N. 0. ACANTHACE.E. 973 



Commonly used in Bombay as a garden fringe-plant. The 

 leaves have a pleasant taste, says Triman. It is questionable 

 if they are so ; for on chewing them I find them distinctly 

 possessed of a disagreeable oily taste (K.R. Kirtikar). 



Uses : — The Malays employ it as a febrifuge (Motley, in 

 Hooker s Jouvn. of Bot., 1855, vol. vii. p. 166). According to 

 Horsfield (Asiat. Jouvn., vol. vii. p. 266), emetic qualities are 

 ascribed to it in Java. The leaves and tender shoots, which, 

 when bruised, emit a strong but not unpleasant odour, are, 

 according to Ainslie (Mat. Ind. vol., ii. p. 68), prescribed in 

 decoction in chronic rheumatism. Its action is apparently that 

 of a diaphoretic. Our knowledge of its virtues rests principally 

 on native testimony (Ph. Ind.). 



An oil prepared from the leaves when applied locally is said 

 to be useful in eczema, and an infusion of the leaves is given 

 internally in cephalalgia, hemiplegia, and facial paralysis (Surg.- 

 Major Houstan, in Watt's Dictionary). 



The juice of the fresh leaves is dropped into the ear for ear- 

 ache, and into the corresponding nostril on the side of the head 

 affected with hemicrania (P. Kinsley, in Watt's Dictionary). 



934. J '. procumbens, Linn., h.f.b.l, iv. 539. Roxb. 

 45, 



Vern. : — Ghati-pitpapra, pitpapada (Bomb.) 



Habitat : —South Western India, extending as far north as 

 the South Konkan. 



Stems diffuse, slender, with many divaricate branches, rooting 

 at lower nodes, furrowed, nearly glabrous, with a few long 

 hairs below the nodes, or with spreading hair. Leaves -f-l^in., 

 oval or ovate-oval, obtuse at both ends, entire or slightly crenate, 

 softly hairy-pubescent on both sides ; elliptic or lanceolate, says 

 C. B. Clarke. Flowers very small, in rather dense cylindric 

 terminal spikes ; J-lJin. long. Bractlets linear, long, ciliale. 

 Sepals linear- filiform, strongly ciliate, as long as bractlets, one 

 shorter or absent. Lower lip of Corolla broader than long, 

 lobes shallow, obtuse. Capsule |in., with a short, solid base. 

 Flowers pale, violet, pink, the lower lip spotted with darker pink. 

 The flowers vary in size, being larger than the hill forms. 



