1034 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



bell-shaped, upper calyx-lip entire, lower obtusely 2-toothed. Sta- 

 mens very small whitish. Corolla-tube very short included upper 

 lip short, nearly straight, slightly flattened, concave. Nutlets 

 very minute, g^in. long, ellipsoid (J.D. Hooker). 



Use. — The seeds are used in gonorrhoea and monorrhagia 

 (Stewart). They are used in Bombay to increase sexual powers 

 (Dymock;. 



1001. S. cegyptica, Benth., h.f.b.l, iv. 656. 



Vern. — Tukhm malanga (Pb.). 



Habitat. — The Punjab plains and hills, from Delhi westward ; 

 and Scinde. 



A very dwarf scaberulous, hispid or hoary much-branched un- 

 dershrub. Branched from the base, straggling, divaricate, rigid. 

 Leaves rarely lin., small, few, subsessile, linear or lanceolate, 

 acute rigid, crenate whorls remote 2-3-nd u Flowers small-hardly 

 ^in. long. Calyx glandular hairy, nodding, pedicelled, ovoid 

 campanulate, fruiting Jin. long ; upper lip orbicular minutely 

 3-toothed, teeth of lower subulate. Corolla-tube very short, not 

 exserted, limb very small, upper lip short, nearly straight, slightly 

 flattened concave. Nutlets i^in. long, narrowly oblong, nearly 

 black. 



Var. pumila — This is a variety named in Hooker under 

 Salvias gyptica. It is more scabrid and hispid. Leaves very 

 rigid and rugose. Calyx villous with long hairs. 



Use. — The seeds are used in diarrhoea, gonorrhoea and 



haemorrhoids (Stewart). 



In Mexico and in some other parts of tlie United States, a drink is made 

 from the seeds of several species of Salvia. In his " Notes on Economic 

 Botany of the Western United States " (reprinted in the Ph. J., 21-2-1880), 

 Surgeon J. T. Rothrock writes :— 



The seeds are collected, roasted and ground, in the native way, between 

 two stones. This puts it in the condition in which I first saw it. It is used 

 as a food by mixing it with water and enough sugar to suit the taste. It soon 

 developes into a copious mucilaginous mass, several times the original bulk. 

 The taste is somewhat suggestive of linseed meal. One soon acquires a 

 fondness for it, and eats it rather in the way of a luxury than with any 

 reference to the fact that it is exceedingly nutritious besides. It is in great 

 demand among the knowing ones who have a desert to cross, or who expect to 

 encounter a scarcity of water, and what there is, of bad quality. By preparing 

 it so that it can be used as a drink, it seems to assuage thirst, to improve 



