978 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Vern. ■ — Palik-juhia, palak-juhi, jui-pani (Hind.); Jui-pana 

 (Beng.); Pulcolli, puzhuk-kolli, pushpa-kedal, nagamallichcheti 

 (Mai. S. P.) ; Gachkaran (Bomb.); Gajakarni (Mar.) ; Kabutar- 

 ka-jhar (Dec); Naga-malli (Tarn.) ; Nargamollay, naga malle 

 (Tel.) ; Naga-mallige (Kan.). 



Habitat:— Cultivated throughout India; perhaps wild in the 

 Deccan Peninsula. 



A much-branched shrub. Leaves entire, 3-4 by J-l^in., 

 usually narrowed at both ends, oblong or ovate-oblong, pubescent 

 or glabrate ; margins undulate ; petiole fin. Cymes terminal 

 and on short lateral branches, dusky. Flowers often clustered. 

 Bracts and bracteoles O-rVin., linear. Calyx densely pubes- 

 cent, xain. Corolla-tube 1 by iVn., lobes |in., 3 lower, each 

 twice as broad as the shortly bifid upper. Capsule clavate 

 4-seeded, stalk long, solid cylindric. 



Uses : — The fresh root and leaves, bruised and mixed with 

 lime juice, are a useful remedy for ringworm and other cutane- 

 ous affections. The seeds also are efficacious in ringworm. 

 (Ainslie and Royle.) The root-bark is a remedy for the affec- 

 tion of the skin which the Europeans call Dhobie's itch, 

 Malabar itch, &c. (Oymock). 



In Sind, it is said to possess extraordinary aphrodisiacal 

 powers, the roots boiled in milk being much employed for that 

 purpose by native practitioners (Murray). 



The roots are believed in some parts of India to be an anti- 

 dote to the bite of poisonous snakes. Of late, it seems to have 

 attracted considerable attention in Europe, on account of 

 its reputed value in the treatment of ringworm. It seems, 

 however, to be universally used with good results in cases 

 of Tinea circinata tropica, although its utility in ordinary ring- 

 worm (Tinea tonsurans) seems very doubtful. Dr. Liborius 

 analysed the root at his laboratory at Dorpat, and found that 

 it contained a substance which he called rhinacanihin, and 

 which resembled Ghrysophanie and frangulic acids in its 

 antiseptic and antiparasitic properties (Watt). 



Ohemical composition. — Liborius has analysed the root in the Dorpat 

 Laboratory, finding in it 13*51 per cent, of ash and 1-87 per cent, of Rhinacanthin, 

 a quinine-like body, besides the ordinary constituents of plants. 



