1282 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



N. 0. DIOSCOREACEJE. 



1266. Dioseorea pentaphylla, Linn., h.f.b.l, 

 vi. 289. 



Vern. : — Manda (Mar.) ; Ts-iagri-nuren (Mai.) ; Shendurvel 

 (Bomb.) ; Padimuskir (Gond) ; Pandigada (Tel.). 



Habitat : — Throughout tropical India. 



Herbs, with large tuberous root-stocks. Root tubers 5-6ft. 

 long. Stem slender, glabrous, more or less prickly, especially 

 towards the base, often tuberiferous in the leaf axils. Leaves 

 alternate, 3-5-foliolate glabrous, or sparsely pubescent beneath. 

 Petiole, l-4in. ; leaflets 2-6in., shortly petiolate, oval, obovate or 

 lanceolate, acuminate, cuspidate or subcaudate, membranous ; 

 base acute, lateral oblique at the base. Male flowers in very 

 slender racemes, ljin. long, which are solitary or binate on a 

 very slender, flexuous tomentose rhachis, 6-1 2in. long. Bracts 

 very broad, apiculate, membraneous, much shorter than the 

 flowers. Perianth about ^in. diam. ; segments glabrous or 

 sparsely pubescent, broadly ovate, obtuse. Stamens 3 ; anthers 

 subsessile ; staminodes 3, minute ; pistillode 3-lobed. Female 

 flowers in axillary, flexuous, pendulous, tomentose spikes, 2-6in. 

 long. Perianth segments broader than in the male. Staminodes 

 3, minute. Stigmas spreading, linear ; fruit f-lin. long, quad- 

 rately oblong, retuse at both ends, glabrous ; seeds Jin. long, 

 wing terminal, longer and broader than the short, oblique 

 nucleus. Flowers pale greenish, fragrant tubers edible. (Tri- 

 men). 



Uses : — The tubers are sometimes used to disperse swellings. 

 (Dymock.) Also used as a tonic. 



1267. D. oppositifolia, Linn., h.f.b.l, vi., 292 ; 

 Roxb. 730. 



Vern.: — Mar-paspoli (Bomb.); Piska (Santali) ; Aretige, 

 tegalu, avatenga tige (Tel.) ; Girs konda, sut konda (Gond). 



Habitat: — Tropical India, from Assam, Silhet and Chitta- 

 gong, southwards to Ceylon. 



