N. 0. taooaoe^:. 1281 



1 264. C. sp. ? (found in Chutia Nagpur). 



(Mr. C. B. Clarke writes of this plant that he is unable to 

 name it, and presumes it may be an undescribed species ; in 

 that case it should bear the discoverer's name — the Rev. A. 

 Campbell.) 



Vern. : — Sikyom baha (Santal). 



Habitat : — High and dry situations in Chutia Nagpur, 

 flowering during the hot season before the leaves appear. In 

 some respects, this resembles C. latifolium as described in 

 Roxburgh's Flora Indica. 



Uses : — A decoction prepared from the bulb is given internal- 

 ly and pounded and made into a paste ; it is also applied exter- 

 nally by the Santals in dropsy. It is used for the diarrhoea of 

 cattle. (Campbell) Watt ii. 591. 



N. 0. TACCAOE.E. 



1265 Tacca pinnatifida, Forst., h.f.b.i., vi., 287. 



Habitat :— The Concans, Central India. 



Leaves 2-3ft. diam. ; tripartite segments 2-3-fid or irregu- 

 larly pinnatifid or pinnate at the base ; petiole l-3ft., smooth. 

 Scape tapering, longer than the petiole, striped, dark and light- 

 green, 10-40-fid. Flowers drooping ; involucre leaves 4-12 or 

 more, subequal, oblong, acuminate, lanceolate, recurved, striped 

 with purple ; filiform bracts very numerous. Perianth greenish, 

 subglobose, §in. diam., fleshy ; lobes conniving, subequal, 

 margined with purple. Fruit size of a pigeon's egg, 6-ribbed, 

 yellow. Root-stock globose, 1ft. diam., under cultivation. 

 (Hooker). Seeds angular. (Trimen.) 



Uses : — The root-stock is intensely bitter when raw. It is full 

 of starch, which, when prepared, is of exellent culinary pro- 

 perties, and is far preferable to that of any other arrowroot for 

 dysentery. 



161 



