1316 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



by -f-lin. ; common petiole at base f-lin. broad ; the fascicles of 

 leaflets up to 3in. apart. Spathe 12-14in., scurfy. Spadices 

 erect, fruiting inclined, with spreading branches. Branches of 

 male filiform. Male inflorescence, says Brandis, " white, scented, 

 compact, on short peduncle." Fruiting peduncle 2-2jft. long, 

 1-1 Jft. wide, terminating in large branches of spikes ; spathe 

 thick, almost woody. Fruit 1-l^in. long, yellow while ripening, 

 reddish-brown when fully ripe, then sweet pulp around the 

 terete ; stony hard seed — seed ventrally grooved — in long 

 embryo, ventral. 



Uses : — The fruit, pounded and mixed with almonds, quince 

 seeds, pistachio nuts, spices and sugar forms a paushtik, or 

 restorative remedy, much in vogue. A paste, formed of kernels 

 and the root of the Aehryanthes aspera, is eaten with betel leaves 

 as a remedy for ague. (Dyniock.) The juice obtained from the 

 tree is considered a cooling beverage. The central tender part 

 is used in gonorrhoea and gleet. The root is used in tooth-ache. 

 From the tree a gum is obtained, of which very little is known. 



1301. NannorhopaRitchieana, IL Wendl., h.f.b.i., 

 vi., 429. 



Vern.: — Mazri, nozarai (Trans.-Indus) ; Kilu, kalium (Salt 

 Range) ; Pfis, pesh, pharra (Sind and Beluch.) ; Maizurrye 

 (Pushtu). 



Habitat : — Sindh, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the Western 

 Punjab. 



A gregarious, tufted, low-growing, glabrous palm, with 

 prostrate branching, robust rhizomes or stems, 8-10ft. long, as 

 thick as a man's arm, dichotomously branched, covered with 

 the old leaf sheaths. Leaves 2-4ft. long and broad, whitish, split 

 to the middle or lower into rigid segments, with often interposed 

 fibres. Petiole unarmed, 6-1 2in. ; margins serrulate. Spadix 

 pyramidal, 2-3ft. Branches ascending and recurved. Branchlets 

 slender. Flowers in pair within a membranous spathella, one 

 sessile, bracteate, the other pedicelled or bracteate. Flowers 

 polygamous, male and bisexual in a large, erect, pyramidal, 



