1072 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir and Hazara 

 to Bhutan. 



A nearly glabrous, erect herb. Stems 3-5ft., robust, succu- 

 lent. Leaves alternate, broadly lanceolate, 6-10in., entire long- 

 pointed, narrowed into a short stalk ; stipules none. Flowers 

 |-in. diam., pale-green, 2-sexual, in leaf opposed, cylindrical ; 

 racemes 2-6in., long ; bracts linear. Perianth 5, nearly separate 

 segments. Stamens 8-10, filaments united at the base ; anthers 

 2-celled, soon falling off. Ovary composed of 6-8 carpels 

 arranged in a whorl, each with a short recurved stigma. Fruit 

 dark-purple, succulent, crowded in an erect, thick raceme, 4-8in. 

 long ; carpels separating when ripe, each containing a single 

 black shining kidney-shaped seed. 



Uses : — The natives do not appear to use any part of the 

 plant as a medicine, but in every district in which it is cultivated 

 they seem to be fully aware of its power of producing delirium. 

 It is commonly stated that the poisonous property is only de- 

 stroyed by complete boiling. The narcotic virtues of certain 

 American species are well-known, and it is possible that the 

 Indian plant may be equally valuable. (Watt). 



N. 0. POLYGONACE^]. 



1054. Galligonam polygonoides, Linn., h.f.b.i., 



v. 22. 



Vern. : — Balanja, berwaja, tatuke (Trans-Indus); Phok, 

 phog, phogalli (flowers) ; tirni (root) (Pb. and Sind). 



Habitat: — Punjab, Sind and Rajputana. 



An almost leafless shrub or small tree with terete pale flexu- 

 ous branches and very slender branchlets. Leaves most minute, 

 bristles at the distant nodes. Flowering branches about as 

 thick as a crow-quill or less; internodes 1-l^in. long. Pedicels 

 i-iin., sepals 5, flat, about as long. Stamens 12-18. Ovary 

 4-angled. Fruit J-lin diam., a nut, 4-angled, oblong, hard, 

 densely clothed with many series of branching intricate, rigid, 

 red-brown flexuous bristles ; seed about i'm. 



