N. 0. COMPOSITE. 713 



glabrate beneath, irregularly toothed. Radical leaves, with the 

 petioles 2-3ft. long, terminal lobes often a foot in diameter ; 

 cauline leaves 6-1 2in. long, with a short petiole, or sessile, with 

 an auricled i-amplexicaul base. Heads very hard, subglobose, 

 l-ljin. diam., sessile axillary, or in a terminal cluster of 2-5. 

 Involucre-bracts numerous, purple, young, pubescent, ovate 

 lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, squarrosely recurved, glabrous. 

 Receptacle bristles very long, fin. Corolla dark-purple, fin. 

 long. Anther-tails fimbriate. Achenes upwards of fin., com- 

 pressed, curved with thickened margins and one rib on each face, 

 top contracted and cupped, tip narrowed. Pappus hairs double, 

 all feathery, fin., brown. 



Supposed to be the Costus of the Ancients (J. D, Hooker). 



Uses : — Kust has been used in Hindu medicine from the 

 earliest ages. It is said to be aphrodisiac and tonic, and useful 

 in diseases arising from deranged air and phlegm, also in 

 asthma and for resolving tumours (Meer Muhammad Husain). 

 It was formerly smoked as a substitute for opium. U. C. Dutt, 

 in his Hindu Materia Medica, states that the " root is described 

 as aromatic, stimulant and useful in cough, asthma, fever, 

 dyspepsia, and skin diseases. Mr. Baden-Powell gives an 

 interesting summary of the uses of kust ; the dried powder is 

 the principal ingredient in a stimulating ointment for ulcers ; 

 it is a useful hair-wash ; it is used as an ingredient in a stimu- 

 lating mixture for cholera ; the root is a valuable perfume and 

 is a preservative to woollen cloths. 



By' the native practitioners it is prescribed as a stomachic 

 and tonic, and in the advanced stage of typhus fever. In the 

 Punjab, applied in powder, to ulcers, for worms in wounds, and 

 also in rheumatism ; also considered depurative and aphrodisiac 

 (Murray, 185). 



684. Jurinea macrocephala, Benth. h.f.b.i., ill' 



378. 



Vern.: — Dhup, dhupa, giigal (Pb.). 



Habitat: — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Kumaon., 

 Stemless. Root woody, perennial. Leaves spreading, 6-18 

 by H-7in., oblong-lanceolate, pinnate or pinnatifid, denticulate, 



