PORTULACA OLERACEA CEPHALANDRA INDICA. 



PORTULACA OLERACEA, Linn* 



[Vide Plate XCIII.] 



Garden purslane ; kulfa, lunia, lunak (Hind.). 



Natural order Portulaceai. A diffuse succulent annual with wedge-shaped leaves and sessile 

 yellow flowers. 



This species grows wild in North-Western India. A cultivated variety is grown in 

 many native gardens as a rainy season crop in the plains, and also on the Himalayas 

 up to 7,000 feet. 



The young stems and leaves are cooked like spinach with salt and chillies, and are 

 also used in curries. 



The fresh leaves which contain oxalate of potash and mucilage are acid, and when 

 bruised are used as a cooling external application in erysipelas, and an infusion of 

 them is given as a diuretic. The seeds are also used in native medicine. 



CEPHALANDRA INDICA, NaudJ 



Bimb, kandwi (Hind.) ; vimba (Sans.) 



Natural order Cucurbitacece. A climbing herb with simple tendrils. Leaves 5-angular or 

 lobed, margin toothed. Flowers dioecious, solitary, white. Fruit cylindrical smooth, bright scarlet 

 when ripe. 



A common wild plant growing on bushes and in hedges. It is occasionally culti- 

 vated in the submontane tracts of these Provinces. Dr. Dymock says that under 

 cultivation the fruit loses its bitterness. The ripe fruit is eaten raw, but is cooked 

 when green and used by the natives in their curries. 



The juice of the root and leaves is used medicinally. 



* References :— Fl. Hr. Ind., I„ 246 ; Roxb , FL Ind. (Clarke's Ed ), 391 ; Watt, Diet. Econom. Prod., VI., Part 1, 

 329; Dymock, Veg. Mat. Med., 70 ; Royle, 111. Him. Bot, 221 ; Stewart, Punj. PL, 99 ; Atkinson, Econom. Prod., N.-W. 

 Prov., V., 39 ; Him. Diet, I., 708, 747 ; DC, L'Orig. PL Cult., 09. 



t Fl. Br. Ind., II., 021 ; Watt, Diet. Econom. Prod., II., 252; Atkinson, Econom. Prod., N.-W. Prov. V., 11 ; Him. 

 Dist., I., 701 ; Pharmacogr. Ind., II., 80. Momordica monaddpha, Roxb., Fl. Ind. (Clarke's Ed ), 090. Coccinia indica, W. 

 and A.; Roylc, 111. Him. Bot., 218. 



