966 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



hairy upwards, anthers bearded at the base. Capsule -fin. long, 

 tapering at each end. Seeds several, subquadrate, rugose, 

 glabrous (Duthie). 



ft. B.— The figure given in Bentley and Triman's Medicinal Plants is erro- 

 neous as to the seeds being hairy (C. B. Clarke). 



Uses .-—This bittter shrub is well known under the name 

 of Kalmegh, and forms the principal ingredient of a house- 

 hold medicine called Alui, extensively used in Bengal. The 

 expressed juice of the leaves, together with certain spices, such as 

 cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, &c, is dried in the sun, and made 

 into little globules, which are prescribed for infants to relieve 

 griping, irregular stools and loss of appetite. The medicinal 

 properties of this plant are many. The roots and the leaves are 

 febrifuge, stomachic, tonic, alterative and anthelmintic. Accord- 

 ing to Murray, the plant is very useful in general debility, 

 dysentery and certain forms of dyspepsia. It is officinal in the 

 Indian Pharmacopoeia. " The Yanadees, a wandering gipsy 

 tribe in the Madras Presidency, constantly carry a supply of 

 pills made of Great fresh leaves, and the pulp of the ripe 

 tamarind, which they consider antidotal to the venom of the 

 cobra. A pill made into a paste with water is applied to the 

 bitten part, and some of it is put into the eyes ; two pills 

 are given for a dose every hour or two internally" (P. 

 Kinsley, Chicacole, Madras). " Green leaves with the leaves 

 of Indian birth wort (Aristolochia Indica) and the fresh inner 

 root-bark of country sarsaparilla, made into an electuary, is 

 used by native hakims as a tonic and alterative in syphilitic 

 cachexia and foul syphilitic ulcers. I have seen many cases 

 successfully treated by this electuary" (Morris, Negaptam). 

 See Watt's Dictionary. 



Surgeon-Major Parker, Medical Store-Keeper, Bombay, wrote : 

 " A preparation of this drug has, within the past few years, 

 been largely advertised in England as a substitute for quinine 

 and as a general powerful tonic. Kiryat is the native Chiretta 

 and is used extensively by them as a febrifuge. Preparations — 

 Succus, Fluid Extract, Infusion, Tincture. The whole plant is 

 used and is collected towards the end of the monsoon and dried 

 in the shade. The dried plant is to some extent found in the 



