616 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



He considers that it is justly held in estimation by the native 

 practitioners. In Puddokota, the juice is applied to itch and 

 other skin diseases (Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. II., p. 103). 



563 M. stricta, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii, 663. 



Syn. : — M. triphylla, Lour Roxb. 121. 

 Vern : — Jul-papra (B.); kharas (Bomb.). 

 Habitat: — Very common throughout India. 



Branched glabrous herbs. Stems a foot high, leafy ; Leaves 

 f-ljin., whorl ed or opposite, varying from lanceolate acute 

 to obovate obtuse, much narrowed at the base ; petiole hence 

 obscure. Cymes compound, the branches sometimes racemed. 

 Sepals tVin.; elliptic or round. Stamens 3-5, filaments dilated. 

 Styles 3, short, linear. Capsule as long as the sepals, globose, 

 many-seeded, the walls thin. Seeds dark, chestnut-coloured, 

 covered with raised tubercular points ; embryo curled into three- 

 quarters of a complete circle. 



Use : — Highly esteemed by the Hindus as a bitter vegetable 

 which they eat occasionally on account of its stomachic, aperi- 

 ent and antiseptic properties. An infusion of the plant is given 

 to women to promote the menstrual discharge (Dymock). 



The bitter leaves are antiperiodic (Surgeon-Major Stewart, 

 in Watt's Dictionary). 



564. M. Cerviana, Seringe, h.f.b.i., ii. 663. 



Vern. : — Ghima sak (Beng.) ; Pada (Mar.); Parpada gaum 



(Tarn.) ; Parpataka iTel.). 



Habitat : —Hotter and drier parts of India, from the Punjab 

 to Ceylon. 



An annual marsh, plant, herbaceous, glabrous, much branch- 

 ed. Stems 3-6in., erect, usually several. Leaves J-fin., radical 

 leaves tufted, spathulate or obovate ; cauline leaves linear- 

 oblong, often 4-8 in a whorl, whence spring umbellately many 

 branches. Peduncles trichotomous or umbellate-cymose. Sepals 

 i^in., elliptic or round. Stamens 5. Styles very small. Capsule 

 as long as the sepals, globose, many-seeded. Seeds reticulated 

 without, tubercular raised points " pink-chestnut or yellowish, 

 covered with slightly elevated oblong reticulations, bluntly 



