1364 



INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



is believed to neutralise' the miasma of the air and to purify 

 water when boiled like tea with a small quantity of Coix flour 

 and set by to cool before being used. In India Coix can hardly 

 be said to enjoy any reputation for medicinal virtues. The Rev. 

 Dr. Campbell tells us that among the Santals the root is given 

 in strangury and in the menstrual complaint known as silka. 

 Dymock (Veg. Mat. Med.) says the seeds are sold in the drug 

 shops of Bombay under the name of kassgi bij. The Pharmaco- 

 graphia Indica says that the wild form only is used medicinally 

 and that it is considered strengthening and diuretic. (Watt). 



The following detailed analysis gives the composition of the grain in 100 

 parts, as published by Professor Church and subsequently by the Haarlem 

 Museum authorities, by Mr. Hooper of the Indian Museum Keport and by 

 Drs. Paton and Dunlop in The Agricultural Ledger No. 6 of 1904 , page 50. 





Professor Church. 



Haarlem 



Museum, 



1901 



(cultivated 



grain). 



Indian 



Museum, 



1901-02 



(cultivated 



grain). 



Paton and 

 Dunlop, 1904 

 (wild plant). 





1886 

 (wild plant). 



1901 



(Cultivated 



grain). 



Water 



Albuminoids... 



Starch 



Oil 



Fibre 



Ash 



13-2 



18-7 



58-3 



5'2 



1-5 



21 



14-8 



16-6* 



60-1 



5-8 



9 



1-8 



13.91 



2l*72j- 



55-29 



1'30 



1-48 



1-79 



8-00 

 22-46 

 61-82 



4-92 

 •70 



210 



1074 



18-81 



59*55 



6-2 



1-28 



3-4 



1333. Zea Mays, Linn., h.f.b.i., vn. 102. 



Vern : — Makka, Bhutta (H). 



Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India. 



A tall annual grass. Stems 4-10 ft. high, smooth, striate, 

 solid, the central portion soft and spongy. Leaves numerous, 

 close together ; sheaths large and full, somewhat compressed, 

 auricled at the base, upper part hairy ; ligule short, truncate, 

 torn ; blade of leaf 1-1 J ft. long, linear lanceolate, acute, smooth ; 

 midrib prominent below ; margins wavy, ciliate. Flowers 

 unisexual ; spikelets monoecious, 2-flowered ; male spikelets 

 many, arranged in pairs on the spike-like branches of a large 

 terminal drooping panicle ; glumes 2, about equal, tinged with 



* 2*66 nitrogen. 



| 3*47 nitrogen. 



