CICHORIUM INTYBUS — CURCUMA KUCHOOR. 



CICHOPJUM INTYBUS, Linn. 



[ Vide Plate LXXIX. ] 



Chicory or succory; kasni (Hind.) ; hindba (Arab.). 



Natural order Composite. An erect hispid perennial herb with bright blue flowers in terminal 

 or axillary heads. 



The chicory plant is a native of Europe, and is also found wild on the North- 

 Western Himalaya from 4 to 11,000 feet. In the plains it occurs plentifully by 

 road-sides and along the borders of cultivated ground, but evidently as an escape from 

 cultivation. In the Kangra district it is cultivated for the sake of the seeds which are 

 alterative ; and in some parts of the Punjab the plant is grown for fodder. Roxburgh 

 states that when young the plant is used as a vegetable. In France the young leaves 

 are eatpn as salad under the name of ' barbe du capucine,' and Dr. Watt says that the 

 leaves and roots constitute half of the food of the poorer classes in Egypt. Medicinally 

 it has tonic, demulcent and cooling properties. The root is bitter, and is used in the 

 Punjab as a liver tonic instead of taraxacum. Cichorium Endivia is the garden endive. 



Explanation of Plate LXXIX. 



1. Root. 



2. Flowering branch. 



3. Vertical section of flower head. 



V 



4. One of the ray florets (enlarged). 



5. Fruit (nat. 6ize). 



CURCUMA KUCHOOR, Royle) 



Pahari kachur- 



Natural order Scitamineoe. A tuberous-rooted herbaceous perennial allied to C. montana. 



Royle in his " Illustrations of Himalayan Botany," p. 359, mentions this plant 

 as being grown on the hills above Dehra Dun. I have seen the plant, but not in 

 flower. It is cultivated in small quantities also in the Kangra Valley along with haldi 

 (C. longa). The tubers are planted in April, and are ready for digging up in Novem- 

 ber. They are scalded in boiling water, and then shaken in baskets to remove the 

 fibres and outer skin. The root is pale yellow, aromatic and bitter. As a medicine it 

 is used internally and acts as a carminative. Applied externally in the form of a 

 plaister it is said to cure pains. 



* References :— Fl. Br. Ind., III., 391 ; Boiss.. Fl. Or., III., 715 ; Watt, Diet. Econom. Prod., II. ; Royle, 111. Ilim. 

 Bot., 247 ; Phurmacogr. Ind., II., 31 1. 



t Fl. Br. Ind., VI., 214 ; Baden-Powell, Punj. Prod., 300. 



