N. 0 MENISFERM AOKffi. 
57 
the base of the Himalaya to Malabar and Pegu. (Absent in the 
Eastern Peninsula). Ceylon. 
A small, much-branched, Btraggling climber. Branches 
long, slender, twining, striate, hairy-pubescent. Leaves 1-1£ in., 
deltoid-ovate, very obtuse, apiculate or mucronate, tapering or 
truncate at base, almost entirely glabrous above (save when 
young), slightly hairy on veins beneath, ciliate at margin, 3-5- 
veined at base. Petiole } in., hairy ; Male fl. : — in small cymose 
panicles on very slender, axillary peduncles shorter than the 
leaves, bracts subulate, hairy. Female fl. —2 or 3 together in 
axillary clusters ; Sepals villous, outside petals, bifid, lobed 
at sides. Male fl. : — Stamens with filaments hairy at base. 
Female fl. : — Carpels smooth. Drupes (Ripe carpels/ small, 
black-purple, | in., endocarp bony, horse-shoe-shaped or rather 
annular, with the centre perforated, sharply keeled along the 
back, the sides with strong transverse ridges. 
Parts used : — The root and leaves. 
Uses: — “ The juice of the leaves, mixed with water, has the 
property of coagulating into a green jelly-like substance, which 
is taken internally, sweetened with sugar, as cure for gonorrhoea. 
Roxburgh says — “ A decoction of the fresh roots, with a few 
heads of pepper, in goats’ milk, is administered for rheumatic 
and old venereal pains; half a pint every morning is the dose. 
Tt is reckoned heating, laxative, and sudorific.” 
“In the Concan, the roots rubbed with Bonduc nuts are 
administered as a cure for belly-ache in children ; and in bilious 
dyspepsia, they are given in 6 massa doses, with ginger and 
sugar.” (Dymock.) 
In Sind, the root and leaves are used in headache and neural- 
gic pains. (Murray.) 
The root is said to be alterative and a good substitute for 
Sarsaparilla. 
According to the Pharmacopoeia of India, this possesses the 
bitterness, and probably the tonic properties, of gulancha. (Tinos- 
pora cordifolia). 
“ This is a common hedge-plant in the Konkan, where it is 
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