FILIOES. 1387 



dish or obreniform, placed in the roundish sinuses of the 

 crenations. 



Uses:— In the Punjab, the leaves along with pepper, are 

 administered as a febrifuge, and in South India, when prepared 

 with honey, they are used in catarrhal affections (Watt). 



At Colomas (in Mexico) this plant is used as a tea to relieve 

 colic, but at Colothan it is taken as a tea for amenorrhea. 

 This furnishes a good example of the diverse uses plants are 

 often put to. (J. N. Rose's useful Plants of Mexico). 



1352. A. venustum, Don. 



Eef :— Beddome's Handbook to the Ferns of Br. In., p. 86. 



Vern. : — Par-i-siya washan, hansraj, Hind., in the Bazars. 

 The Makhzan gives Kali-jhant as the Hindi name of this plant. 

 In Bombay it is chiefly known as mubaraka. The plant is 

 generally known as ghas in the Punjab Himalaya. 



Habitat :— Himalayas up to 8,000 feet in altitude, and chiefly 

 in the North- Western Himalayas extending to Afghanistan. 



Fronds 3-4- pinnate ; pinnules firm, membranaceous, gla- 

 brous, and slightly glaucous beneath, shortly petiolulate 

 obovate-cuneate, rarely subrhomboid-acuminate, striated, the 

 superior margin rounded, scarcely ever or but slightly 2 or 3 

 lobed, finely dentate-serrate, fertile lobes with 2, rarely 3 

 notches, each notch bearing a rather large sorus at the bottom ; 

 involucres reniform-cordate, submembranaceous ; stipes and 

 slender rachis everywhere ebeneous-glossy, glabrous. (Beddome.) 



Uses ' — It possesses astringent and aromatic properties, is 

 emetic in large dostes, and is a tonic and a febrifuge and 

 expectorant. This remark is given by Mr. Baden-Powell in 

 his Punjab Products under A. caudatum, A. venustum and other 

 species, and it is probable that if all the preceding are not 

 actually used indiscriminately or as substitutes for each other in 

 different districts, they might easily be so, since they seem all 

 to possess the same properties. Stewart says that " in Chumba 

 it is pounded and applied to bruises, &c, and the plant appears 

 to supply in the Punjab most of the officinal hansraj, which is 

 administered as an anodyne in bronchitis, and is considered 



