N. O. FLAGELLARIEJE. 1309 



1295. C. axillaris, Ecem et Schultes, h.f.b.i., VI., 

 388, Roxb. 280. 



Syn. :— Tradescantia axillaris, Linn. 116. 



Vern. :— Nirpulli Tarn.) ; Soltraj, bagbanulla (H.) ; Itsaka 

 (Bomb.); Golagandi (Tel.). 



Habitat : — Throughout India, in the plains, from the Upper 

 Gangetic Valley to Assam, Ceylon low country. 



Annual herbs, with stems 6 18in., stout or slender, elongate, 

 glabrous or sparsely hairy, diffusely branched, leafy. Branches 

 sub-erect and creeping below or prostrate; internodes l-3in.; roots 

 fibrous. Leaves sessile, 2-6 by i-Jin., narrowly linear or linear- 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, flat, glabrous or hairy ; sheath 

 i-Jin., mouth ciliate. Cymes reduced to axillary fascicles of 

 flowers, with the small, linear or linear-lanceolate bracteoles, 

 almost concealed in the leaf sheaths. Flowers bright-violet-blue. 

 Sepal Jin., spathulately lanceolate, acuminate, sparingly hairy. 

 Corolla petal long-clawed ; tube Jin. long ; lobes small, rounded ; 

 filaments fusiform below the tip. Style bearded, glabrous. 

 Capsule i-|in. long, shortly stipilate, long-beaked, quite glab- 

 rous ; beak half as long as the body. Seeds large, up to xain. 

 long, oblong, compressed or ventrally concave, brown, shining, 

 cancellate, with shallow pits. 



Uses : — On the Malabar Coast, this is viewed as a useful 

 remedy in tympanites. (Rheede). It was one of the plants 

 brought to Dr. Buchanan Hamilton while in Behar, as a useful 

 medicine for external application in cases of ascites, especially 

 when mixed with a little oil. (Ainslie.) 



Lyon found the seeds to have the following percentage composition : 



Water 10*29, fat 062, albuminoids 15*99, carbohydrates 24*79, cellulose 9*36, 

 ash 8-89. The nitrogen was estimated at 11*28 grains per oz., and the nutritive 

 caroon at 145*80 per oz. He calculates the nutritive value of the seeds as 

 compared with the average cereal at 100*00 to be 85*76. (Pharmacogr. 

 Ind., III. 510.) 



N. O. FLAGELLARIEJE. 

 1296. Flagellaria indiea, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi. 391. 

 Habitat : — Throughout India, chiefly near the coast, from the 

 Snnderbuns and Chittagong to Ceylon and Singapore. 



