690 



INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



proper, that is, "margined, scabrid, pappus usually of 1-2 

 bristles." 



Uses :— The whole plaint is very acrid, but the flower-heads are 

 especially so, having a hot, burning taste, which causes profuse 

 salivation. It is on this account that the plant has been named 

 Akalkhura by the gardeners. This is a popular remedy for 

 children who stammer. The flower-heads are sometimes chewed 

 to relieve toothache (Dymock). 



It is considered by the natives a powerful stimulant and 



sialogogue, and is used in headaches, paralysis of the tongue, 



affections of the throat and gums, and for tooth-ache. 



Pyrethrin is obtained from this plant. It is resolved by alcoholic potash 

 into pyrethric acid and piperidine. 



653. Guizotia abyssi?iica, Cass, e.f.b.l, hi. 308. 

 Syn. : — Yerbesina sativa, Roxb. 606. 



Habitat : — A native of Tropical Africa, cultivated in various 

 parts of India. 



Vern. :— Ramtil ; Kalatil (H. B. and Bomb.) ; Valesulu f Tel) ; 

 Karmadoo (Mysore). 



A stout, erect annual, smooth or scabrid, pubescent upwards. 

 Leaves 3-oin., sessile, half-amplexicaul, linear, ovate-lanceolate, 

 lanceolate-oblong, or subcordate, serrate, obtuse. Heads i-lin. 

 diam., peduncles naked, l-2in. Involucral bracts 5 ; outer 

 broadly elliptic or ovate, obtuse, green ; ligules few, broad. 



Achenes dorsally pressed, glabrous, tip rounded, yielding a 

 bland oil. 



Use : — The oil is sweet, and may be used for the same 

 pharmaceutical purposes as sesamum oil (Dymock). 



The achenes contain from 40 to 45 per cent, of a yellow sweet oil. According 

 to Leather seeds from cultivated Indian plants yield on an average 40 per cent, 

 of oil. The oil is used in soap-making and as a substitute for Unseed oil ; 

 in India it is occasionally employed as a substitute for ghee. 



Crossley and Le Sueur in 1898 examined four samples of East Indian oil : 

 Specific gravity at 15*5°, 9248—0*9263 ; solidifies below zero ; saponification 

 value, 1889— 192*2; iodine value, 1266 — 1338 i Reichert-Meissl value, O'll— 

 0*63; Maumene test, 81° ; butyro refractometer, 63° at 40°. Fatty scids and 

 unsapomfiable, per cent. 94*11 ; iodine value, 1475. The oil has slight siccative 

 powers and gained 7*2 per cent, in weight in fifteen days. 



