974 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Uses : — Used as a substitute for true Pit-pdpra (Fumaria), 

 which it resembles in having a faintly bitter, disagreeable 

 taste (Dymock). The juice of the leaves is squeezed into the 

 eye in cases of ophthalmia (Ainslie). 



935. Adhatoda Vasica, Nees, h.f.b.i., iv. 540. 



Syn. : — Justicia Adhatoda, Linn. y Roxb. 43. 



Habitat: — From the Punjab and Assam to Ceylon and 

 Singapore. 



Sans. : — Arusak (not angry), Vasa (giving perfume), Vrisha 

 (chief), Sinha-mukhi (lion-mouthed), Sinha-parni (lion-leaved), 

 Sinhakatpat (lion-eradicator), Ruksha (dry.) 



Vern. : — Arusha, adulasa, adulaso (Hind, and Bom.); Bakas, 

 vasaka (Beng.) ; Bhekkar, basiiti, tora bujja, bashang arris, 

 (Himalayan names) ; Bansa (Pers.) ; Adhadode (Tarn.) ; Adasara 

 (Tel.) ; Atalotakam (Mad.) 



An evergreen, dense shrub, 4-8ft., sometimes arborescent, 

 even 20ft., with a fetid smell, says Kanjilal. The Bombay 

 plant has no fetid smell. Leaves 4-8in., entire, minutely pubes- 

 cent especially when young, lateral nerves 8-12 pair. Petiole 

 l-ljin. Inflorescence a dense, short, pedunculate, bracteate 

 spike, 2-4in. long, terminal often several together. Bracts f by 

 -Jin., ovate or elliptic sessile ; bracteoles \ by-g-in., falcate, oblong. 

 Calyx i-Jin. deeply 5-lobed, lobes equal, lanceolate. Corolla-tube 

 \-\ by i-iin. broad, white, lower portion short and funnel-shaped ; 

 lower lip with two lines of oblique purple bars. Stamens 2 ; 

 filaments dilated ; anther-cells acute at the apex, scarcely 

 spurred at base. Capsule fin. clavate, longitudinally channelled, 

 pubescent, 4-seeded. Seeds *in. diam., glabrous, tubercled. 

 Wood white, moderately hard. Every part of the plant is exceed- 

 ingly bitter. 



Uses : --The leaves and the root of this plant are considered 

 a very efficacious remedy for all sorts of coughs, being adminis- 

 tered along with ginger. " The medicine was considered so 

 serviceable in phthisis that it was said no man suffering from 

 this disease need despair as long as the vasaka plant exists" 



