608 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



or acute, irregularly or slightly dentate. Wight says : "The 

 leaves are sometimes only obtused-angled, densely covered on 

 both sides with short bristly hairs." This is something more 

 than being pubescent as described by Trimen. Wight's des- 

 cription is more accurate as regards Indian species. Petiole 

 more than half the length of the leaf, stout glabrous, and some- 

 what round, often bent to give the leaf a deplexed appearance. 

 Flowers unisexual, monoecious, yellowish green. Male flower's 

 very small, on short pedicels, more yellow than the female 

 flowers. Inflorescence. " A small corymb at the apex of a 

 long peduncle " (C. B. Clarke). Peduncle roundish, smooth, 

 straight, stiff. Bracteoles present at the insertion of the 

 pedicels. Pedicels short, J-i in., sometimes lin. Calyx 

 campanulate, lobes 5, short. Corolla 5-partite. Stamens 

 5 (arranged 2+2+1), that is, 2 sets of stamens united, 

 forming a bundle each of two filaments and one solitary, 

 nearly sessile, at the mouth of the Calyx-tube. Connective 

 very small. Anthers free, 1-celled, straight, oblong, not pro- 

 duced ; no rudimentary gynoecium in the male flowers. Females 

 axillary, solitary, in the same or different axils from those of 

 the male flower, or accompanied with a small raceme ; larger 

 than the male. Ovary inferior, ovoid, of three carpels united 

 into one cell. Ovules 6-9, horizontal; stigmas 3, styles 3, distinct, 

 short. Fruit fin., often J-fin., roundish or ovoid, mostly 

 conical, with a bent-beak, which is hardly perceptible in most 

 flowers. Fruit smooth, of orange or brick-red colour when ripe. 

 Seeds elliptical or nearly globose, little margined, 6-9, in an 

 orange-coloured pulp, very slightly compressed, pale-brown, 

 adpressed, says Trimen, Wight, on the other hand, says the 

 seeds are white. In the specimens I have examined, the pulp 

 is distinctly whitish, and the older the seeds, the browner their 

 colour [K. R. K.J 



Uses : — Ainslie remarks that the Vytians hold it in great 

 estimation, and prescribe it in the later stages of dysentery, 

 and old venereal complaints. It is usually administered in 

 powder, the dose being about one draham in 24 hours, and con- 

 tinued for eight or ten days together ; this quantity produces 



