slender. Leaves pinnate, J-3in., flaccidly 



