854: INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



ovate, acute, about as long as the Corolla. Seeds ^ a in. } poly- 

 hedral ; testa close, minutely reticulated, so that the seeds 

 appear often glistening (0. B. Clarke). 



Uses : — According to Dr. Cleghorn {Indian Annals of Med. 

 Sci, vol. iii., p. 271), 0. elegans, Wight, which inhabits the 

 mountains of the Madras Peninsula, possesses powerful and 

 persistent bitterness. He states that frequent trials with it con- 

 firm the belief that it exercises a tonic influence on the digestive 

 organs, thereby improving the general health ; it appears also to 

 possess some power as an antiperiodic. It is best given in the 

 form of infusions in the proportion of two drachms to a pint of 

 cold water. It appears equal, if not superior, to the officinal 

 Chiretta (Ph. Ind.). 



806. S. decussata, Nimmo. h.f.b.l, iv. 127. 



VeriK— Silajit (Dec.) ; Kadii, (meaning "bitter" Mahablesh- 

 war). 



Habitat: — Common in the Western Deecan Peninsula, from 

 the Concan to Travancore. 



Herbs, with steins l-3ft, terete or 4- winged. Leaves sessile, 

 ovate-obtuse, H by fin., numerous, approximate, decussate, 3-5- 

 nerved. Corymbs very dense. Pedicels 0-|in., mostly short. 

 Sepals i-|in., narrowly lanceolate. Corolla-lobes white, with 

 blue nerves, with a round, depression at the base of each, j by 

 |in., broadly oblong, shortly acute ; covering scale shortly hairy, 

 not very long. 



Uses : — It forms an excellent substitute for Chiretta, and 

 is so used in Bombay (Dalzell and Gibson, Bombay Flora 

 p. 156). Particular attention has been called to it by 

 Dr. Broughton Bombay Med. Fhys. Trans, vol. vi., N. S., 

 App., p. 58). The dried root, he states, occurs in pieces about 

 two inches in length, of a diameter of a quill, giving off two 

 or three rootlets, covered with a whitish brown epidermis, 

 wrinkled longitudinally, white internally ; brittle. He considers 

 that its medicinal action and uses are similar to those of 

 Gentian ancj Chiretta, for which it may be advantageously 



