412 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
adpressed grey hairs, ovate-oblong, 13-17, su-bcoriaceous. Sti- 
pule abortive or very minute ; bracts exceeding the buds, 
usually boat-shaped, with cusp. Racemes short-peduncled, 
moderately close, l-3in. long ; pedicels short. Calyx T l 3 in. long, 
argento-canescent ; teeth short, deltoid. Corolla bright red, 
glabrous externally, generally g-Jin., reaching f-gin. long; 
the standard fin. broad, reflexed in tbe expanded flower. Pod 
straight, turgid, glabrous, l^-lfin. long, 8-12-seeded. 
Part used : — The root. 
Use : — A decoction of the root is given by the Santals for 
cough ; and a powder of the same is applied externally for pains 
in the chest (Revd. H. Campbell). 
The Interesting ‘ Notes on Indigofer®,’ recently published by Dr. Prain 
and Mr. E. Baker in the Journal of Botany, reveal many facts, which, apart 
from their historical and geographical interest, are of great importance in 
regard to indigo-culture in India In their opinion, I. tinctoria (taken in the 
wide Sense) may be considered as representing 3 distinct forms, as follows : — 
Form 1. This is the wild indigo which was found in Nubia by Kotschy 
in 1841 ; and specimens agreeing with it have since been collected in Central 
India. The plant was probably unknown to Linn®us and also to DeCandolle 
Regarded as a distinct species, its correct name would be I. Bergii, Vatke. 
FORM 2. This is the southern, or the Madras and Ceylon cultivated in- 
digo. It is also I. tinctoria, Linn. Sp. PI, (in part), and DeCandolle’s var. 
macrocarpa of that species. It is found in a semi-wild state in the Jumna 
ravines, near Agra and Muttra, also in Merwara (Rajputana), where it is not, 
and probably never has been, cultivated. It is called “ Jinjini " in Rajputana, 
where its seeds are collected and eaten in years of scarcity, no other use 
being made of the plant. This form has been collected in a similar wild 
condition in many other localities more or less distant from its true area of 
cultivation. 
FORMS. I, sumatrana, Ocertn. Fruct. ii, 371, t. 148. Syn. I. indica, Lamk 
— Vern. Nil. This is the northern cultivated form of indigo, extending from 
Behar and Tirhut to the Punjab, where its area meets that in which some 
form of /. argentea is grown, and southwards to the Circars, where its area 
approaches that of the Madras cultivated form of I. tinctoria. According to 
Dr. Prain, this is the form that was first introduced into the W. Indies from 
the E. Indies, and in America it is the usual one met with. It also occurs in 
Trop. Africa, and in Formosa. It may bo distinguished botanically from the 
southern form by its leaflets, which are larger, and ovate-oblong or oblong, 
instead of obovate or sub-orbicular. The pods also of I. sumatrana are short- 
er, thicker and blunter at the apex, and they are usually more numerous 
and straighter than in the Madras form. This northern form of indigo 
is an important rainy-season crop within the area. (Duthie’s Flora of the 
Upper Gangetic Plain, Vol. I. p. 265), 
