1308 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



fever, jaundice and deafness. It is also an antidote to poisons, 

 and regarded as a cure for snake-bites. " Root-bark dried in 

 the shade is said to have been employed with benefit in asthma. 

 Also used in colic, piles and infantile convulsions. It is used for 

 incontinence of urine. The dried powder, mixed with sugar, is 

 used as an aphrodisiac. With the juice of the tulsi leaves, it is 

 administered for pains in the kidneys, and one of the chief 

 remedies used by the Hakims in spermatorrhoea. (Watt's Dic- 

 tionary.) 



1294. Cyanotis tuberosa, Schultes., h.f.b.i., 

 vl, 386. 



Syn. : — Tradescantia tuberosa, Roxb. 280. 



Habitat : — In damp sandy grounds of Ceylon, the Dekkan 

 Peninsula ; on the west side, from the Konkan to Travancore. 



Stems 6in.-3ft., sub-erect or procumbent and creeping 

 below, more or less hirsute. Roots of fleshy, cylindric fibres 

 or tubers. Radical leaves sessile, ensiform, 6-10in. by i-lin., 

 often purple beneath, scaberulous. Cauline leaves narrowly 

 oblong, distant or in distant fascicles, falcate, short, often 

 purple beneath, linear or ensiform, villous; sheath of radical 

 lin. long, glabrous or of the cauline leaves, softly silky. 

 Cymes villous or densely hirsute, J-lin., usually peduncled in 

 the axils of short, ovate, acute leaves, upper often corymbose, 

 strongly falcately decurved. Bracts ovate or lanceolate, falcate, 

 shorter than the cyme. Bracteoles |-fin. (J. D. Hooker), |-£ in. 

 (Trimen), dimidiate-ovate or lanceolate, acute, falcate, villous or 

 densely hirsute. Sepals \ by iVn., linear, oblong, acute, villous. 

 Corolla Jin. long, tube funnel-shaped ; lobes rounded, short, 

 iV§in. long, blue-purple. Filaments bearded, fusi-form towards 

 the tips ; anthers xV n » long, yellow. Style thickened at the tip, 

 with a tuft of hairs near the apex. Capsule J- by xoin., softly 

 hirsute, hairy above. Seeds ifein. long and broad, brown, conic, 

 obscurely rugose. A most variable plant in habit, foliage and 

 pubescence. 



Use : — The root is used by the Santals in long continued 

 fevers and also worms in cattle. (Campbell.) — Watt ii, 674. 



