1056 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Leaves 6-10in., elliptic, oblong-ovate or oblong, acute or acumi- 

 nate. Petiole |-liin. Flowers in dense corymbose terminal 

 cymes. Male flowers ^in. long, tubular campanulate, pedicelled, 

 5-toothed, stamens 8. Female flower much smaller ; stigma pedi- 

 cellate. Fruit flower much smaller. Stigma pedicellate. Fruit 

 i-fin. long, long-pedicelled, narrow club-shaped, 5-angled, angles 

 with one row of prickles. 



Use : — The fresh leaves, moistened with Eau-de-Cologne, are 

 used to subdue inflammation of an elephantoid nature in the 

 legs and other parts. (Sakharam Arjun.) 



N. 0. AMARANTACEJE. 



1032. Celosia argentea, Linn., h.f.b.i. iv. 714. 

 Roxb. 228. 



Vern. : — Debkoti, sufaid murgha, sarwari sirali, ghogiya 

 (H.) ; Sirgit arak (Santal) ; Salgara, chilchil, sil, sarpankha(Pb.) ; 

 Swet murga (B.) ; Sarwali, ucha-kukur (Sind.) ; Lapadi (Guz.) ; 

 Kudhu, kurdu (Bomb.) ; Kiirdu kurada (Mar.) ; Gurugu, panche 

 chettu (Tel.). (Several of these vernacular names imply white 

 coxcomb). 



Habitat : — Central and Northern India. 



A glabrous erect annual herb, l-3ft, stout slender, simple or 

 branched. Leaves l-0in., narrow, linear or lanceolate. Spikes 

 solitary, few or many, 1-8 by f-lin.; peduncles slender. Flowers 

 i-Jin., white, glistening ; bracts much shorter than the acute 

 sepals ; style filiform. The top of the spike sometimes branches 

 out in a coxcomb form. 



Uses: — The seeds are officinal, being an efficacious remedy 

 in diarrhoea. The Revd. A. Campbell says the Santals extract 

 a medicinal oil from them. The amount of oil extracted by 

 ether amounts to only about 7 per cent. The author of the 

 Muifaridat-i-Nasiri states that 180 grains of the seeds with an 

 equal quantity of sugar-candy taken daily in a cup of milk 

 is a most powerful aphrodisiac. (Dyrnock ) 



