112 
Indian medicinal Plants. 
peduncle longer than leaf, slightly hairy ; bracts setaceous. 
Sepals lanceolate, very acute. Petals oblong spreading ; spur 
not inflated (Trimen) ; saccate, say Hooker f, and Th. Stigma 
oblique. Capsule £ in. long, globose or subglobose, pubescent, 
valve dehiscing irregularly. Seeds few. 
Use : — This species also yields Banafsha of the Bazaars, 
and is considered to have medicinal properties similar to those 
of V. odorata. In the Punjab, a medicinal oil is prepared from 
it, called raughan-i-banafsha. 
100 . V. odorata, Linn, h.f.b.i., 1 . 184 . 
Vem. : — Banafsha (H.: Dec.; Bom.; Guz.); Banosa (Beng.); 
Vayilethe (Tam.) 
Babitat : — Kashmir. 
A glabrate or pubescent herb. Root-stock stout. Stem 
very short or 0. Stolons slender. Leaves tufted, in the 
Kashmir plant, £-1 in. diam., broadly ovate-cordate, obtuse, 
crenate, tip rounded, nearly glabrous. Stipules entire or tooth- 
ed, subulate, lanceolate. Sepals rounded at tip, very obtuse, 
spur nearly straight, short, cylindric, style inflated above ; 
stigma decurved. 
Paris used : — The flowers used dry. 
Uses : — By the Mahomedan hakims, it is generally consi- 
dered cold and moist, and is especially valued as a diuretic and 
expectorant, and as a purgative in bilious affections. 
O’Shaughnessy experimented with the dry plant as a 
substitute-for Ipecacuanha, but without success. 
Moodeen Sheriff considers it antipyretic and diaphoretic, 
and very useful in relieving febrile symptoms and excitement 
in all forms of fever, particularly in combination with other 
drugs of the same class. 
A certain amount of interest is attached to the leaves of 
the violet on account of an apparent improvement following the 
employment of the fresh infusion of the leaves in a case (L. ’05, 
i. 713) in which it was alleged that a patient might have been 
suffering from malignant disease. A handful of the leaves was 
