684 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Vern, :— Chhota-gokhru ? (Hind.) ; Bun-okra (BeDg.) ; Shan 

 keshvara ; Dhupa (Bomb.) ; Marlumulta (Tain.) ; Veritel-nep 

 (Tel.) ; Gokhroo, kullan (Sind ; Pb.) 



Habitat : — Throughout the hotter parts of India/ usually 

 near houses ; ascending the Western Himalaya to 5,000 ft. 



An annual coarse, rough, unarmed herb. Stem short, stout, 

 slightly branched, spotted, harsh with bristly hairs. Leaves 

 petioled, 2-3in. long, scabrid, triangular-cordate or orbicular 

 lobed and toothed, base cuneate. Heads in terminal and 

 axillary racemes, fruiting involucres fin. long, ovoid or oblong, 

 beaks erect or diverging. Achenes enclosed in the hardened 

 involucral cells, ovoid thick ; pappus absent. 



Use : — The whole plant is supposed to possess powerful dia- 

 phoretic and sedative properties. It is generally administered 

 in the form of decoction, and is said to be very efhcacious in long 

 standing cases of malarious fever -;S. Arjun). Mr. Baden- 

 Powell says that the root is a bitter tonic, useful in cancer and 

 strumous diseases. The prickly fruit considered cooling and 

 demulcent and is given in small-pox (Stewart). 



In America and Australia, this plant has been observed to 

 prove fatal to cattle and pigs. Its hairs and prickles are em- 

 ployed as medicine in China (Dymock). 



In Southern India, the prickly involucre is applied to the ear, 

 or tied in a bunch to the ear-ring, to cure hemi-crania (Elliott). 



■■ Has proved very useful in urinary diseases, a good diuretic, 

 diminishes the irritability of the bladder. Very useful also 

 in gleet and leucorrhoea, given as infusion or in one drachm 

 doses in powder. Has also been given in menorrhagia (Penny, 

 in Watt's Dictionary). 



The fruits are slightly narcotic (Surgeon Mukerji, in Watt's 

 Dictionary.) 



647. Siegesbeckia Orientalis, Linn, h.f.b.l, III. 

 304. 



Syn. : — S. brachiata, Boxb. 605. 



Habitat : — Throughout India, ascending to 5,000ft., in the 

 Himalaya and other mountains. 



