1356 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



Holarrhena a ntidy sent erica are ground with whey and molasses 

 and given in 6 massa doses. In famine seasons Nagarmoth has 

 proved a valuable resource to the poor. (Dymock). 



1328. G. rotundus, Linn, h.f.b.l, vi. 614. 



Syn. :— C. hexastachyus, Rottb. Roxb. 66. 



Sans. : — Mustagundra, bhadramusti, mustakka, dhanakufca. 



Vem. : — Musta, barikmoth, kore-ki-jhar (H.) ; Mutha, motha, 

 (Beng.) ; Batha-bijir (Mundari) ; Utrubanda, (Uraon) ; Tandi-sura 

 (Santal) ; Binibal (Mar.) ; Motha (Guz.) ; Koraikilangu, tulam, 

 (Tarn.) ; tunga-muste, mustakamu, (Tel.) ; koranari gadde, 

 tungahullu (Kan) ; Kalanduru (Sing.). 



Habitat :— ~A very common and troublesome weed in Ceylon. 

 A pestiferous weed all over India. The tubers yield a perfume. 



Perennial herbs flowering all the year. Rootstock small, 

 tuberous, stoloniferous. Stolons elongate, slender, bearing 

 ovoid, hard, tunicate, black, fragrant tubers |-lin. diam. root- 

 fibres wiry, covered with flexuous root-hairs. Stems subsolitary, 

 6-24in., slender, trigonous below, triquetrous above, base some- 

 times tuberous. Leaves subradical, shorter or longer than 

 the stem, narrowly linear, i-gin. broad, finely acuminate, or 

 narrowed from the middle to both ends, flat, flaccid, 1-veined. 

 Umbel simple or compound, primary rays 2-8, unequal, very 

 slender, bearing short spikes of 4-10 slender spreading red- 

 brown spikelets (inflorescence sometimes, contracted into a 

 head; ; bracts 3, longest up to 7in. ; spikelets *-l by xfein., 

 linear, acute, slightly compressed, 10-20- fid ; pale or dark 

 red-brown ; rhachilla very slender, wings elliptic ; glumes about 

 ^-xoin., closely or loosely imbricate, suberect, ovate, obtuse, 

 dorsally green, hardly keeled, streaked with red-brown, 5-7- 

 veined, sides broadly membranous, margins and tip narrowly 

 scarious ; stamens 3, anthers long, narrow muticous. Nut | 

 the length of the glume, obovoid or oblong, obtuse, trigonous, 

 black, opaque, granulate, style shorter than the nut. Stigmas 

 three, capilarry. (Trimen.) 



Uses:— Roots are used medicinally as a diaphoretic and 

 astringent. Stimulant and diuretic properties are also attributed 

 to them. They are further described as vermifuge. In native 



