1070 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



" The plants are dried in the sun for two or three days, care 

 being taken not to overdo this. They are then burnt in round 

 pits 3 to 4 feet in diameter and 2 to 3 feet in depth. As the 

 stuff burns more of it is continually added to the burning 

 mass which is always kept stirred. The fused alkali now comes 

 out as a liquid and collects at the bottom of the pit in a separate 

 mass which on cooling forms the " barilla " ready for export." 



1050. Salsola Kali, Linn., h.f.b.l, v. 17. 



Vern. :— Sajji but! (Pb.). 



Habitat : — N.-W. Punjab, common in Baluchistan. 



Annual spinescent herbs ; pubescent, scabrid or glabrous, 

 usually glaucous. Stem (>18in., rarely erect, branches soft and 

 pithy within, striped green white ; diffusely branched from the 

 base. Leaves short, subulate, lanceolate from a f-amplexicaul 

 base, thick rigid, pungent, i-ljin., spreading and recurved. 

 Flowers 1-3 together, axillary or subspicate, bracts sepals sub- 

 equal pungent. Fruiting perianth cartilaginous, \ |in., diam 

 transparent, often rose coloured ; base rounded, wings obovate, 

 orbicular or reniform, scarious, sometimes obsolete. Seed ad- 

 herent to the utricle. 



Use : — This plant is used in the manufacture of sajji. 



1051. Basella rubra, Linn., h.f.b.i., v. 20. Roxb. 

 275. 



Vern. : — Poi, lal-bachhe (H.) ; Rakto-pui, puisak {B.) ; Lai 

 bachle-ki-bhaji (Duk.); Shirappu-vasla-kire (Tarn.) ; Alla-batsalla, 

 pedda-mattu-neatku-batsala, erra-allu-bach-chali (Tel.) ; Chovva- 

 una-basella-kira (Mai.); Kempa-basale (Kan.); Mayak bhaji, 

 Velgond (Bomb.). 



Habitat : — Throughout India under cultivation. 



A much-branched, twining fleshy herb, glabrous. Leaves 

 petioled, broadly ovate, or cordate-orbicular, 2-7in. diam., nar- 

 rowed into the petioles. Spikes l-6in., axillary peduncled, simple 

 or branched. Flowers red. Fruit size of a pea, purple when 

 mature. 



" Roxburgh regards two varieties of this, a red and a regen- 



