662 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Jin. long. Heads in sessile terminal umbels. Corolla almost 

 retuse, throat bearded ; tube of Corolla short, not Jin. Fruit a 

 syncarpium, of the size of large pea or larger, irregularly lobed. 



Use : — Regarding this, Ainslie makes the following observa- 

 tions: — The leaves, in conjunction with certain aromatics, the 

 Tamool doctors use in decoction, in cases of diarrhoea and dysen- 

 tery, in the quantity of half a tea-cupful twice daily. 



616. Paederia foetida, Linn. in. 195; Roxb. 

 229. 



Sans. : — Prasarani. 



Vern. : — Khip, gandhali, gundali (H.) ; Gundhabha-duli 

 (H.) ; Prasaram (Bomb.) ; Hiranwel (Mar) ; Bedoli sutta (Assam) ; 

 Takpoedrik (Lepcha) ; Padebiri (Sikkim). 



Habitat: — From the Central and Eastern Himalaya, south- 

 ward to Malacca and westward to Calcutta. 



A glabrous, foetid shrub. Leaves opposite, long-petioled, 

 or nearly glabrous ovate or lanceolate, 2-6 by |-2Jin., base 

 acute, rounded or cordate ; peteole J-lin. Cyme branches 

 opposite panicles 2-6in. long, pubrulous. Bracts minute, ovate, 

 or subulate, ciliolate. Flower sessile and pedicelled. Calyx 

 small, tube campanulate. Calyx-teeth short, triangular. Corolla 

 i-fin., tomentose. Fruit -§--f-in., polished, crowned with conical 

 disk and minute Calyx-teeth. 



Uses : — The decoction prepared of the leaves is considered 

 wholesome and nutritive for the sick and convalescent. The 

 whole plant is regarded as a specific for rheumatic affections, 

 in which it is administered both internally and externally (Dutt). 



The roots are used by the Hindoos as an emetic (Rox- 

 burgh). 



The juice of the leaves is considered astringent and given 

 to children when suffering from diarrhoea : dose 1 drachm. 

 (Surgeon Mukerji, in Watt's Dictionary). 



" The fruit is used to blacken the teeth by Lepchas and 

 Pharias ; this, they say, is a specific against tooth-ache " 

 (Gamble). 



