N. O. ACANTHACEJE. 975 



(U. C. Dutt.) It is often administered along with honey, the 

 fresh juice or a decoction with pepper being made into a cough 

 mixture. The Pharm. Indica states that strong testimony has 

 been given in favor of its remedial properties, drawn from per- 

 sonal experience, in the treatment of chronic bronchitis, asthma, 

 &c, when not attended with febrile action. The flowers and 

 the fruit are bitter, aromatic and antispasmodic. The fresh 

 flowers are bound over the eyes in cases of ophthalmia. " The 

 flowers, leaves, and root, but especially the first, are supposed 

 to possess antispasmodic qualities." " They are bitterish and 

 sub-aromatic and are administered in infusion and electuary as 

 anthelmintic" (Ainslie). The leaves are used as a cattle 

 medicine ; in the case of man for rheumatism ; and the flowers for 

 ophthalmia (Stewart). 



The leaves dried and made into cigarettes are smoked in 

 asthma and their juice is used for diarrhoea and dysentery. The 

 powdered root is used in Mysore by native doctors in cases of 

 malarial fever. It has expectorant and antispasmodic properties, 

 and its use has been recommended in the treatment of colds, 

 coughs, asthma, phthisis, and even diphtheria, in which it 

 deserves more extended trial. It is said, also, to be a valuable 

 antiseptic, antiperiodic, and anthelmintic. Drury mentions 

 that the leaves given in conjunction with those of Solanum 

 trilobatum and S. xanthocarpum are employed by the Vythians 

 internally in decoction as anthelmentic. In Bengal and Upper 

 India also the leaves are smoked as cheroots for asthma. In 

 Assam, the juice of the plant is considered the best preparation. 

 It is extracted from the young shoots and flowers by first washing 

 them in an ordinary brass or iron vessel over a fire and then 

 applying pressure. It is taken with ghi or honey. In Central 

 India, the plant is one of the ingredients used for preparing 

 the mixture in which infants up to the age of four months are 

 bathed. The Burmese pound the leaves and use them as a poultice 

 for fresh wounds, while an infusion of the leaves and twigs is 

 given internally for coughs. In the Tenasserim district, the 

 leaves are used externally in cases of swellings, bleeding of the 

 nose, and headache ; and internally for fever, colic, asthma and 

 dysentery. It is prescribed in a spirit for wealthy persons suffer- 



