1144 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



An annual weedy herb, 6-18in. high, branched from the base, 

 with an erect stem, naked below, and slender leafy, angular 

 branches above, glabrous. Leaves numerous, crowded, distichous, 

 somewhat imbricated, spreading, nearly sessile, i-f in., oblong- 

 oval, obtuse thin, pale beneath. Stipules very acute. Male 

 flowers : — sepals ^oin. long, rounded ; stamens 3. Female 

 flowers: — sepals oval, sub-acute, w r ith broad, white margins. 

 Fruit very small, iVi\in., depressed globose, faintly 3-lobed, 

 quite smooth. Seeds with slender ribs. Flowers all the year, 

 yellow (Trimen). 



Uses : — The young shoots in infusion are given in dysentery. 

 The leaves are stomachic. (Watt.) The juice of the stems mixed 

 with oil employed in ophthalmia. Leaves and root pulverised 

 and made into poultice with rice-water said to lessen oedematous 

 swellings and ulcers. (Drury.) " The Rev. Dr. John informs 

 me that he has known the fresh root prove an excellent remedy 

 for the jaundice- About half an ounce, while fresh, was given, 

 rubbed up in a cup of milk night and morning, the cure was 

 completed in a few days without any sensible operation of the 

 medicine." (Roxb.) 



" Phyllanthus Niruri, Liyin., and P. urinaria, Linn., two plants 

 indigenous throughout India, are held in considerable repute 

 by the natives as diuretics, and as such are much employed in 

 dropsical affections, also in gonorrhcea, and other genito-urinary 

 affections. They have been mentioned favourably by Horsfield 

 and others, but they do not appear to possess any special 

 claims to notice. 



" The decoction of the root and leaves is very bitter and^is a 

 favourite remedy among the natives of Porto Rico, for the cure 

 of intermittent fevers. I have myself many times proved its 

 efficacy in preventing the expected paroxysm. I was accustom- 

 ed to employ a tincture made by myself with the'whole plant, 

 the dose being two drachms in the morning. Sometimes I re- 

 peated the dose, which acted upon the bowels as a slight purga- 

 tive and this is very useful in inveterate intermittents with 

 infarcts of the spleen and liver. The infusion of the root and 

 leaves is a good tonic, and a diuretic when taken cold in repeat- 



