960 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Use : — The pounded leaves are rubbed on the bod} 7 during 

 the cold stage of intermittent fever (Watt). 



919. Blepharis edulis, Pers. h.f.b.i., iv. 479. 



Vern. : — Uttangan (Pb.); Utanjan(H.) ; Utangan (Bomb.). 



Habitat: — Punjab and Sindh. 



A rigid shrub. Stems short or 1ft. or more ; branched. 

 Leaves often Jin. broad, spinescent, elliptic or oblong, glaucous 

 or pubescent. Bracts more than an inch long, spinous. Brac- 

 teoles linear, hairy, shorter than the bract. Heads few or many- 

 fid. Corolla f-fin. Capsule 2-seeded. Seeds heart-shaped, flat, 

 covered with long, coarse hairs. 



Use : — Dr. Royle was the first to bring the seeds of the plant 



to the notice of the medical profession. He considered them to be 



the products of some Urtica. Honnigberger had these seeds 



examined by some botanists of: Vienna who deemed them to 



belong to Aeanthacea. Dr. Burton Brown of: Lahore succeeded 



in correctly identifying these seeds as those of Acanthodium 



spicatum, Delile, which is a synonym of this plant. (B. D. Basu). 



The seeds are considered to be attenuant, resolvent, diuretic, 



aphrodisiac, expectorant, and deobstruent (Dymock). 



Chemical composition. —The bitter principle of the seeds is a white crys- 

 talline body soluble in water, ainylic and ethylic alcohol, but insoluble in 

 ether and petroleum ether. It gives a reddish colour with sulphuric acid, 

 green at the margin if impure, and is best distinguished by the fine violet 

 colour its solutions impart when brought into contact with ferric salts. With 

 IPSO 4 and K 2 Cr*0 7 an agreeable odour of salicylous acid is evolved. It is 

 associated with a substance which reduces Fehling's solution. Another 

 white crystalline principle is present in the seeds which is not bitter, and 

 does not give colour reactions with sulphuric acid and ferric salts. The 

 latter crystals melted on the surface of heated mercury at 225°. The aqueous 

 extract of the seeds contained much mucilage and vegetable albumen. The 

 ash amounted to 7*1 per cent. (Pharma cogr. Ind., III. 41-42). 



920. Acanthus ilieifolius, Linn, h.f.b.i., iv. 48i ; 

 Roxb. 467. 



Sa7is :— Harikasa. 



Vern. : — Harkuchkanta (H. and B.) ; Marandi (Mar.) ; Mor- 

 anna (Goa) : Nivgur (Bomb.). Kalutaimulli (Tarn), Holeculli 

 (Kan.) Payinaculli (Mai). 



