850 



INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



801. Swertia purpurascens, Wall, h.f.b.l, iv. 121. 



Vera. :— Chiretta (H.). 



Habitat : — Temperate North West Himalaya, from Kashmir 

 to Kumaon. 



An annual herb, with stems 8-36in , solid, erect, terete, or 

 4-lanceolate. Leaves opposite, 3-1 — nerved, H by fin., oblong or 

 lanceolate, base narrowed, lowest sub-obtuse ; uppermost acute, 

 glabrous. Panicles divaricate, many-flowered, leafy ; pedicels 

 often clustered. Flowers. 5-merous Sepals fin., almost free, 

 oblong, 1-nerved. Corolla-lobe Jin., ovate, acute, purple or dark 

 red, reflexed in flower ; pits solitary near the base of each lobe, 

 horse-shoe-shaped, naked. Stamen tube erect, filaments puber- 

 ulous, united into a short tube free from the Corolla. Anthers 

 elliptic-lanceolate, much acuminate ; style long ; stigmas sub- 

 linear. Seeds ^in. diam., globose, smooth, light-yellow when 

 ripe. " This species is recognised at once by the red-purple 

 much-reflexed corolla-lobes." (C. B. Clarke). 



Uses : — Collected as a substitute for true chirettah and 

 exported to the plains. 



802. S panieidata, Wall, h.f.b.l, iv. 122. 

 Vern. • — Kadavi (Mar.). 



Habitat '• — Temperate Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to 

 Nepal. 



Close resemblance to S. purpurascens when dried. Leaves 

 oblong or lanceolate, 3-1-nerved. Sepals ^in., oblong, acute, 

 sub-1-nerved. Corolla-lobes Jin., ovate, acute, white in the 

 upper half, patent, not reflexed in flower ; pit very near the 

 base of the Corolla, 1 to each lobe, naked ; near the base of the 

 Corolla-lobe are two purple or lurid-green sub-glandular marks, 

 sometimes confluent into one. Filaments hardly dilated down- 

 wards, not puberulous, linear, separately attached to the 

 Corolla-tube. Anthers oblong, not hastate. Style long, stigmas , 

 linear. Capsule Jin., elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate. Seeds as of 

 S. purpurascens, but rather smaller. 



Use :— Used as a substitute for true chirettah. 



