N. 0. RANUNCULAOE.E. 
35 
concave, soon falling off. Petals 4, shorter than the sepals, 
clawed. Stamens numerous, longer than the sepals, anthers 
small. Ovary solitary, many-ovuled, stigma sessile, flat. Fruit 
a black ovoid, glabrous berry containing numerous small seeds. 
(Collett). The Baneberry of Britain. Hooker, f. and Thomson 
say that the berry is black in the European and Himalayan 
forms, white and red in the American. 
Uses : — Stewart remarks regarding this plant: — “I have 
found no trace of its being used or dreaded ” by the hill people 
on the Panjab Himalaya. It would be interesting to know 
whether this is correct ; for it is curious that so useful a plant 
should have escaped the notice of the natives of India. 
Canadian doctors administer the root in snake-bite; and it is 
said to be attended with much success in the treatment of 
nervous diseases, rheumatic fever, chorea and lumbago. The 
berries were formerly used internally for asthma and scrofula, 
and externally for skin complaints. Baneberry lioot is largely 
exported into Europe and used to adulterate the root of 
Helleborus niger. Mr. Frederick Stearns describes the root 
as violently purgative. (Watt). 
27. Gimicifuga fcetida, Linn, h.f.br.i., i. 30. 
From Latin cimex, a bug ; fugare to drive away. 
Vern : — Jiunti (Pb.). 
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Bhotan to Gores and 
Kashmir ; altitude 7-12, OOo ft. Patarnala forest, Simla. 
A perennial, more or less pubescent herb. Stems 3-6 ft., erect, 
leafy, branched. Leaves 6-18 in., pinnately compound ; leaflets 
1-3 in., rarely more, ovate or lanceolate, deeply and sharply- 
toothed, terminal leaflet 3-lobed. Flowers nearly regular, 
hardly \ in. diam., white, crowded in short or long racemes, 
solitary in the axils of the upper leaves, and combined in a 
terminal, sometimes large and spreading panicle. Sepals and 
petals 5-7 (no clear distinction between them), imbricate, ovate, 
concave; one or two of the inner ones deeply 2-lobed, the tips 
white, broad, notched- Stamens numerous, ultimately longer 
