n. o. aroidEjE. 1343 



Vern. : — Kachu, arvi, ghuiyan, cham-kure-ka-gaddah (Hind.); 

 Kochu, ashu-kochu, bun-kochu, guri. (Beng.) ; Dzu (culti- 

 vated) and kirth (wild), (Angami Naga) ; Rab aln, kacbaln, 

 gandiali, arbi, kasauri gagli, gbuyan (Pb.) ; Alu, Kasalu 

 (Mar.) ; Saru (Uriya) ; Shimak-kizbangu, shima-ikilangu (Tam.) ; 

 chama-kura, chama gadda, chama-dnmpa, cherna (Tel); 

 Ohempa-kizhanna, kaladi (Mai.) ; avi-gadde, keshavanga-gadde, 

 (Kan.). 



Habitat: — Throughout the hotter parts of India, wild as well 

 as cultivated. Ceylon. 



A tall, coarse herb. Root-stock tuberous, about Gin. in dia- 

 meter, short or elongating underground for several feet, giving 

 off long sheathed bulbilliferous runners from the base. Leaves 

 •6-16in., dark green, sometimes clouded with black, bifid half way 

 from the base to the insertion of the petiole, basal lobes rounded, 

 mid-rib beneath very stout, penniveined, with 5-7 veins radiating 

 from the top of the petiole, which is 3-4ft: long, green or violet, 

 sheath narrow. Spathes solitary or fascicled, stoutly peduncled, 

 8-12in. long, erect, narrow, green, tube 2-3in., narrowly ellipsoid, 

 limb erect, lanceolate, acuminate, convolute, caudate, acuminate. 

 (J. D. Hooker). Spadix about half as long as the spathe, slender, 

 appendage l-3in., cylindric or subulate ; male and female 

 inflorescence each about ljin. long, separated by an interval 

 covered with flat oblong neuters. (Trimen.) Every part edible. 



Uses : — The pressed juice of the petioles is styptic, and may 

 be used to arrest arterial hoemorrhage. Dr. Bholanath Bose 

 reports very highly in favour of this property, and states that the 

 wound heals by first intention after its application. (Pharm. Ind.) 

 It is sometimes used in earache and otorrhoea, and also as an 

 external stimulant and rubefacient. "The juice expressed from 

 the leaf stalks is used with salt as an absorbent in cases of 

 inflamed glands and buboes. The juice of the corm of this 

 species is used in cases of alopaecia. Internally, it acts as a 

 laxative, and is used in cases of piles and congestion of the 

 portal system, also as an antidote to the stings of wasps and 

 other insects." (Dr. Thornton in Watt's Die). 



A microscopic examination of a section of a tuber revealed the presence 



