1050 



INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



The root and leaves possess slightly bitter and astringent 

 qualities and were formerly much used as a febrifuge. They 

 are still employed as a domestic remedy in England, and in 

 Tuscany a decoction of the leaves is believed to form an excel- 

 lent eye wash, and to have styptic properties. The seeds are 

 used as diuretic in China. 



Contains a fair proportion of sugar and oxalic acid ; whilst in the leaves of 

 the plant, T. Roller found albumen, pectin, with citric and oxalic acids, J. Ch. 

 I. 1887 P, 49 



1024. P. Lanceolata, Linn., h.f.b.l, iv. 706. 



Vern. :— Baltanga (H.); Baltung, bartung(B); Parhar pangri, 

 parbar pangi, bartang (Pushtu). 



Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Simla, the 

 Salt Range and Waziristan. 



Perennial scapegerous herbs, very variable in size. Root- 

 stock tapering. Leaves all radical, shortly petioled l-12in., 

 lanceolate, entire or toothed, 3-5-ribbed, woolly. Scape as long as 

 the leaf, deeply furrowed. Spikes very short, |-3in, ovoid subglo- 

 bose or cylindric ; bracts acuminate. Sepals usually ciliate, 

 corolla glabrous ; filaments long. Capsule 2-celled ; cells 1-2- 

 seeded. 



Uses : — The leaves are used as an application to wounds, 

 inflamed surfaces and sores. The seeds are used with sugar as 

 a drastic purgative. Said to act as a hEemostatic. (Ph. J., 24th 

 Feb, 1883. p. 683.) 



1025. P. brachyphylla, Edg., h.f.b.l iv. 706. 

 Vern. : — Parhar pangi (Pushtu). 



Habitat : — Western Himalaya, from Kumaon to Kashmir ; 

 Western Tibet, and Afghanistan. 



Perennial glabrous herbs. Leaves elliptic ovate, subsessile 

 or petioled, 3-5-ribbed, axils glabrous. Scapes stout, glabrous, 

 larger than the leaves and cylindric spikes. Much resembling a 

 smaller state of P. Major, but the seeds are l-2in, each cell, 

 oblong and plano-convex. 



Use : —The leaves, slightly bruised, are, in Ziarat, used as 

 an application to wounds. (Lace, in Watt's Die.) 



