408 
USEFUL PLANTS OF THE DISTRICT OF LAKH1MPUR. 
Local name. — Guma. 
Distrib.— From Bengal and Assam to Burma and in the Deccan from 
Concan to Travancore. Also Malaya and Mauritius. 
An annual with narrow leaves and white flowers. Perhaps the commonest weed iD 
Assam. It is one of the plants which has a habit of growing in pure communities on culti- 
vated land, looking very much like a crop, but it is never cultivated. The children pull off 
the coronas and suck the honey ~ust as European children do with Lamium album L. 
(White Dead-Nettle). In native medicine it is used for loss of appetite. The leaves are 
wrapped in a plant-in leaf and heated aud then eaten. The first effect of this treatment 
is that the appetite decreases to such an extent that the patient is unable to take any food at 
all. On the 2nd day this passes off and he takes food with avidity. The use of the plant 
in this way Is probably an introduction from up-country. Many natives of Assam told us 
that the plant was good for nothing. We met with no one who knew of the plant being 
used in the ways mentioned by Watt in the Dictionary of Economic Products. 
161. Mentha Linn. 
190 M. arvensis Linn. F. B. I. iv, 648 ; Eng. & Prantl iv , 3a, 319 ; 
D. E. P. v, £28; Pharmaoog. Ind. iii, 104. 
M. sativa Willd. Roxb. FI. Ind. iii, 7, 
Dibrugarli. No. 71. 
Local name.— Podina. “ Mint.” 
Distrib. — Throughout Upper India and the warmer regions of 
Europe and North America. 
This is the common mint grown in cottage gardens. 
163. Perilla Linn. 
191. P. ocimoides L. F. B. I. iv, 646 ; Eng. & Prantl iv, 3a, 326 ; 
Beng. PI. 851 ; D. E. P. vi, 1, 140. 
Dibrugarli. No. 392. 
Local name. — Baga til. 
Distrib. — Throughout Upper India to Burma, particularly in the 
eastern provinces, often cultivated. Also Cochin China to Japan. 
A coarse, hairy, strong-scented annual. The flowers are in pairs on long, one-sided 
racemes. The Khamtls grow this plant about their dwellings. They fry and .eat the seeds 
which they say taste excellent, like oil. 
163. Flsholtzia Willd. 
193. E. blanda Benth. F. B. I. iv, 643; Eng. & Prantl iv, 3a, 328. 
Dibrugarli. Nos. 82, 312 and 411S5. 
Local name. — Bantuluki, ban tulsL 
Distrib. —From Central Himalayas to Burma. Also Sumatra. 
A deliciously scouted herb, with long, spiko-i ike, inflorescences. It is common in cleared 
junkie. It is known t<> cottagers u-< a “ tulsi substitute/* The volatile oil of this plant 
should have market value. 
