1124 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



has been presumed to posses would, therefore, not appear to depend upon any 

 single substance of a definite chemical character. (Hooper.) 



1114. E. ihymi folia, Burm. h.f.b.l, v. 252; 

 Roxb. 394. 



Sails. :— Rakta vinda chada. 



Vern. : — Dudiya sweta kerna (B.) ; Dudhi, chotka dudhi (EL); 

 Bara dodak, hazardana (Pb.) ; Chinamam ; Sittra paladi ; Patcha 

 arise (Tam.) ; Reddi vari manu bala ; Bidurunana biyyam (Tel.); 

 Nayeti (Bomb.); Mathi-dudhi (Mar.\ 



Habitat : — Throughout India in the plains and lower hills, 

 ascending in Kashmir to 5,500 ft, 



A small, pubescent, much-branchevl, annual herb ; stems 

 4-1 2in. divaricately branched, spreading ilat on ground, stipular, 

 minute, serrate. Leaves opposite, oblong, Jin., obtuse; teeth acute 

 or rounded. Involucres campanulate, minute, axillary ; teeth 4 ; 

 lobes very short ; glands green, narrowly bordered with a white 

 petitl.es ; very short, rounded limb, sometimes absent. Styles 

 short. Capsule pubescent with bluntly keeled lobes ; seeds 

 wrinkled. 



" The whole plant has often a coppery tinge," says Trimen. It 

 flowers all the year round. Colour pink, a common weed. 

 Flower heads very small ; sessile, l-3in. axil. Trimen makes 

 the following remark, which is well worth quoting here : — " The 

 severed end of a branch, made to touch lightly the surface 

 of water, has the singular effect of violently repelling to con- 

 siderable distance all floating particles in the neighbourhood." 



Uses : — The expressed juice or powdered plant with wine is 

 given as a remedy for the bites of venomous reptiles, and is 

 applied externally to the bitten part ; with milk it acts as a pur- 

 gative and expels all noxious humors from the body. According to 

 Ainsile, the Sanskrit name is Rakta-vindu-chhada, which would 

 imply that it is a remedy for Rakba-vindu, " gonorrhoea with 

 sanious discharge." He remarks :— " The very small leaves 

 and seeds of this low-growing annual plant, which, in their dried 

 state, are slightly aromatic and a little astringent, are given by 

 the Tamool doctors, in worm cases, and in certain bowel affec- 

 tions of children ; they are commonly administered in the form 



