478 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
and pubescent on the outside. Stamens 10, perfect, subequal. 
Pod tli i n, flat, witli raised lines between, dehiscent, glabrous, 
4-8in. long. “Seeds 20-30, smooth, compressed, narrow- 
oblong, dark-brown, shining, shallowly-pitted on the faces ” 
(Talbot). 
Use : — The bark and leaves are prescribed in diabetes and 
gonorrhoea (Balfour). 
425 . C. absus, Linn, h.f.b.i., ii. 265 , Roxb 351 . 
Vern. : — Chakut, chaksu, banar (H. & Duk.) ; Mulaippalvirai, 
karnuk&-nam, kattukkol, edikkol (Tam.) ; Cbanu-palavittulu 
(Tel.); karin-kolla (Mai.); Chaksie (Bom.); Kan-kuti (Mar.); 
Chimar or Chime, chinol (Guz.) ; Chowun (Sind). Chaksoo 
(Pb.). 
Habitat : — From the foot of the Western Himalayas to 
Ceylon. 
An erect annual, l-2ft. high, with stem and leaves clothed 
with grey bristly viscose hairs. Leaves long-petioled. Leaflets 
oblong, very oblique, l-2in. long, obtuse, or subacute, 4in. long, 
membranous. Stipules small, linear, persistent. Racemes nar- 
row, equalling or exceeding the leaves. Sepals lanceolate, 
bristly, g-|in. Corolla reddish yellow, very small. Pod oblique, 
ligulate, 1-lJin. long, 5-6-seeded, the thin valves beset with 
bristly hairs. 
Parts used The seeds and leaves. 
Use : — Mahomedan writers describe the seeds as attenuant 
and astringent, and say they strengthen the sight when used 
as a collyrium. In some books a plaster made from the seeds 
is recommended as an application to wounds and sores, es- 
pecially of the penis. In purulent ophthalmia about a grain 
of the powdered seeds, after being baked, is introduced beneath 
the eye- lids (Dvrnock). 
The receptacle of the seed possesses diuretic and stimulant 
properties (Irvine, Patna). 
Used as a cathartic in habitual constipation (dose §-3 drams). 
Seeds are found efficacious in ring-worm (Watt). 
