580 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Uses : — The fruit pounded and well mixed with warm cocoa- 

 nut oil, forms a valuable application to sores under the ears and 

 nostrils f Ainslie.) 



The fruit is reckoned poisonous and, I am told, it is mixed 

 with rice and employed to destroy crows (Roxburgh). 



The root is used as a cattle medicine in inflammation of the 

 lungs (Wight). 



In Bombay, the fruit is smoked as a remedy for Asthma. 

 The root, with an equal portion of Colocynth root, is rubbed 

 into a paste and applied to carbuncles ; combined with equal 

 portions of the three myrobalans and turmeric, it affords an 

 infusion which is flavored with honey and given in gonorrhoea 

 (Dymock). 



The juice of the fruit or the root-barks, boiled with gingelly 

 oil, is used with good effect as a bath oil, for the relief of long- 

 standing or recurrent attacks of headache (Surgeon-Major 

 Thompson in Watt's Dictionary). 



525. T. cordata, Roxb, h.f.b.i., ii. 608 : Roxb, 

 695. 



Vern. : — Bhooe-koomra ; Bkumi-kumara ; Bha-kbumba ; 

 Patol (B.). 



Habitat : — From the base of the Eastern Himalaya in Sikkim 

 and Assam to Pegu. Frequent in the Khasia Terai and Cachar. 



An extensive climber, with large tuberous roots and stout 

 branching stems ; tendrills usually very stout, 3-fid. Leaves 

 6-8 in., entire or obscurely angular, broadly ovate-cordate, 

 acute or shortly acuminate, dentate-serrate, dark-green above, 

 and with short scattered hairs on both surfaces ; petiole 2-4in., 

 stout. Male racemes few-flowered ; bracts large, elongate, 

 sheathing at the base, obovate, entire, pubescent. Calyx-tube 

 lfin., lobes acuminate, denticulate. Fruit as in T. palmata. 

 (Duthie). 



Parts used : — The root and flowers. 



Use :— The large tuberous roots are used as a valuable tonic 

 and as a substitute for Calumba (Roxburug). In Patna, the 



