1058 



INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Vern, : — Kanta nutia (Beng.) ; Kante mat (Dec.) ; Mulluk- 

 kirai (Tarn.) ; Mah : Kante bhaji, kante math Chanlai kante- 

 dar (H.) ; Mullan-chira (Malay/; Mullu-tota-kura ; Nalla 

 doggali ; Erra mulu goranta (Tel.). 



Habitat: — Throughout India, in waste places, fields and 

 gardens. 



An annual erect glabrous herb. Stem l-2ft., hard, terete, 

 leaf-axils with 5 straight spines fin. and under (J. D. Hooker). 

 " Stem," writes Trimen (Ceylon), " polished, much-branched, 

 cylindrical with a pair of very sharp divaricate opposite spines 

 in leaf axils at the base of the bud or branch." This is what I 

 find among the Konkan plants (K. R. Kirtikar). Leaves lJ-2£ 

 in., ovate-lanceolate, tapering to base, obtuse, spinous apiculate ; 

 entire undulate, glabrous above, slightly scurfy beneath, lateral 

 veins numerous, prominent beneath, petiole J-2in. Flowers very 

 numerous, sessile, pale green, clusters dense, both axillary and 

 in terminal interrupted spikes, male fewer than female. Bracts 

 linear, bristle-pointed. Perianth leaves 5, rather longer than 

 bracts, ovate, bristle pointed. Stamens 5, spreading ; ovary 

 pointed, pubescent. Styles 2, long, spreading, hairy (Trimen). 

 Utricle rugose, nearly equalling the sepals. Flowers 2$in. 

 long, sepals of male acuminate, of female obtuse apiculate. 

 Stigmas 2. Seeds soin. diam., blacky shining, border obtuse, not 

 thickened. The plant varies from green to red and purple. (J. 

 D. Hooker.) 



Uses: — " Considered light, cooling and a promoter of the 

 alvine and urinary discharges. Root said to be, according to 

 Bhavaprakash, useful in menorrhagia." (Dutt's, p. 221.) 

 "Roots made into poultice are applied to buboes and abscesses 

 for hastening suppuration." (Asst.-Surg. A. C. Mukerji.) 

 The whole plant is used as an antidote for snake-poison, 

 and the root as a specific for colic. It is also considered a 

 lactagogue, and, boiled with pulses, is given to cows (J. P., p. 

 184). Assistant-Surgeon Ainrita Lai Deb, of Howrah, recorded 

 the root as a specific in gonorrhoea ; also advocated its use in 

 eczema (I. M. G., Nov. 1881). 



