N. 0. NYCTAGINEJE. 1053 



Vern. : — Sant, Gadha pfirna, (H.) ; Punarnaba, seveta punar- 

 naba (B.); Punarnava, khapara, ghetuli (Bomb.); Vakha 

 khaparo, dholi saturdi, moto satodo (Gnj.) ; Punarnawn (Satodi- 

 pntchee) (Cutch) ; Vasu (Mar.) ; Thikri-ka-jhar (Duk.) ; Nakbel 

 (Sindj ; Mukaratte-kire, mukukratt (Tarn.) ; Atatamamidi (Tel.); 

 Ttsit (Pb.) ; Tamilama, talut&ma, (Mai.); Sanadika, balevadaki- 

 gida (Kan.). 



Ha } itat: — Throughout India; from the Punjab to Assam 

 and Sou tli to Tr a van core. 



A diffuselly branched herb ; root stout, fusiform, rootstock 

 wood} 7 . Stems 2-3ft. long, slender, prostrate or ascending, 

 swollen at the nodes, minutely hairy and sometimes viscid or 

 subglabrous, often tinged with purple. Leaves rather thick, 

 arranged in unequal pairs at each node, i-ljin. long, ovate 

 oblong or sub-orbicular, green and glabrous above, usually 

 white beneath ; base rounded or subcordate, margins subundu- 

 ate, often pink ; petioles about as long as the blade. Flowers 

 minute, subcapitate, 4-10 together in small bracteolate umbels 

 forming slender long-stalked axillary and terminal panicles ; 

 bracteoles lanceolate, acute. Perianth Jin. long ; tube glandu- 

 lar-hairy ; limb red, funnel-shaped, with 5 narrow vertical bands 

 outside. Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted. Fruit Jin. long, 

 clavate, rounded, viscidly glandular on the 5 broad blunt ribs 

 (Duthie). 



Uses: — "It is used in jaundice, ascites, anasarca, scanty 

 urine, and internal inflammations" (Dutt). In the Punjab, 

 considered useful for the eyes (Ibbetson's Gujrat). In Goa, 

 the herb is esteemed as a diuretic in gonorrhoea, in Bombay is 

 much used for dropsical swellings (Dymock). The use of the 

 root in gonorrhoea appears to have been introduced by the 

 Portuguese ; in the West Indies, the plant is known as Bejuco de 

 purgacion, and is the popular remedy for that disease. The 

 root used in bronchitic asthma. This has been confirmed by 

 the experience of the French in the Antilles, where the plant is 

 called Patagon or Patagonelle-Valeriane. Its diuretic properties 

 have been borne testimony to by numerous medical officers. 

 (Watt, 1. 48G.) 



