106 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
Habitat: — Hot Western Himalayan Valleys eastward to 
Nepal, Sindh, the Punjab, and Western Peninsula in the Maha- 
baleswar hills. 
A diffuse, prostrate or trailing shrub. Buds long ; green 
branches and young shoots pubescent or covered with soft 
caducous white, green or yellowish tomentum. Stipulary thdrns 
yellow, hooked or nearly straight. Leaves orbicular or broadly 
ovate, entire, mucrouate, 1-2 in. diam ; petioles-jo in. long. 
Flowers 1-3 in. across, white, large showy, axillary solitary; 
pedicels 1-2 in. long, thickened in fruit; filaments long, slender, 
purple. Ovary on a slender, filiform gynophore. Fruit 1-3 in. 
long, many-seeded, oblong, ribbed on a stout gynophore, bent 
downwards when ripe, irregularly dehiscent, crimson inside ; 
seeds numerous, uniform. 
Parts used : — The root and root- bark. 
Uses : — The author of the Makhzan-ul-Advia considers the 
root-bark to be hot and dry and to act as a detergent and as- 
tringent, expelling cold humours ; it is therefore recommended 
in palsy, dropsy and gouty and rheumatic affections ; the juice 
of the fresh plant is directed to be dropped into the ear to kill 
worms, just as Cleome juice is used in India; all parts of the 
plants are said to have a stimulating and astringent effect when 
applied locally (Dyinocki. In Kangra, the macerated roots are 
applied to sores (Stewart). Ainslie notices its use as an, external 
application to malignant ulcers. 
“ The dried bark of the root is considered diuretic, and 
was formerly employed in obstructions of the liver and spleen, 
amenorrhcea, and chronic rheumatism.” (United States Dis- 
pensatory). 
The flower buds contain caper-qnercitrin, having the formula C I7 H so 
0 1S . On hydrolysis, this yields caper-quercetin C,j H n 0 7 , in addition to 
glucose and isodulcitol. The amount of sugar formed on hydrolysis is as 
follows 
Sugar as isodul'cite, Quercetin, 
per cent. per cent. 
Caper-quercitrin ... ... 60-73 ... 49'61 
J. Ch. S. LXVI, pt. I. (1894), p. 299. 
