N. 0. TRIDE.i:. 1271 



fertile cell, with 2 minute imperfect cells at the base, dark- 

 orange colour. Seed solitary, broadly ovoid, white; albumin 

 horny. 



Uses: — It is described as purgative, heavy, sweet, pungent, 

 tonic, and cardiacal ; a remedy for bile, heat of blood, gonor- 

 rhoea, tridosha (a corruption of the three humors), thirst, heart 

 disease, itch, leprosy, fever, rheumatism, and glandular enlarge- 

 ments. 



Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii) remarks— 



" This fleshy creeping root is, in a slight degree, warm to 

 the taste, and of a not unpleasant odour; and is prescribed, 

 by the native practitioners, in the form of an electuary, in 

 consumptive complaints and coughs of long standing, to the 

 quantity of a small tea-spoonful twice daily. The juice of the 

 tender shoots of the plants they administer to children to clear 

 their throats of viscid phlegm. The plant is cultivated in 

 great abundance at Cumbura, and on the Vursenand Mountains 

 in the Dindigul district." (Pharmacogr. Ind. Vol. III., p. 493.) 



N. 0. IRIDEiE. 



1255. Iris ensata, Thunb., h.f.b.l, vl, 272. 



Vern. : — Irisa, sosun (H.) ; Tesraa (Bhote) ; Krishun, unarjal, 

 marjal (Kashmir). 



Habitat: — Common on the temperate N.-W Himalaya and 

 Kashmir, in damp places ; often grows in gardens. 



Root-stock stout, prostrate and creeping. Stems tufted, short, 

 or lj-2ft., stout or slender ; sheaths fibrous. Leaves l-2ft. 

 by i-fin., linear, rigid, grooved, glaucous. Spathes 3-4in., 

 1-3-fid ; valves lanceolate, green. Flowers pedicelled, lilac. 

 Perianth tube 0. Sepals neither crested nor bearded, blade 1J-2 

 by i-f in. rhomboidly ovate, obtuse, entire, shorter than the 

 claw. Petals oblanceolate, erect, iin. broad. Ovary lin., 

 cylindric style ; arms lin. linear ; tip acutely 2-fid, crests large, 

 deltoid. Capsule l^-3in. by £-fin., O-ribbed, beaked, ribs 

 rounded. (J. D. Hooker.) 



