1370 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



obscure. Panicle 4-12 in., conical, erect, rachis stout and erecto- 

 patent filiform flexuous branches glabrous or scaberulous. Spikes 

 slender, joints and pedicels about = the sessile spikelets. Sessile 

 spikelets grey, green, yellow or purplish, \-\ in., slightly curved, 

 glabrous, callus obscurely bearded ; glumes I coriaceous, acute, 

 2-4-nerved ; II coriaceous, 1-nerved, margins hyaline, keel muri- 

 cate ; III lanceolate, acuminate, 2-nerved, margins inflexed 

 ciliolate ; 1V = III ciliate ; palea very small, obtuse, glabrous. 

 Pedicelled spikelets like the sessile but glume I smooth, IV awn- 

 less. (Hooker). 



Uses : — By Sanskrit writers the root is described as cooling, 

 refrigerant, stomachic and useful in pyrexia, thirst, inflammation, 

 irritability of stomach, etc It enters into the composition of 

 several cooling medicines. * * A weak infusion of the root is 

 sometimes used as a febrifuge drink. Externally it is used in 

 a variety of ways. A paste of the root is rubbed on the skin 

 to relieve oppressive heat or burning of the body. This use of 

 the drug appears to have been popular with the ancients. * * 

 An aromatic cooling bath is prepared by adding to a tub of 

 water the following substances in fine powder, namely, root of 

 Andropogon muricatus, Pavonia odorata (bala) red sandalwood, 

 and a fragrant wood called padma kashtha. The same medicines 

 are reduced to a thin emulsion with water and applied to the 

 skin. (U. C. Dutt.) 



An infusion of the root is given as a febrifuge and a powder 

 in bilious complaints. It is regarded as stimulant, diaphoretic, 

 stomachic and refrigerant. The essence (or otto) is used as a 

 tonic. A paste of the pulverised roots in water is also used as 

 a cooling external application in fevers. 



Antispasmodic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and emmenagogue pro- 

 perties have been assigned to it ; but beyond being a gentle 

 stimulant diaphoretic, it seems to have no just claims to notice 

 as a medicine. An account of the uses to which it has been 

 applied in Europe is given by Pereira {Mat. Med., Vol. ii., P., i. 

 p. 1321 Its uses in native practice are detailed in the Taleef 

 Shereef, p. 14, No. 47. According to the analysis of Geiger, 



