810 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Sans. : — Doogdhika. 



Vem. : — Gharote (Pb.) ; Guray kheeree, dhoodhee (Sind.) ; 

 Doodhlutta (Beng. and Hind.); Khirai (B.) ; Doodee-palla (Tel.) ; 

 Dudhika (Bomb.) ; Dudhani (Mar.). 



Habitat: — Throughout the plains and lower hills of India, 

 from the Punjab to Assam, and Ceylon. 



A very slender, climbing, perennial, deciduous herb ; roots 

 fibrous, form the lower nodes. Stems numerous, long, much- 

 branched, slender, quite glabrous. Leaves deciduous, 4-6 by 

 J-lin., membranous, lanceolate, linear, rounded at base, tapering 

 to very acute apex, glabrous, thin, pale green, venation pellucid. 

 Petiole fin., slender. Flowers pale, cream-colour, veined and 

 stained with purplish streak, large, drooping, lin. or more in 

 diam., on long slender pedicels, which are thickened upwards, 

 cyme from between the petioles, 3 or 5-fid, lax, racemose, long 

 stalked, much exceeding leaves. Bracts minute. Calyx- 

 segments lanceolate, acute, glabrous, thin. Corolla f-lin. diam. 

 Lobes rather shallow, ovate, triangular ; column prominent ; 

 filaments very broad. Follicles rather membranous, 2 Jin., 

 somewhat falcate, a little inflated, smooth (and often abortive) ; 

 seeds very numerous, broadly ovate, flat, fin., carnose ; coma 

 fin. long. 



Uses : — A decoction of the plant is used as a gargle in aph- 

 thous ulcerations of the mouth and in sore-throat- The milky 

 sap forms a wash for ulcers in Sind. In combination with 

 turpentine it is prescribed for itch (Murray). 



Probably on account of the milky juice which it exudes, 

 native practitioners ascribe galactagogue properties to this 

 plant. It has a very bitter taste, and is said to possess marked 

 antiperiodic properties (S. Arjun). 



The fresh roots are, in Orissa, held to be a specific for 

 jaundice. (W. W. Hunter). 



772. Galotropis gigantea, B. Br. h.f.b.l, iv. 17. 

 Syn. : — Asclepias gigantea, Roxb. 25. 

 Sans • — Arka. 



